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| Well at least by donkey standards. |
Of course they weren't very appreciative because it was past their time to get out after breakfast and they get rather vocal when that happens. Usually it's because of a tour coming, I didn't hear them complaining while the truck and squeeze were here, so maybe they did enjoy seeing all that hay in one place, before it went behind a fence, in the hay barn.
I don't think Leddy has an abscess. For the last couple of days, he's been walking almost without a limp. On Christmas Day, he managed to behave like a real ASS, when I tried to look at his foot. John had said he was walking much better and I walked up to him like I do most of our guys and picked up his foot..........Hmmmmm..........guess he's not a casual type of guy. He wiggled, and squirmed, and backed up, in general acted like a brat. OK, I asked John to bring a hoof pick because I saw something in the valley along side the frog that looked like foreign material, maybe a stick? While John was gone to get the hoof pick, I picked up his foot again and he dropped his shoulder like he was going to fall. This is an old trick they use when they don't want to pick up the foot. The answer is to hang onto the foot and unless they are really determined, they will usually quit before they actually go down. I held on long enough to get my point across, so he kicked back with a hind foot. I let him know I didn't really appreciate that behavior, just about then John got back with the hoof pick, and I sent him back for a halter, and lead.
Put those on, John held him, I picked up the foot and he kicked back again. He wasn't kicking at me, he was using an evasive behavior he has learned sometime earlier in his life, that made people leave him alone.
So we moved on to the "redneck" squeeze, that is permanently set up in Gigi's pen. She isn't always a lady in her behavior either. LOL We got him in, and he preceded to have a donkey meltdown. Our son Rod and Lisa here here and Doug was out with us, so he had quite an audience. He huffed and puffed, and lunged and dug at the ground with his bad foot. Must not have been bothering him very badly after all...........LOL We all just stood around and watched him like we'd paid for the show.
He finally ran out of steam, and besides sweating like he'd been working hard and flaring nostrils while he tried to get his breath, seemed to have given up the fight. Lisa and her 1st husband use to rope, not my idea of fun, but that's what they did. Since she was more equine trained than any of the others, and also could probably move faster than John if necessary. she took one side and I the other and we rubbed all over his body. His behavior was much improved......!!!
I'm thinking he might have stepped on one of our many rocks on the property and got a stone bruise. He's improving everyday and is just barely limping now. Who knows, maybe all that digging in the dirt to show his displeasure was a good thing..........LOL
Lynn and Linda are on the road, they've got places to stop between here and California, so it will be a few days before they get here. I told them about their "fur" child's melt down this morning. When they get here, we'll have to do some training. He's not a bad boy, he's just been allowed to get away with behavior that isn't allowed. He needs to see them as leaders, not as "buddies", so we'll see if we can fix that little problem. He's really a mellow fellow, so it shouldn't take much to smooth off the rough edges, so to speak. Guess we'll find out........!!!!
One of their stops will be in Oatman, Arizona, on old Route 66, where the wild burros roam all over the city, much to the delight of the tourists. I'm sure they will really enjoy seeing all the donkeys mugging for the people.
I don't think Leddy has an abscess. For the last couple of days, he's been walking almost without a limp. On Christmas Day, he managed to behave like a real ASS, when I tried to look at his foot. John had said he was walking much better and I walked up to him like I do most of our guys and picked up his foot..........Hmmmmm..........guess he's not a casual type of guy. He wiggled, and squirmed, and backed up, in general acted like a brat. OK, I asked John to bring a hoof pick because I saw something in the valley along side the frog that looked like foreign material, maybe a stick? While John was gone to get the hoof pick, I picked up his foot again and he dropped his shoulder like he was going to fall. This is an old trick they use when they don't want to pick up the foot. The answer is to hang onto the foot and unless they are really determined, they will usually quit before they actually go down. I held on long enough to get my point across, so he kicked back with a hind foot. I let him know I didn't really appreciate that behavior, just about then John got back with the hoof pick, and I sent him back for a halter, and lead.
Put those on, John held him, I picked up the foot and he kicked back again. He wasn't kicking at me, he was using an evasive behavior he has learned sometime earlier in his life, that made people leave him alone.
So we moved on to the "redneck" squeeze, that is permanently set up in Gigi's pen. She isn't always a lady in her behavior either. LOL We got him in, and he preceded to have a donkey meltdown. Our son Rod and Lisa here here and Doug was out with us, so he had quite an audience. He huffed and puffed, and lunged and dug at the ground with his bad foot. Must not have been bothering him very badly after all...........LOL We all just stood around and watched him like we'd paid for the show.
He finally ran out of steam, and besides sweating like he'd been working hard and flaring nostrils while he tried to get his breath, seemed to have given up the fight. Lisa and her 1st husband use to rope, not my idea of fun, but that's what they did. Since she was more equine trained than any of the others, and also could probably move faster than John if necessary. she took one side and I the other and we rubbed all over his body. His behavior was much improved......!!!
I'm thinking he might have stepped on one of our many rocks on the property and got a stone bruise. He's improving everyday and is just barely limping now. Who knows, maybe all that digging in the dirt to show his displeasure was a good thing..........LOL
Lynn and Linda are on the road, they've got places to stop between here and California, so it will be a few days before they get here. I told them about their "fur" child's melt down this morning. When they get here, we'll have to do some training. He's not a bad boy, he's just been allowed to get away with behavior that isn't allowed. He needs to see them as leaders, not as "buddies", so we'll see if we can fix that little problem. He's really a mellow fellow, so it shouldn't take much to smooth off the rough edges, so to speak. Guess we'll find out........!!!!
One of their stops will be in Oatman, Arizona, on old Route 66, where the wild burros roam all over the city, much to the delight of the tourists. I'm sure they will really enjoy seeing all the donkeys mugging for the people.
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