DONKEYS ON THE MOVE.........

PICTURE DOWNLOADED FROM MARK MYER'S TWITTER PAGE

Saturday morning, Deming, New Mexico, Mark headed back to Texas with 2 trailers full of donkeys from the rescue at Hacienda de los Milagros. 

PLEASE DONATE.......!!!!

There is a link on the right to help Hoofprints of the Heart with some of the expenses for this huge rescue effort.  All donations no matter how small, will help them continue to help these and other animals.  

It is a sad fact to rehabilitate equines that have been neglected is quite expensive.  Overgrown feet, x-rays, infected teeth, special feeds, and supplements, and vaccinations, for a start.  A minimum estimate to take care of a healthy donkey would probably be about $600 a year.  These neglected animals could cost many times that & even then might not be adoptable.   Penny & Coquette will not be adoptable, they both have too many problems, that would make them a very hard "sell", no matter how sweet they are.  

Please consider giving what you can to this worthwhile cause.  James at Hoofprints gets maximum use from all donations, & really could use your help. 

THE GIRLS ARE OUT AND ABOUT.......!!!

COQUETTE & PENNY THIS MORNING EXPLORING

This might be the last picture I take for awhile.  The lens on my camera as of this morning no longer goes in and out when you turn it off and on.  It also turns itself off within seconds of you trying to turn it on.  I really hate to get another camera, this one operates under the KISS principle & believe me, SIMPLE is my middle name or should be.  I got a new camera a year or so ago, & finally gave it to my grandson, it had too many layers of "stuff", I never could tell where I was, which of course made it difficult to do what I wanted to do.  Generally all I wanted to do was, take a picture & download it.  I don't even want to shop for a new camera....!!!!  

This morning we wormed the girls, and will do so again in about 10 days.  When they come in and you think they might be wormy, it's better to "lightly" worm them with something like Safe Guard, lightly being, using less wormer than you would normally use by weight, by 100 pounds or so.  They don't look wormy, but I know they haven't been wormed since they were at Milagros, however long that was.  

We doctored Penny's face, she's getting less cooperative every time, although so far John can "corral" her just by holding her around the neck.  The sores look better, but won't clear up until all the larvae are out, which will take a long time.  If I don't kill them with the Ivermectin, they will continue to grow until they are big enough to see, then I can go after them individually.

I guess while Dr. Weaver was here we should have had him work on Coquette.  I was standing behind her after I let her out of the pen & she walks with a definite wobble in her hind legs, I was going to take a video, but that's when I found out my camera is kaput......!!!

THE GIRLS ARE HERE..........!!!!

Here's a herd shot when we went up to Hoofprints of the Heart yesterday to pick up the girls.........yes the girls.  When we rounded them up, James had to rope Falena, aka, Coquette, aka Arabella (I'm having a terrible time getting a name to stick on her).  I guess that was the closest he had been to her, and we discovered she wasn't a gelding after all.......!! 

You'd think with feet like this she would be easy to halter, nope those feet might really look ugly, but they seem to work just fine, at least on soft ground.

Penny's name seems to fit her.  She was a little easy to work with and didn't mind being haltered and led.  

The dark spot on the left is her withers, she is hunchbacked.  The front half of her back sticks up about an inch or so.  Dr. Weaver came out today to see if he could manipulate her back.  He said her back is twisted where it dips down.  He adjusted her back and she tried to "adjust" him a couple of times, before she settled down.  He wants to work on her in a few weeks, he says she probably either had something fall on her, or was trapped in a twisted position.  It doesn't seem to bother her, she moves very easy, and doesn't seem to have any pain from it.  

She does have habronema larvae under her eye, I started working on this morning.  She obviously has not had a lot of attention & didn't really appreciate my "doctoring".  Some of them were big enough I could "retrieve" them with surgical tweezers.  The rest of them, I smeared with Ivernectin worming paste.  She has quite a few in the tissue around her eye.  Dr. Weaver said the Ivermectin wouldn't hurt her eye, so tonight I put some on the sores in her eye socket.  I can't dig them out like I do the ones on her cheek, so hopefully the Ivermectin will kill them.  We will keep a fly mask on her until next winter, so eventually we will get rid of them, but it will probably take all summer.  Her front legs are bald, just like Quillas.

It is always interesting to try to help these animals that haven't had the care they deserve.  I just wish it wasn't necessary, that people would take care of them properly & make sure they have what they need.

MORE OF THE HERD AT HOOFPRINTS OF THE HEART, MARANA, ARIZONA

JOHN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HIS NEXT MOVE

 READY TO GO HOME............!!!!

NEWS COVERAGE OF THE RESCUE

Last night local channel 13 covered the rescue at 5, 6 & 10 pm & tonight KGUN 9 will also have something at 5, 6 & 10 pm, not sure if all 3 times will have it. 

I hope the coverage generates a lot of donations for James & Hoofprints, just the gas bills for the trucks hauling the trailers are frightening.  

When we go up to Hoofprints tomorrow to pick up those 2 donkeys, we are also going to be looking for Roxie a BLM jenny that was signed over to Milagros last summer.  Her Mom is one of the people that has been instrumental to keeping this deplorable situation out in the fresh air & sunshine, until something finally happened.

Not sure we will be able to recognize her, she is such a common color, but we'll look.  If we find her, her Mom would like to have her come home.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Took Molly to the vet this morning as planned.  She still hasn't peed...........!!!!  The vet said if she hadn't peed since Saturday she would probably be dead by now.  She has been in a pen by herself & there is no pee in there.

The vet checked her heart, said if her bladder had ruptured or something like that her heart rate would be thru the roof.  Everything was normal, although she was a little dehydrated.  But it is so hot right now, that isn't really a big surprise.  We had a CBC  (Complete Blood Count) draw, & she also got drenched with a tube up her nose & down in her stomach.  It's been over 5 hours & she still hasn't peed.

She really was a good girl, even for the tube in the nose.  That is usually not very well accepted by any of them.  Jack was thrilled when she came home, & has been outside her pen ever since.  She is staying in that pen until she PEES......!!!!!

HACIENDA de los MILAGROS IS OFFICIALLY CLOSED AS OF JUNE 4, 2013

RIP, the pain & suffering is finally over....  Thanks Patti

Can you imagine looking at an animal like this every day for months, having to turn him over so he didn't get open sores on his body, because he couldn't get up or stand? I will go to the wall for these animals.  But part of being a good steward is making sure they have quality of life.  These animals deserved better.

Thank heavens.........!!! It was too late for 7 donkeys & some of the horses, but for the  other 80 plus equines they now have a chance at a life with health care, dental care, foot care, food to eat & when the time comes a final obligation that is the responsibility of everyone that has animals in their lives.  

I will cover this in more detail later.  Right now the director of the "sanctuary" is trying to start another sanctuary called Circle of One.   He managed to take 7 horses when he was removed & is now using them as "seed" for the new rescue.  He is sending out requests for donations to people that were on the donor list for Milagros.  Please spread the word to anyone that might be tempted to donate to Wynne's new endeavor.

Wednesday we're going into Hoofprints in Tucson to pick up the crippled jenny, & James at Hoofprints asked if we would take a club footed younger gelding too.  Guess Courtney is going to have some interesting new feet to work on for awhile.

About 60 of the donkeys are at Hoofprints & the last 5 donkeys are being removed from HDLM tomorrow.  So if anyone would like to add a donkey or two to their family, I'm sure James could find a special one for you in the herd.  

 

We picked up Jack & Molly as planned.  We're keeping her in a pen by herself so we can monitor input & outgo.  So far she is eating, drinking, & pooing, but no peeing.  Not sure what that is about.  We have an appointment to take her into the vet tomorrow to see what they think & do some blood tests. Jack is very confused, he doesn't understand why he can't be in the pen with her.  For one thing she is getting a little alfalfa hay & oats.  If she does have hyperlipidemia it is important that she eats, so her system doesn't think it's starving to death.  He's such a little pig, he'd be right in the middle of the goodies.  

Got a call from our neighbor that has the movie site, Gammon's Gulch across the road from us yesterday afternoon.  They had been sitting at the table looking out the window & saw a young black bear wandering down the main street of the western town.  That's the first time we've heard of a bear that close to us.  One of the other neighbor's said she saw it a day or two before.  I would imagine it is a young male that has been kicked out of the area he was born in & is searching for a territory of his own.  There really isn't much in this area to make them stay, so hopefully he has moved on.  Years ago the local rancher shot a mountain lion, but we've never seen one of those either.  I don't think a black bear would bother the donkeys, they are usually pretty timid, but if he got hungry enough he might take on one of the minis.  So I would just as soon he go someplace else. 

 

JACK & MOLLY COMING BACK.......!!!

When we came in from the races at 2am this morning, there were 2 phone messages from Beverly to call her whenever I got in.  Oh! well, I have to assume she meant it, so I called her.  

Molly hadn't eaten since breakfast & was laying down most of the time, & someone had diarrhea, but they weren't sure who.  She wouldn't even take animal crackers, one of her personal favorites.  

We talked for awhile & I told her if Molly wasn't better by this morning we'd have to find a vet to come out & see her.  Her husband checked on Molly while we were on the phone, & said she was laying down & Jack was standing over her.  

Beverly was very upset, & I can't blame her for that.  It's awful when they are sick or down & you don't know why.  

My 2 ideas were either colic or hyperlipedemia and it looks like after being given some karo syrup & fed some alfalfa, she is perking up.  Which points to hyperlipidemia.  

Beverly had recently lost her mare and thinks she isn't ready for something like this.  So we are going in this afternoon and bring the mini mules back here.  It's too bad because this would have been a wonderful home for them & Hombre the horse is going to miss Jack, they had already became "buds" from what Beverly said. 

We had a real nice couple come out from Tucson today.  They had met a orphan baby donkey at their vet's & as they say, fell in love.  They called & asked if they could come out & meet the donkeys.  While they were here they did some grooming, which most of the donkeys absolutely love, they will stand as long as you will groom.  Some of them will even get back in line, hoping you don't remember them.  They say they will be back, which I know the donkeys really really appreciate.  

I forgot to say anything about the Pepper "crisis" while John was hauling donkeys Thursday.  When I went out to feed at suppertime, no Pepper.  I got everyone else in their pens, & found him right away down in the big wash.  He's never been down before when John wasn't here.  I tried to get him up by myself, but I just don't have enough muscle, besides John had taken all the good ropes with him.  

I came in & called one neighbor, had to leave a message.  So I called another one & he said he'd be right up.  I went back out with Pepper to hopefully keep him from thrashing around.  He's pretty much learned that once we get there, we'll get him up, but if nothing is happening he'll start trying to get up, which just wears the hair off his bones.  The 1st neighbor got here first, we tried getting him up with me helping & finally Rick took both ropes, pulled Pepper over & the crisis was over.  Just about that time Roger got here too.  It's great when you have neighbors that will come running if you need them.  I told them I'd keep their numbers, like Rick said he's trained now......!!!! LOL

WHAT A MESS................!!!

John & Patti hauled 7 donkeys yesterday in our 4 horse trailer to Hoofprints of the Heart Rescue in Marana.  Everything went smoothly, according to John.  They loaded fairly well, although he said they didn't really appreciate curves & corners.  With that many animals back there dancing around I'm sure he knew when they weren't happy.  

John has always taken good care of the stock trailer and it still looks pretty good for it's age, well except for the area Jack the mini mule tried to eat.  We have no idea what he was trying to do, but he managed to scrape a good size area of paint off with his teeth.  John usually has it cleaned out & ready to go, no later than the next morning.  

When he called yesterday afternoon, he said, "you should see the trailer, they managed to sling "poo" (I cleaned that up) clear to the ceiling.  I reminded him of what a mess 2 donkeys can make in an hour or so in the trailer.  Seven for 5 hours, just compounds the problem.  

I was going to take a picture of the inside this morning, but a picture wouldn't do it justice.  He had said it was running out the back and sure enough, trust me,  it's not a pretty sight.........!!! LOL 

John had an appointment this morning, so didn't have a chance to clean it out.  It's in the high 90's this afternoon, which is going to bake all that diarrhea into the metal.  Won't that be fun to clean off........??  Glad it's his job not mine....!!

There's more donkeys to be hauled, probably sometime next week and homes to find.  I called my "want donkey" list this morning.  Some of them have found donkeys or in one case a horse, which is good, but doesn't help find these guys a new home.  

One of the donkeys still needing to be hauled has a old break in her fetlock.  We've already decided we'll probably add her to our herd.  She probably wouldn't be adoptable, but that's OK, most of ours aren't.  This is why we never get our numbers down I guess. 

MINI MULE UPDATE

I took this picture when we delivered them Tuesday. 

Beverly called this morning & said they have settled in just fine.  She said she wish she had the camera earlier, when Jack & Hombre were laying down together.  Sounds like they are going to be BUDS, hope Molly doesn't get left out.  Hmmmmmm   Jack's always been mean to her, but screams like a banshee  if she is out of his sight.  She might enjoy having a girlfriend & not having to rely on him for companionship.  I might have to talk to Beverly about that.......!!!!   LOL  Another little mini mule girl would be perfect, but there aren't that many of them.  But you never know.  

John & our friend Patti are participating in a rescue today.  Both John & I couldn't go, someone has to stay home & take care of the animals & Mother.  Patti said she'd go, she likes adventures.  It's almost 300 miles away, so it will be a long day.  I'd REALLY like to vent about it, but maybe later.  Sometimes situations just make you shake your head.  

So I got to do chores all by myself for the first time in a LONG time.  I think I was younger last time, perhaps a LOT younger.......!!!  I got done before noon, but there were a lot of rest breaks in there.  When I'm gone & call John he usually says he was done by 10am.  GRRRRRR...!!!  They probably won't be back by feeding time tonight, but I won't have to pick up poo & will leave the hay for John to weigh.  He doesn't like me messing in his buckets....!!!!  So it shouldn't be quite so traumatic......!!!