Gus won't be coming home..........  I've always told people on tours that he is either the most interesting animal they ever met or the most obnoxious, it just depended on what he was doing or what he was in to at the moment.  He was never boring. 

I don't want to remember him as he was the last few days.  I want to remember him being involved  in everything going on here.  His big nose was in everything and everywhere.

Last week he wasn't interested in eating which wasn't like him.  The vet came out tubed him and had a hard time getting the tube to his stomach to make sure the esophagus was clear.  No change Friday, tried again and decided that he needed to go to the clinic up in Gilbert.  I wrote about what happened up there before we came home in Sunday's blog.

Yesterday the clinic didn't call to update, which I take as good news.  This morning Dr. Holden called said he was pretty good yesterday and was crashing this morning.  Copious amounts of pudding like infection out his nose, coughing and gasping rather than breathing.  He was over 40 years old and the last few days were difficult days for him.  So I put on my big girl pants and made the decision to let him go.  Been doing this for a long time and it doesn't ever get any easier.  

He was such an interesting donkey, loved people and did so many things that made your teeth clench, that you would have a fit about and then have a good story to tell.  Cars with windows down were fascinating to him, once he got his big head in the window it was almost impossible to get it out.

Not long ago he got out of the driveway gate, and disappeared in the brush.  We looked everywhere and didn't find him.  I came home and made up some flyers to put in the neighborhood.  Came home from putting them out and he was in his pen.  One of the neighbor's has horses and came home from work to find a donkey visiting.  He put a halter on him and was bringing Gus home with his jeep.  

He's been out quite a few times.  He had a tree he liked to stand under fairly close to the gate but far enough away you wouldn't think he was paying any attention to the gate.  Since John broke his leg, he's a little slow on getting in and out and Gus seemed to know that.  

People are commenting and sharing pictures on the rescue Facebook page, many of the pictures I've never seen before.  He really touched people's lives.  

 

 

He will be missed, as they all are, it's never easy to say good-bye

LOTS GOING ON AROUND HERE......

 Suzanne and her mother should be heading back from Indiana this week.  Haven't heard any different that was the plan when they left.  Our volunteers have really been helpful making sure everything was getting done.  John and I can do it, BUT it takes us most of the day and we really appreciate their help.

Saturday morning we had to take Big Gus up to the clinic in Gilbert on emergency.  Dr Jeremy our local vet had been out Thur and Fri and tubed him for choke.  Most things equine related can be taken care of in the field.  But some of them need to go to a facility, where there is more equipment.  Dr. Jeremy had the tubes, x-ray and endoscope, but sunshine, heat, wind and an uncooperative patient made it really difficult to get an accurate assessment of Big Gus.  

Yesterday morning, Nora, Susan and Debra were here bright and early to help us get on the road as soon as possible.  It's about a 3 1/2 hour trip, we like to get there around noon, so if they are going to come home with us, we can get home in time to feed the homebodies before they starve to death.  They seem to think if we are late with feeding they will not survive.  A lot of them decide to take off and feed themselves off the land.  The others will stand in the driveway yelling when we drive in.

Gus got evaluated and 3 vets went to work.  Poor guy got tubed again 2 or 3 times before they managed to get the tube all the way to the top of his stomach.  Most chokes are high in the esophagus, but of course Gus' was at the entry to his stomach and was so packed they had a really hard time getting thru to break it up so they could flush it out.  

One bucket is clean water, the other two are to catch the water used to flood the esophagus.  

 

Checking his esophagus early in the game to try to figure out where the obstruction is.  It was way far away all the way down to where his stomach starts.  

It was a long hard fight to finally get a small amount of the blockage of food matter to start breaking up.  By this time Gus has lost any patience he had with the process and started fighting even though he was drugged.  Where the buckets were had lots of overflow of water so the floor was really wet.  Hooves on wet concrete isn't a good match and he went down.  

He showed no interest in getting up, which is really scary, we were afraid he was giving up.  We had already talked about him staying up there for a few days.  With that decision already made, we decided to head for home and leave him in capable hands.  

Got home there was a message on our phone, that he had gotten up on his own, they had managed to  flush lots of feed matter out and weren't going to do anything else that night.  They have not called today, since it is a holiday week-end I wouldn't expect a call unless he took a turn for the worse.  

He is also dealing with a swollen gimpy rear leg.  We thought it might be a return of the cellulitis he had last year.  Dr. Jeremy got x-rays that showed bone chips and a possible cactus spine.  So they are going to try to figure out what that is too.  Poor old guy and poor people that have to deal with him.  He is NOT a patient patient and will use his head to let you know he isn't happy.   

This week-end was the first 2 pack burro races in Colorado this season.  One was in Georgetown the other one today in Idaho Springs.  I believe they had 87 teams at Georgetown, which is quite a crowd to all try to run in the same direction thru town............!!  Ha! 

START OF GEORGETOWN PACK BURRO RACE

This is Nell and friends, one of our alumni that ran in the Idaho Springs race today

This week-end was the big annual Bishop Mule Days in Bishop, California.  Mamacita and Sasha now known as the Gorditas (little fat girls)  participated in the parade.  They have a wonderful home in California now and are going to be doing all sorts of fun things, like going to assisted living homes so the people can visit with them.  Karin said they seemed to enjoy all the fanfare.  Unfortunately they aren't going to appreciate the diet it sounds like Karin is going to have them on until they get more svelte bodies.........!!! LOL

EXCITING MORNING

 This morning started out with a crisis.  I went out later than John and Debra one of our volunteers and was met with the information that they had been looking for Big Gus for almost an hour and could not find him anywhere.  Gus is over 40 years old as per a vet, and has a heart murmur.  Also snakes are out now, which is always a big worry.  

After looking for that long of course we were thinking the worst, and were looking on the ground, but still no Gus.  Everybody else was in, got fed while I used the quad to continue looking.  Still nothing, too soon to look for vultures, but we were starting to think that would be the only way to find him.  Checked all the gates, just in case, went over the 30 acres more than once and of course we were all looking, hopefully in different directions.  

When Debra got thru feeding I told her where I had gone and the only place I hadn't actually walked was what we call the Triangle.  It's a small area between the fence between the 10 acres where the pens are and the 20 acres we call Burroland and the big main wash that runs across the property.  I headed out again in Burroland and Debra decided to walk the fence line between Burroland and the 10 acres.  About 10-15 minutes of me running around on the quad and walking over there, I heard the air horn blast.  We use it for these type of occasions to let whoever is out in the brush know it's time to come in.  

Debra found him in the Triangle in a heavy brushy area.  She said the only way she saw him was his tail was swatting flies and moving back and forth. He is going to make us all have a heart attack before it's over.  By the time I got back he was in his pen having his breakfast, like no big deal.........!!!  Grrrrrr........!!!  It's been a long time since he even went over to Burroland let alone into that area.  In order to get to it, he had to go down the bank of the wash and back up the other side.  That's a lot of energy for him to use up.  He usually just stands under a tree out by the driveway gate waiting for an opportunity to make his escape........!!! LOL

Our new donkey got here from Colorado as planned.  His name is Willie.  He has lived a charmed life most donkeys could only dream about.  He is 21 years old and has lived in one home since he was a year old.  None of those 7-9 homes for him which is the average for a donkey.  He won the Burro lottery years ago by going into a caring home and being well taken care of all those years.  But the cold in Colorado was getting to his knees and his owner wanted him to be in a warmer climate.  

He's pack burro raced, pulled a cart, been ridden and in general has had a very interesting life with people that appreciated him.  His daddy was a mammoth and his mom was a BLM jenny and we have his history back 3 generations which is very unusual.  

  a

This is a picture Sue sent from Colorado

This morning when he got to go out for the first time.  We put him in Rosie's pen next to Jasper, hoping they might become buddies.  This morning because of the Big Gus crisis our usual routine was out of whack.  Usually when we get new donkeys in, we keep them in for a couple of days, then let them out in the morning for an hour or so before the others are out.  That way they get a chance to explore a little before being greeted by a crowd.  

I went to let him out and discovered Jasper had already opened his inside gate and they were together in Jasper's pen.  I opened the outside gate and let both of them out.  So much for buddying up, Willie started exploring and Jasper started opening any gates he could find not double latched.  He is REALLY good at gate opening unfortunately......!!  LOL  Willie acted like he had lived here forever no drama or anything.  After half hour or so, it looked pretty boring, so we let everyone else out.  

The donkeys all know Big Gus usually leaves hay and mush.  John said he came around the corner and there were 5 donkeys in Gus' pen and Casper the mini mule was outside sticking his head thru the corral panels without having to deal with the donkeys.  John said he looked at the donkeys and noticed one of them was.........Willie.  He was right in the middle of the group and no one seemed to care, no squabbling or pushing going on.  He's been with a horse for about 7 years, we thought he'd be excited to see donkeys, but guess not, at least not yet...!!! 

Next big deal will be going into his pen tonight.  From what I've seen I doubt that it will be a problem.  He's really mellow and easy going.  After dealing with Beefy and his hormonal problem, Willie is a pleasure......!!! LOL

LOOKS LIKE MAMACITA HAS TAKEN TO RUNNING

 Karin and John in California have given Mamacita and Sasha a wonderful home.  It looks like Mamacita is going to have to earn her keep, rather than just walking around looking cute.  She sure has those little legs moving..........  Thank you Karin and John for giving the girls such a great home and showing Mamacita how much fun racing can be.  Looking forward to seeing her first race, she looks like she is going to be a fun team member. 

MAMACITA IN TRAINING

Tomorrow should be an exciting day, Willie is suppose to get here tomorrow from Colorado.  We are always excited to have a new donkey come in.  It's interesting to watch them figure out the herd dynamics and eventually they usually find a friend to hang with.  

When Melvin and Big Jackson came in they were totally bonded from being together for a long time.  Once they were out on the acreage, for a few days they split and did their own thing.  They never really hung around with anyone else, but separated from each other.  After a few days they went back together and are still best "buds" I guess.  

I do have an update on Beefy.  As some of you know he had been used for breeding, was 15 years old when he was gelded in December before he came to the rescue in January.  It's been an interesting 6 months.  He has been pretty much of a jerk most of the time.  Yelling and screaming, running after the girls, just in general acting like an idiot with a mission.  

Sometimes he would be very calm and easy to work with, other times....not so much.  The last few days, he has behaved like the gentle boy we always hoped he would be.  He's hanging with Bonnie, most of the time and he's behaving himself, just seems to enjoy her company.  Because she has been chronically foundered, she spends a lot of time laying down in the wash in the soft gravel.  He spends most of the day standing by her and seems very content.  I certainly hope this behavior continues, he's such a sweet boy and as a mammoth he big enough to make your life miserable if he wants to.  Hopefully he is now a bonafide gelding and will continue to act like one.  

NO TOURS THIS SUMMER..........!!!

We've always had tours in the summer, but will take a break this year.  I don't think we will be sitting around eating bon bons though.........LOL   Sometime in June we're suppose to get our new office/store delivered.  It's going to just be the exterior floor and roof, the inside will have to be finished.

This is what it will look like, except it will be quite a bit larger.  The back wall will have a storage room, hopefully so we can get all donkey "stuff" in one place.  Right now it makes my brain hurt trying to remember where stuff is, or if we even have stuff, between the house, feed room, garage, Cisco's room, hay barn etc.........!!!  

It will have a bathroom, the store and Suzanne will finally have an office, with all the office stuff in one place.  Right now it's somewhat like the other "stuff"..........everywhere.......!!!  Hopefully finishing the inside won't take too long.  Suzanne and I have been "shopping" floor and wall coverings, which is a lot of fun.

Suzanne has been living in a 22ft RV for about 4 years and her mom came out in Jan to live with her.  Needless to say it's crowded, so they are getting a mobile home to live in permanently.  It is to be delivered in June or July hopefully.  They won't know what to do with themselves with all that room........!!! 

It's so hot here in the summer here and the donkeys have their fly masks on,  people can't see their pretty faces, so it just seemed like a good time to step back, take a break and concentrate on getting things done.  

I'm sure the donkeys will be disappointed, they really enjoy tours especially the red solo cups with animals crackers in them.  I'm sure it won't take them long in September to get back into the groove.   

We  have 3 gate openers, Frijolita, Bonnie (so we've been told), and Jasper.  Jasper is really good at noticing his gate isn't double locked.  John had a tour today and the donkeys were suppose to be in their pens.  It didn't take long for John to notice that about half of them were out roaming around, and one of them was.....Jasper.  John said the boy on the tour followed Jasper around to watch him open the gates.  John said Jasper actually followed the tour for awhile, he has no shame........!!! LOL  At feeding time if someone forgot to double locked, he will open it and stand outside waiting for his hay.  He just does it to prove he can I think......!!!   

This is Jasper being a roadblock, he figures if he stands in front of the golf cart someone will give him a cookie.  I shared this picture in February, but he looks so cute and innocent I couldn't resist using it again........!! LOL

He's kinda lost without Rosie, they were an item even before Gigi died last year.  We've seen him with different donkeys, but nothing long term so far.  

This Sunday we have a new guy coming into sanctuary.  He's been living in Colorado all his life and  his owner wanted him out of the cold climate.  His name is Willie and we will probably put him in Rosie's pen, next to Jasper.  Hopefully they will get acquainted and become buds.  

RIP ROSIE...........

 We said goodbye to Rosie today.  She had been here about 13-14 years, came in with her friend Gigi.  They were going to be shot and buried, because Gigi was crippled, and the people said Rosie had tumors.  She had been eating alfalfa and grain and was extremely obese, with fat pockets not tumors.

We managed to keep Gigi comfortable for many years with shoes to keep her feet from twisting, but a year or so ago, had to let her go.  Rosie was chronically foundered ever since we picked her up and also had ventral dermatitis every summer.  I had just started doctoring her every morning this week. 

Gigi and Rosie years ago, although blurry it's the best picture I found of them together

Yesterday Rosie came in with a bloody chin, but seemed to be OK, ate her supper.  This morning she ate her breakfast as usual, she really loved to eat.  Had a couple of tours this morning, she participated as usual.  This afternoon Debra one of our volunteers, called me and said Rosie was caught in a corral panel in her pen.  

I ran out there and sure enough she was cast with one of her front feet caught in such a way it was almost impossible to get it out.  Took the corral panel out, dug out underneath and managed to get the hoof out.  Nothing seemed broken, but she couldn't get up.  Every time she tried she banged her chin exactly like she had done yesterday.  So we think she probably had some sort of happening yesterday but recuperated by evening feeding time.  Called Dr. Jeremy and he came out as soon as he could.  He worked with her all afternoon, John even picked her up with straps and the tractor and laid her on a bale of hay, to hold her up but she wouldn't try to stand, so the decision was made. 

 If she had some sort of issue yesterday and another one today she obviously had something serious going on.  Her gums weren't as pink as they should be, in fact were rather blue/grey or light pink off and on all afternoon.  Although she tried to get up a few times, she never put much effort into it.  

As I said I started doctoring Rosie this week for her ventral dermatitis, I also am doctoring Boaz and Cisco every morning.  Hopefully I started early enough this spring that their skin issues won't get ahead of me.  

SNAKE AND GOPHER GUTS

 

This is what greeted us on the courtyard this morning.  Three outdoors cats.... usually they bring assorted hairy critters to the courtyard to consume overnight.  None of them seem to care for inerds, so most mornings when we get up, there are "parts" to clean up.  

This is the first snake I've seen this year.  It struck me as odd the head is missing.  Does that mean someone ate it?  If so, isn't that dangerous, since the poison sack is in the head?  Julius is probably the culprit, but he's acting normal, although I haven't seen Simba this morning.  He is a young tomcat that has been hanging around a few months.  I've tried to trap him to take him to the vet for "corrective" surgery, but he's not interested in being caught.  He'll let me pet him and feed him, but none of the stuffing into a crate business.  

Suzanne and Debra one of our volunteers took 6 donkeys to New Mexico's first pack burro race this past week-end.  Even had time to do a little sight seeing.  

The race was in the little mining town of Cerrillos, about 20 miles from Santa Fe.  Debra had never been to a race, so it was all new to her.  She started out walking with Siggy, but the elevation got to her, so she didn't get to finish, although she said she had a great time.  Suzanne ended up with 2 donkeys.  When Debra had to turn around, Suzanne and Jackson ended up with Siggy as part of their team.  Siggy got a "DNF", but he finished.......!!!

This video is of the start, before Debra had to turn back and Suzanne ended up leading both Siggy and Jackson.  Jackson tried to have a tantrum because La'Roy wasn't within sight.  Suzanne got to turn him in circles until he could focus on the race.  She said he did just fine the rest of way, even with Siggy in tow.  

Suzanne and Jackson practicing circles......

Debra and Siggy are farther behind walking with a pretty good size mammoth.  For some reason the idea of 28 inch Siggy and a mammoth strolling along in a race struck me as hilarious.  Maybe they were enjoying each other's company, who knows........!!!   LOL

    Start of the race from other side of the street

Fly season is upon us unfortunately.  Boaz and Cisco's annual skin problems are starting to become a problem.  As of this morning they will be doctored daily until probably November.  We noticed tonight that it's time to cover Bonnie's bare scarred front legs with men's crew socks for the duration, she's a fly magnet like Cisco and Boaz.  Over the years we've tried lots of different things to make a barrier between donkey lower legs and stable flies, and crew socks seem to work the best.  Bonnie was surrendered to Forever Home for sanctuary because of the fly damage to her legs, so it's not a big surprise.  We'll do our best to keep her comfortable.

I'M BACK...........!!!

 We were only gone over the week-end, so I can't really excuse how long it's been since I updated the blog.  John and I went over to the El Paso area to watch some dirt track racing at Vado Speedway.........!!!  They had 106 race cars for 5 classes and their bleachers were full, really had a great show, lots of dirt flying and enough wrecks to keep the people that like that sort of thing happy.  

This track has only been open about 4 years of course Covid kept it closed for over a year.  It was built from scratch by a racer and is a premier track for drivers and watchers alike.  We drove 758 miles round trip and it was worth it......!!! They race every week, we'll probably try to go ever chance we get, around Suzanne and the burro races.  Next week-end she will be heading to New Mexico with donkeys for N.M's first pack burro race ever.  Suzanne asked Debra one of our volunteers to go with her.  Debra's never seen a pack burro race, so Suzanne asked her to go along and see what makes these races happen.  It will be good for Suzanne to have someone to help her.  She can do it all by herself, but it will be nice to have company.

The 2 new boys Melvin and Big Jackson have settled in quickly with no problems.  We always leave the newbies in for a couple of days to acclimate to the changes in their lives, before we let them out.  Suzanne looked out one morning a couple of days after they got here and they were waltzing past her door........hmmmm  Someone opened their gate, we blamed Jasper, he is one of our locksmiths, Frijolita is the other one.  Jasper is really good at it and the boys were in his old pen.  It hasn't been his pen for years, but it's not a stretch to think he would want to check out the 2 new guys that were enjoying his prior abode.   

They haven't had a bit of trouble blended into the herd.  They aren't pushy with the donkeys and often come up to us if we're outside, just to see what we're doing and see if we are handing out cookies.....!! Here are some videos Suzanne took of the two boys.  They are very friendly and like to be around people.  

JACKSON AND MELVIN

MELVIN

JACKSON

Sunday usually is a good day for volunteers and today was no exception.  Lots of people grooming donkeys, picking up poo, moving railroad ties and hauling obstacle course tires over to a new area that will be the new obstacle course for training.  There is a large cat claw tree in the pen area that has large branches that are split or dead or both.  Sometime ago one of the split limbs fell into Casper the little white mini mule's shelter and he wouldn't go into the shelter even after it was fixed for quite some time.  We noticed another limb was hanging oddly and Suzanne asked Ian and Chris if they could get it down.  We knew if it landed on Casper's shelter he would probably never go in the pen again, let alone into the shelter.  

These guys know what they are doing they, do landscaping and work with trees, so out come the ropes and saws and they went to work.  They took it down in pieces, they were afraid if they tried to cut the limb in one piece that it might fall wrong and Casper wouldn't have a shelter.  They did a real nice job and no one got hurt which is a good thing.  

Suzanne said she looked out one time and some of the minis were standing below where they were cutting and had their muzzles up in the air trying to catch the limbs and wood chips off the saw.  They got ran off, because everyone was afraid if a limb fell they might get hurt.  I guess they just moved to the next pen, to see if no one would notice them.  

Suzanne said she looked and Koshare was sneaking away with a small limb he picked up.  She said he was being very quiet and trying to look nonchalant  as he looked for a place to hide with his prize.  I didn't know cat claw tasted so good..........!!!  LOL  

Bonnie has settled in, Tyler will be here this week to see how her front feet are doing.  I think she is doing really well, but I'm no expert.  Her feet don't seem to bother her and she spends a lot of time, having to contend with Beefy's weight on her back.  He's slowed down quite a bit, but is still rather obnoxious.  We usually let the girls out first, so they have time to disappear.  Beefy gets let out last and he usually panics and starts running around like a maniac yelling for the girls.  He hasn't noticed yet that none of them answer him when he's screaming and running.  He also doesn't notice that they are usually hard to find. They seem to know where to hide..........LOL 

.