BONNIE UPDATE........

 Dr. Jeremy was out again today.  Suzanne messaged him yesterday because Bonnie was still 3 legged lame and holding that front foot up if she wasn't laying down.  He said he would come out today.  You might know by the time he got here early this afternoon, she had probably blown the abscess on her own.  She's not walking 100% sound,  but he said he doubts that she will for months if ever.  She's going to have to grow some good hoof  and  hopefully internal structure to replace what she's got now.  

John and I are going to watch race cars tonight at Tucson Speedway, but will help Suzanne feed a little early.  Once we have everyone in their pens, we will let Bonnie out to roam around for awhile while we feed everyone else.  She'll get a little exercise and not have to worry about nosy donkeys in her business.

Yesterday Siggy and Beefy were hanging out together.  I told John when Beefy first got here and Siggy was following him all day long, jumping up and biting Beefy's butt, they would probably end up buddies.  If so, it will look rather silly, but stranger things have happened.  The last day or so, they haven't paid much attention to Bonnie.    

BONNIE HAS SETTLED IN........

She's not going out yet for a couple of reasons.  Beefy is bound and determined that he is the answer to her prayers, and I might add, she seems to think he just might be........!!1  LOL  He is pretty loyal and is getting exercise running around and around her pen.  He seems to think there is a way in, if he can just figure out what it is.  

Of course Siggy, the 28 inch micro mini thinks she's pretty cute too, which of course Beefy sees as a threat to his inside track.  He went after Siggy a couple of times and we were afraid if he caught Siggy, he might hurt him because of the size difference.  Couldn't rely on Siggy to give up, he thinks he's 10 foot tall and bullet proof and has no problem wading right into the middle of trouble.  So for a few days, Siggy had to stay in his pen during the day and Beefy stayed in his at night.  Of course Bonnie had to put up with both of them day and night, don't know if she got any sleep or not......!!! LOL

Things have settled down and the boys have reached a level of acceptance and they can both be out together now and Siggy seems to have decided to find other things to do.  YEA.......!!

Tyler and Dr. Jeremy came out earlier this week and trimmed Bonnie's feet.  They decided not to open up the abscesses since they are so close to the coffin bone, so she got her worst foot packed with Epsom salts and wrapped.  The last couple of days she has been pretty gimpy on that foot.  They think she's probably trying to open that abscess on her own.  One thing about abscesses, they can go from barely able to walk, 3 legged lame to instant soundness, if the abscess opens and drains.  She's not 3 legged lame, but she certainly isn't very comfortable.

Suzanne takes videos almost every morning when she comes out and heads for the feed room.  She never knows who's out there until she opens her door.  Looks like there was quite a few out there for this video.  They like to stand in the middle between Suzanne's RV and our house.  As soon as the sun comes up it shines in that area and as a bonus they have access to both doors when they open.  It's usually Suzanne's first, but I guess they don't want to take a chance on someone coming out and they not know it.  

Yesterday afternoon Dr. Jeremy and soon to be "Dr." Haley, her graduation is just around the corner, came out to draw blood for Coggins testing of the donkeys going to California for the Run with the Burros next month.  Suzanne will take 9 donkeys for the 3rd year in a row to this event.  The 2nd of April will be the 3rd annual Tombstone Donkey Dash , we will have a booth set up and some of our volunteers will be running or walking donkeys.  There will be one more race this spring before it gets too hot, in New Mexico.  This will be their 1st pack burro race on May 7th, 2022.........!!  No more races in the Southwest until the weather cools off in the fall.  There will be races in Colorado all summer, where pack burro racing is the summer heritage sport for the state.   

MEET BONNIE......

 

This is Bonnie a couple of days ago, when she got here after a pretty long ride from the Phoenix area.  I knew she had a problem in the summer with sores on her legs which of course the flies love, which causes more sores.  I did not know she has been chronically foundered, probably over a long period of time, and it doesn't look like she has had regular hoof care for a long time if ever.   The next morning she was a little more comfortable and has improved a little more each day, although she is still laying down more than what would be normal.

I got in touch with Dr. Jeremy and Tyler.  Dr. Jeremy came out, took x-rays and besides having ugly feet, she also has abscesses in both front feet.  He called Tyler before he left and they will be out Monday to open up the abscesses and get her feet trimmed.  

She's a real nice donkey, easy to work with and already greets us when we go in her pen.  Of course she expects treats and so far she doesn't care what it is.  

She has a bed sore on one hip, that I'm working on.  Hopefully if she doesn't lay down as much it will heal quickly.   We put wood shavings down for her to lay on.  Unfortunately they stick to everything, including her bed sore.  I put some Vaseline on it tonight, covered it and hopefully in the morning, it will have softened the wood shavings so I can get them off without having to do a lot of scrubbing.

Busy, Busy, Busy..........

 Well, John and I aren't as busy as Suzanne is.  She's been to Empire Ranch with donkeys week-end before last and last week-end she took donkeys up to Black Canyon north of Phoenix for the 2nd annual Black Canyon Donkey Derby.  It sounded like a good time was had by all, and our Harley finished 3rd in his race.....!!!  John and I stay home and take care of the ones that didn't go.  

When so many of the donkeys leave for a couple of days, the dynamics of the herd changes.  Usually Frijolita leads the "A" team as they move  around the property.  Tula is actually the head jenny, so we assume Frijolita is her sergeant.  With Frijolita gone, Ruthie stepped into the job of leading the herd.  Tula never leads, but the herd recognizes her as the head jenny.  I don't think she wanted the job, she really hates it when the boys come into her pen.  John and her have a game they play to get the "riff raff" out.  She watches John and when he is in the right place, she will run out of the pen and of course the boys follow her.  She sees John heading for the gate, and runs back in, so John can close the gate before the boys figure out what happened..........!!! LOL  You can almost see her smile when she outsmarts them like that.  

Kelly one of our volunteers ran with Frijolita at Empire

This is La'roy and Jackson with the vets that did the health checks at Empire.  They ran the course with the boys and had a great time.  

Suzanne and Mamacita at Empire

Black Canyon was a 3 day show.  Besides the races they also had other events like obstacle courses, poop bingo, children's games, and a costume contest.  I didn't hear for sure how many teams there were, but the least number I heard was 58 teams running.  

The next race will be in Tombstone the 2nd of April, the Desert Donkey Dash.  On April 9th the California Breakfast Burritos will have a race in California.  We will not be renting any donkeys for Tombstotne, although some of our volunteers will be running in the race with some of our donkeys.  Suzanne will be taking 10 donkeys to California for that race, so she will have a couple of busy week-ends again.  I think that is about it for races this spring.  It won't be too long before it gets too hot to be outside and expect the donkeys to want to run.  When it gets hot all they want to do is to find shade and stand there until time to eat again. I think they might be a little bit smarter than people, actually I think that quite often..........!!! LOL

Tonight Beefy wanted to play games when it was time to go into his pen for feeding.  He and the "A" team were the last ones in, I went over to Burroland the 20 acres of wild country "ie" donkey playground.  He's still getting raspberry leaves because he is still being too obnoxious with the girls.  Poor Frijolita has "hickeys" all over her body.  Well, they are bite marks, but we've been calling them hickeys.  The raspbetty leaves  seem to help him behave.  He was gelded in Dec, and it will probably take about 6 months for his hormone level to drop to gelding levels.  

Tonight he followed the girls down to their pens and as usual didn't want to leave.  Usually after a couple of minutes of insisting he'll follow you to his pen.  When I have to go out and bring them in, I try to make it as unpleasant an experience as possible and if I can get them to run for the pen area, that's a good thing.  They don't need to come in at a stroll, it's not like they don't know what time it is.  If we're late they usually let us know about it.  

By the time, they got to the pens, Ruthie wouldn't take a carrot from me.  She changed her mind when I went out of the pen and closed the gate, so she got her carrot. Next time she will probably be less cranky about being so mistreated......!!  

Beefy was watching and when I told him to go where he belonged, he just stood there like he had no idea what I wanted him to do.  Got him moving at a pace a turtle would be ashamed of.  Then he went off trail, got him back, he went around the corner and headed the opposite way from his pen.  John had to stand guard to keep him from wandering everywhere but where he was suppose to go.  GRRRRR......!!  Once John was blocking his best opportunity to make me pay for expecting him to be a good boy and go in his pen, he headed for his pen and walked right past it.  Got him turned around and he went in his pen just like it was his idea.  He probably won't do it again, almost everyone of them have tried to see how far they can go at least once or twice.  That's why with donkeys if you start something, you have to finish it, no matter how long it takes

The morning parade

SPRING WINDS.....OH! GOODY......

 In the desert we usually get lots of spring winds, a couple of days ago, it was so bad in the afternoon, they closed I-10 highway east of us because of the blowing dirt.  Almost every year they have accidents in that area because of the dust.  It wasn't too good here either, we tried to keep our mouths shut when outside...!!  LOL

Friday night Suzanne loaded up 10 donkeys and headed for a fun run at Empire Ranch put on by the BRAY Club in the Sonoita area SW of us.  She reported a good time was had by all.  She wrote about it on our Facebook page and since I wasn't there, her report is much more factual than if I tried to write about it, so here it is:

FUN!!!! The Bray Sonoita Stargazer Run put on another awesome event. Too bad the wind did not cooperate.  Forever Home Donkey Rescue & Sanctuary brought 10 donkeys for this event and everyone had an amazing time. Our Koshare and Handler Jenni came in 2nd in the Long course, Our Bella and Handler Julieanne came in 2nd in the short course, Our Sasha and Handler Veronica came in 3rd in the short course and Ruthie with Handler Claudia won the Last Ass award! Our boy Cochise and his handler Heather won the Golden Ass Award. Heather came in 3rd in the long course but disqualified herself because she had become separated from Cochise for about 20 feet. She did not go back to the spot where she lost him so that disqualified her. We are on the honor system and Heather informed the race director when she crossed the finish line. What sportsmanship! Siggy and Handler Renee did the long course and had a blast. Frijolita was with her handler Kelly, Kelly's first time handling a donkey, and all I saw was smiles. Our boys Jackson and La`roy and their handlers the Veterinarians for the event went the extra MILES. They got off course for about 2 miles! Mamacita and our Suzanne worked really hard with training. This is Mama's first event and she did wonderfully! Overall a fun weekend! Thank you Bray Club for all you do for the Arizona donkeys! Now on to The Black Canyon City Donkey Derby this next weekend!

Bella and Mamacita had never participated in any of the races.  We thought Mama was pregnant for months before we found out she wasn't.  The Vets at the check-in said she isn't fat, she's had at least 5 babies in a short amount of time we were told.  They said her muscles are probably just stretched and probably will always be that way.  Bella had never gone because she has poor muscle development in her hind legs.  She had been in a small pen, but since she's been out here running around and getting exercise, her legs are much stronger.  Suzanne said she did really well and seemed to enjoy all the excitement.     

Mamacita looking for her friends that are up ahead

                                                    Mama and her running buddy, Suzanne