Diega was euthanized this morning.  At least she is free of pain now.

Unfortunately Diega will not be coming to stay with us after all.  Her x-rays are really bad.  I don't know a whole lot about all the nuances of reading x-rays of the interior of hooves, but even I was shocked when I saw this.  

This is not a hoof that can be rehabilitated, & the other one looks about the same.  I have had 3 farriers/trimmers look at the x-rays & they are all in agreement that there is nothing that can be done to help these feet long term.  She's only 2 1/2 years old & would continue growing & gaining weight for a couple more years.  Those feet don't need more weight to carry.

So sad, I was told Diega & her mother came into Hacienda de los Milagros from a home that not only allowed feet like this to exist, but they were both very emaciated.  Nothing was done at Milagros except to turn her out to walk around I guess.  She has never had a chance.........!!! What is so frustrating, if she was born with "funny" feet a few weeks of splints could have made all the difference in the world.  Sometimes the best thing we can do is to set them free from pain, I hope her caretakers will do this last thing for her. 

Diega is getting x-rays tomorrow on her nasty feet.  I hope there isn't too much rotation & demineralization of the coffin bone.  She is only 2 1/2 years old, I'd like to think she hasn't had time to get a lot of damage.  Unfortunately it can happen pretty quickly though.  

Cheyenne managed to have at least a short visit with a skunk last night.  Whew!  I don't think she got sprayed, wasn't quite strong enough........BUT........it was strong enough for me.  

One of the little suckers is living under the container up by the garage.  I went in the container this morning for the 1st time in ages, & "noticed" the smell.  Asked John if he knew there was a skunk up there & he said it had been there for awhile.....!!!!  Really......????  Of course trying to remove it permanently, probably wouldn't work out too well, they have a way of not going along with the program.  Years ago one got in the garage, we had heard you could run them off by turning on lights.  John turned on all the lights in the garage & left the big door open.  Waited a little while, went back up there, & the skunk was frolicking & cavorting around having a great time in the "bright" lights.  When he saw us, instead of running out the door, he went under John's roll around tool box.  John left the door open all night & the next morning the skunk was gone.  I guess we should be glad he didn't find a good spot for a nest & just stay.  

Tried to take a video of Aaron doing his thing this morning.  Donkeys seem to have an inbred way of knowing when you want to take a picture or video.  Whatever they were doing that was so cute, comes to a complete halt.  

We had no chasing of the golf cart, or the poo rake, which has also become interesting.  

I need to work on having a better ending to my videos. 

Aaron is in love with the golf cart.  We drive thru the pens on the west side to deliver the hay.  He meets it at the gate coming in, runs around it & checks out all the "parts" while it's in the pen sitting still.  On the way out gate #2 we really have to be careful, he is so quick & doesn't seem to see anything wrong with standing between the golf cart & wagon.  

He's also got running past & kicking up his heels down to a science.  So far he's usually far enough away that it isn't a problem, he really isn't kicking at us, but I'm sure those little hooves would hurt if they connected.  

He came into the world head shy for some reason.  Loves to be rubbed & scratched all over, pick up feet no problem, ears are good, inside the ears GREAT......but the face is pretty much off limits.  My foal halter went with Tucker when he & Mocha went to their forever home, so I'll have to get another one when we go to town.  Maybe haltering & learning to lead will make a difference.  Although we have noticed that he is pretty opinionated about anything he doesn't want to do.  If you try to hold him still, that left rear hoof starts kicking pretty quick. 

Everyone else seems to be doing good, we'll have our first tour of the new year today.  It's some friends with visiting family, which we get a lot of this time of year.  

Haven't heard anymore about Diega the last couple of days.  Cindy is working on getting x-rays of her feet & since I haven't heard anything, I assume they won't be bringing her this week. 

SUGAR "HELPING" JOHN WITH THE TRACTOR A FEW YEARS AGO

I guess baby donkeys are mechanic "wanna a be's"

Heard from Julie, she said to use the pictures however I wanted to so here goes:

This is a sample of what Ruthie had to put up with the first couple of days, lots of eyes wanting a baby of their own I guess

Who wouldn't want one of these for their very own

 

Finally got those long legs operating effectively

Momma loves her little man..!!!!

Ruthie has been very good at letting the other donkeys & Rusty the mule, know that their admiration isn't appreciated.  Poor Daisy shares a fence at feeding time & isn't allowed on that side of the pen without being met by a huffy kicking momma.....!!!  Last night John didn't get the gate closed in time, the baby went in, momma went in with a vengeance & Daisy tried to chase the baby.  Not sure  if Daisy was trying to steal the baby or thought he was the problem.  Either way, John hustled around & got everyone where they needed to be before someone got hurt.  

Can't keep calling him baby, although I could call him Habibi, which is Arabic for baby.  But his name will be Aaron.  We had a family out here to see the donkeys a couple of months ago, & one of the men was having a birthday.  His Mother asked if we would name the baby after him.  I asked what if it was a girl, but of course there is the Irish spelling of Erin, so everything was covered.  

This morning he was acting a little funny with his mouth.  I would imagine he is cutting his first 2 teeth, they show up within a few days of them being born. 

This is a link to a story about the sanctuary, where Diega was before one of the board members took her to Phoenix.  I hope they can make some changes that are long overdue, & make sure the first & foremost goal, is to make sure the animals are well taken care of.  It looks like there are 145 animals on a 7 acre property.

I was up there a few years ago, when there were actually more animals & was really surprised that they didn't look crowded.  I figured they would be standing nose to tail, waiting for someone to move a few steps, so they could move.  But they actually had more room than I expected.  I know some of the animals were kept in barns, which I didn't see.  Don't know if they ever were outside or not.  Some of the horses were in small individual pens, I was told they went out in an area that looked to be about 1/2 acre, but I don't know how often. 

I just hope this is a good thing for the animals.

Julie & Joe stopped by the day after the baby was born & Julie took some great pictures.  I'm waiting to hear back from her, so I can put them on the blog, I'm sure she won't mind, but wanted to ask her first.

Ruthie is really protective & we still haven't got our hands on him.  I thought after a couple of days she would be more receptive, but so far she doesn't see a need for us to be part of their little family, so I guess we'll have to get pro-active.  He's definitely livelier than Tucker was, during the day they get the 6 pens on the west side & he takes full advantage of being able to run from one end to the other.  

Looks like there's another little girl in the pipeline that might be coming out to stay with us.  Right now she's up in Phoenix with some nasty, nasty feet.  Her name is Diega & she's only 2  1/2 years old.  Not sure when it will all happen, but soon.  

This is front feet, don't know how they could get that bad in 2 1/2 years.  She also has a lot of proud flesh on the wrapped leg. 

We also might be getting another mule for Rusty.  He doesn't care for the donkeys at all, so is by himself now with Jack gone.  There is a large rescue in northern Arizona that is going thru some big long overdue changes & one of them is downsizing.  This is where the jenny is coming from & when we were e-mailing back & forth, I told them they might as well throw in a mule for Rusty.  Wonder what it will be......???