First day was actually Thursday. We let them in at 3pm and a lot of them figured out the gate was open and took advantage of the situation.
Since they didn't know I was opening the gate, after it was open and I didn't have any takers, I rang the bell we use to get them to come into the pen area. I figured if I got them that far, I would pick who I thought might be leader material and get them to follow me across the wash.
When I rang the bell by the time I got over to the gate, I had a customer.......Cochise came from somewhere across the wash, he was moving fast enough he almost beat me to the gate.
He must have left a message with the rest of the donkeys on is way, because it didn't take long for them to catch up.
They actually came in pretty good a couple of hours later for evening feeding, we were surprised that they weren't more difficult to round up than they were. I used the quad to hopefully head them in the right direction thru the gate and towards the pen area. Of course they would prefer to continue moving around looking for the tastiest weeds and grass. So I become a predator on the quad, by making a lot of noise and harrassing them as best I can. Even on the quad they can go places I can't, so I have to get off and get close enough to them to make them think I'm going to eat them alive if they don't start moving............!! LOL
John and Suzanne put them in their pens once they get over there. They are usually pretty good about going in their pens, but occasionally some of them run past the pen area to find more green stuff before they give up.
We thought since the 1st day went so well, we assumed the 2nd would also go well............wrong assumption. They were NOT the least bit interested in coming in to eat "equine jerky" AKA hay.
We've had enough rain to have weeds everywhere and most of them are 2-3 foot high. I put on my best predator body language, hopped on the quad and headed out for battle.
Before I ever saw a donkey I almost ran over a rattlesnake on the trail, I managed to miss him with the quad as he was scrambling to get off the trail. All I could think of was, if I run over him, the aggressive tires on the quad will probably flip him up in the air..........wonder where he will go? My first thought was, he'll probably land on the quad with me.........!!! LOL About that time I saw a bunch of donkeys, and got around behind them to head them towards the open gate. They got far enough ahead of me to have time to stop and graze, right in the middle of the area where I last saw the snake disappear into the high weeds........ YIKES......I wasn't about to get off my quad and wade into that mess although the donkeys seemed to think it was fine dining.
They finally decided I wasn't giving up and went thru the gate, to become Suzanne and John's problems, while I headed back into battle. It took a long time to round up the stragglers finally got down to 4 missing. We all were looking everywhere.............no donkeys. I finally went outside our perimeter fence to get a better view of areas we can't see from the trails. Found Justice, outside the fence. One of the neighbor's was working the road with his tractor, said he'd ran Justice back in the fence 3 or 4 times and he kept popping back out.
This time he stayed in, I went back around and Suzanne had seen the other three and sure enough Justice had joined them in Burroland, and none of them were interested in coming in, I think it was Roper, Willie and Tula. Finally got those 3 in, but Justice peeled off in the run to the gate and I figured 3 was better than 1, so I stayed with them to the gate. Came back, spent probably 1/2 an hour or more roaming all over Burroland and never saw hide nor hair of him and it was getting dark. I headed thru the gate and John blew the air horn we use to signify everybody has come in. John said he came in at speed, so even though I never saw him, I assume he knew I was there.................!!! LOL Fence fixing time, but first we have to figure out exactly where he is getting out
Today they didn't get to go over there because John and I are going to the stock car races in Tucson. Although I no longer race at the asphalt track, our son Rod and good friend Larry still do. Don't think Suzanne would want to face that mess by herself at feeding time, so they are on the 10 acres only. They have let us know this isn't right. When we let them out before noon, they went over, checked the gate came back to let us know it was closed, went back and forth and seemed to think we aren't too bright if we can't figure out what the problem is...........!!!
This is why we are never bored.........LOL
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