Ellie a loyal Blog watcher asked what we know about Gus past, so here goes:
We always figured he was probably in his 30s somewhere. Awhile back we took him to the "dentist" to have his teeth or at least the ones he still has looked at to make sure they were OK. Dr. Debra laughed when we told her he was in his 30s, she said more than likely in his 40s somewhere. So we really don't know for sure. We've dealt with him for over 10 years off and on. His owners got burnt out and asked a rancher if he could run on the ranch till they got back on their feet. They never came back for him. After a couple of years of his antics the rancher said he goes, I guess he spent a lot of time in the flower beds and veggie garden and probably other places he didn't need to be......!!
Neighbor got in touch with us, figured we'd have him forever, didn't take long to figure out he is a little quirky. He did find a couple of homes that weren't forever homes. He loves horses, went out as a companion and the owner had a massive heart attack and could no longer care for his animals.
John has always said "I'll be glad when that donkey finds a home". Then after he is gone, John says, "you know, I really miss Big Gus". Sometimes you just can't win......!!! LOL
There was a movie being filmed over at Gammon's Gulch the movie site just down the road from us about 8 years ago. A couple that was working on the set, needed horse poo to have in the street scenes and had forgotten to bring some from home. The man showed up and asked if he could have some donkey poo, John was picking up poo and the guy said he'd help. Big Gus helped him the whole time, that's when we figured out he loves horses, the guy had horses and probably smelled like horses. He brought his wife out to visit Big Gus. We asked them if they had anything in the back of the pick-up he could get to or play with. Went to see the rest of the donkeys, came back and a 100 foot garden hose was everywhere, except in the pickup. They laughed, thought it was funny and wanted to adopt him to go with their 5 or 6 horses.
Fast forward about 6 years and life changes.......kids grown, divorce, etc....... I get a call from a horse rescue in Tucson that they have a couple of our donkeys. Hmmmm........when people adopt our donkeys they sign a contract that if they can no longer take care of the donkey it will be return to us.
The woman was moving out of state and when we went to pick them up it wasn't hard to figure out why she didn't bring them back to us. Their care hadn't been the best probably for quite sometime.
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| "If you let me in the courtyard, I'll be good......!! Or just hand me a treat, either way works for me"......LOL |
We've since found out that Gus has a heart murmur, and of course he is "mature", and his legs aren't the best, so he's not going anywhere else. Besides we couldn't run this place without his expert assistance........at least he thinks so...........!! LOL
This is Justin enjoying a "spring" salad I guess. This time of year the trees really suffer, much more so than the rest of the year. They started a few weeks ago on the poor cactus, now they've moved on to the mesquite trees. The trees haven't budded yet, so I assume the sap is moving up to the branches to feed the buds and the donkeys know it. Next will be the acacia trees and of course during all this other little green things are trying to survive. The only thing they won't eat is wild mustard, so we have plenty of that......!!! LOL
Saw a very small gopher snake a couple of days ago. He wasn't very big they can get 6 feet long. He was on the courtyard, I went around him to go get the camera, took a couple of pictures of him and he never moved. Saw some donkeys, so I went out to take a couple of pictures of them, came back and the snake was nowhere to be found. I looked everywhere and there wasn't anyplace to hide within 20 feet. I guess he was playing opossum until he had a chance to escape and left in a hurry.
4 comments:
Thank you, what a nice story about Gus. He has lead quite a life and met a lot of people. Some good to him and some not so good. He seems to be very nosy and like a kid and can't keep him self out of trouble. He just wants to see what is going on and if you might need his help. Love that Gus.
Yes he's like a helpful toddler........LOL
Was Gus used for roping or just a pet? My dad had a mule that he farmed with. He had the habit of sitting like a dog . People stopped their cars to watch him. I think he liked the attention, he got plenty from his own family. My dad worked him hard but took very good care of him. When he was working he got three meals of grain and hay every day and a lunch break as did our work horses
No I'm sure he wasn't used for roping, for one thing he's pretty big and for another thing donkeys that have been roped usually do not care for horses. Gus LOVES horses, he's actually usually by himself out here with the donkeys.
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