THE BEST LAID PLANS OF MICE AND MEN.............

 don't always go as planned.   We were planning on picking up the new boys Sunday.  That has been put on hold.  It seems when Cochise kicked my knee and I hit the ground I broke 2 ribs.  They aren't displaced thank goodness, but I'm not much good for chores right now.  Everyone keeps running me back in the house, I think to get me out of the way.........LOL.  We couldn't do it without the volunteers, John went out by himself to roundup and feed this morning.  Suzanne is in Mesa to pick up her furniture. FINALLY........When I finally managed to get dressed and out the door he said he had it handled.  Since then someone drove in, hopefully it was a volunteer and not someone wanting a tour........LOL

Here is Cochise at Superior with a couple admirers.  When he came here from being used as a roping donkey , we had to be careful when we cleaned his pen we learned quickly he was really fast with those hind feet.  With the passage of time and learning that no one is going to hurt him, he's been easy going for months.  But he was focused on those hay buckets more than spending a fraction of a second to check who was behind him, friend or foe.  

He actually kicked his running partner at Superior, for cause from his point of view.  This was Greg's first burro race, and Cochise wanted to catch donkeys that were ahead of them.  Greg interfered with what Cochise wanted to do and he kicked back.  Hit a spot that guys don't like to get hit.  Didn't hurt Greg in fact they finished the 10 mile race, and Greg is signed up for a race up by Apache Junction in January and he requested a return match with Cochise....!!  He will probably be wearing a red ribbon on his tail.  That will denote to anyone behind or passing him to be careful.

Betsy is a lot of fun.  She's already chewed on Suzanne's porch on the modular.  If we're out she's there to help.  She seems to think every time someone is in a golf cart, whatever they are doing needs her supervision.  

Suzanne was moving Cisco's pumpkin out of my extra bedroom to the storage area in the office/store building.  Sure enough Miss Nosy was there to help.  

BETSY IS OUT TODAY.............

I think this girl has been maligned.  She's been here 3 days and so far hasn't been a problem at all.  Today was the 1st time she had been out of her pen.  Well, that's not exactly true.  Suzanne looked out a day or so ago and Betsy was across the driveway with another donkey.  The other donkey happened to be Jasper one of our excellent gate openers and we're hoping he let her out.  We don't need another one that thinks opening gates is fun.  We don't know if she opens gates or not, so for now her gate is double locked.

She is very pushy, probably from begging for treats from the greenhorns at the Bed and Breakfast.  She will nudge you hard enough to knock you down if you weren't paying attention.  I have no problem with instantaneous retaliation, so we have a pretty good understanding so far.  She's still trying to nudge me, but seems to realize it isn't working the way it has before..........LOL  Hopefully everyone will  be able to let her know those days are over.  I know she doesn't respect a stick, she'll just stand there and let you whack her with it, till your arm wears out..........!!! LOL

She doesn't want any of the other donkeys behind her and lets them know quickly.  The only one so far that is smitten with her is Waylon.  He is following her around, but from a distance.

Checking out the neighborhood

I was a little bit worried about Casper.  He has a history of attacking new animals on the property, doesn't matter girl boy or size.  So far he has pretty much ignored her, thank goodness.  

  We did have a little bit of excitement here a couple of days ago.  We were feeding, John was driving the golf cart, Suzanne was throwing hay and trying to do Betsy and Cochise where their pens come together.  I went in Cochise's pen to move his bunk and he kicked me twice so quick, I think I'm the only one that knew he kicked twice.....LOL  Anytime something like that happens it's almost always the person's fault and it was.  Suzanne was trying to get Betsy's gate open and control 2 buckets of hay.  Cochise and Betsy were totally focused on those buckets and I walked behind him.  He thought I was another donkey and probably figured there wasn't enough for 3.  He kicked the side of my knee, and I have no idea where the other shot was.  I went down and wallered on the ground for a little while, and made sure all body parts were still attached.  The knee swelled a little and didn't even bruise, it could have been worse.  When he first came here we had to be careful when cleaning his pen, he would shoot a hoof in your direction if he thought you were too close.  But he's been really good for a long time,  I don't hold a grudge and he doesn't seem to either........!! A dirty look and squeal would have got my attention though......LOL

We'll be picking up Chewy and Carter Sunday afternoon.  They are 2 mature geldings that have been in a great home for years.  But the people have health problems and need to move closer to medical care.  They have quite a few animals of assorted species and need to downsize the work.  They should do fine here.  

NEW GIRL COMING IN TOMORROW

 We have not met Betsy yet, we were told she has become aggressive and her only option would  be euthanization.  In these situations is the problem the donkey or the lack of leadership by the people around her?  Guess we'll find out............

It sounds like she isn't halter broke which means she doesn't lead.  We will try to run her into the trailer without having to wrestle her.  This means when we get her to the rescue we will unload her the same way, open the door and let her out into a pen............but which one?  

She will be kept in a pen for a few days until we figure out how to handle her.  Our first thought was to put her in the mare motel with Kris and Waylon.  But those pens aren't very big and there isn't any way to open them up to give her more room, when the others are out of the pens.  Most of our pens have middle gates we can open up and let a donkey use all of them during the day.  

We finally decided that Willie's pen would be the best choice, which means he gets moved to the mare motel.  Since he didn't have a vote, it was quite a shock for him this morning when he followed John like a good boy and ended up in a new pen.  He was not happy with this situation, so he paced and let us know we needed to fix it.  

We wondered how tonight would be at roundup, but you know what?  With a little hesitation he followed John into the mare motel.  It usually takes a couple of days for them to agree to a move to a new safe place.  Jasper got moved years ago and still goes in his old pen to stand sometimes.  If we forget to clip his gate, he will open it and go down to let whoever is in "his" pen out.  Melvin and Jackson that just went home last week, had that pen all summer.  Quite often we'd end up with 3 donkeys instead of two in that pen.  Jasper would open the gate and go in and the other boys didn't care.......!!! LOL

We've got 2 geldings over 30 years old coming in for sanctuary probably this week or next and that pen will be their's.  That should be a surprise for Jasper the next time we forget to clip his gate........!!!  LOL

THESE GUYS ARE SMART................!!

 People that have come out on tours know we don't feed treats if the donkeys are out of their pens. It would be too dangerous with donkeys and people not use to being around large animals that are greedy and want to make sure if treats are available they get their share.  They wouldn't hurt people on purpose but they sure would go after a fellow donkey that was between them and an animal cracker..........!!! 

Yesterday we had large group in the morning to visit with the donkeys.  The donkeys stayed in their pens and the group got to feed them treats.  At the end of the tour they wanted to see a couple of donkeys out of their pens to roam around with the people.  End of tour......... 2 donkeys..... large group of people, sounded doable.  We were by Harley and Siggy's pen, two of the minis so out they came which they thought was great, until they figured out there weren't any treats being offered.  They wandered around checking all the people for treats, wandered off and the tour was over.  

Siggy

We had another tour coming, and the minis weren't interested in going back in their pen, so we just left them out.  The tour got here, I looked for the boys but they weren't in sight.  The boy's pen was at the end of the tour and when we got there, there were two little minis standing in their pen, waiting patiently for their treat.  

They know there are no treats if they are outside the pen, but know if they are on the inside of the corral panel, treats will be offered, gate open or not.............!!! 

When it is feeding time, some of them will not go into their pen unless one of us is there to see the transition.  Other wise they will stand outside, until a person with a carrot shows up to escort them in.   It is so much fun to watch the little wheels work inside their heads.  Except when they are outsmarting us..........!!!  LOL

Harley

JACKSON & MELVIN WENT HOME THIS WEEK...........

 Melvin and Jackson had been here all summer.  They usually spent summers in Colorado and winters in Tonopah, AZ.  But this summer they stayed here while their family went to CO.

Jackson in the background, Melvin front and center

Going for a walk with mom

I think they had a good time being part of the herd, haven't heard yet if they were happy to get home.

Suzanne took 7 donkeys to Empire Ranch for a Cowboy Festival last week-end.  John and I took care of the ones left at home and then went out for the day Sat and Sun.  Lots of people interested in the donkeys and we've already had people come out here to see the rest of the donkeys.  

Next week we will be picking up a jenny named Betsy that has been living at a Bed & Breakfast, but has worn out her welcome by becoming too aggressive.  Treats probably were a large part of the problem, or perhaps not having anyone in charge.  Donkeys need to be part of a herd and have a leader.  If there isn't a leader in charge, they can become rather difficult to deal with, so they figure they must be in charge since no one else is.  That can be a big problem especially if the people don't agree with this arrangement.  

We are going out to the Mescal Movie Site next week and taking some donkeys for the people to pet.  We have never taken Boaz because he has scars on his legs people want to know about.  But he is the "donkey" of a thousand faces.  He has learned to make all sorts of faces to make people laugh and give him animal crackers.  Maybe people won't notice his legs, they'll be too busy laughing at his antics.

We have always wanted to take Beefy because he is a mammoth.  But he is just now learning to behave himself around jennies and still has a lot to learn.  We've decided to take him to Mescal with 3 or 4 other guys.............no girls.  It's been almost a year since he was gelded and he still acts stupid sometimes, but if there aren't any girls around we're hoping he'll enjoy all the people and forget about chasing girls.............!!!

Suzanne's modular is coming together, hopefully she can go get her furniture out of storage, move it in and her and her mom can enjoy all the space to spread out.  

Sorry I haven't been keeping up the blog, we never know what our days will be like, and there is usually surprises we hadn't planned on.  I keep trying to keep up, but sometimes the days just aren't long enough.