A Little Moment of Panic

I woke up this morning at 6 am and looked out the window to see 4 donkeys happily wandering around so I turned around and went back to bed.  At 7am, my dog woke me up barking at something in a funny way so I got up again and only found three donkeys happily wandering around.  Hoping that number 4 was just hiding behind the shed, I threw on clothes and went to check.  I am definitely not a morning person, but even I can count to three in the am with sufficient application of panic. 

I headed out for search and rescue, worried that I had managed to lose the new donkey in less than 12 hours.  However, much to my relief, I found Al out in the back field, running the fence line trying to figure out how to get back in.  I called him to me and, much to his relief, he followed me back to the herd. 

Everyone is still trying to figure things out, but Al is not one to get left out of things.  He manages to quietly squirm his way into everything.  This is the closest he and Ramsey have gotten so far.  It took months before he would talk to Ben.

Al had just arrived at the hay net and Ramsey was more intrigued than alarmed.  My little chocolate donkey has learned a lot from Ben about how to get along with new donkeys and he is much less alarmed and offended than he was when poor Ben got here.  Speaking of Ben though, see him back there?  He has just noticed that the new guy is awfully close to HIS herd.

Here comes the dragon.

The dragon deciding whether or not to breathe fire....

Thinking maybe he can live and let live...

...but then Ramsey's head comes up and he thinks about backing up and The Dragon steps in to guard his buddy.

All in all it is good progress for just 24 hours despite the momentary panic.  I learned that I can trust Al to stay with the herd even if he somehow gets himself in a bad spot.  Ramsey is taking this new addition much better and I am glad that he has learned how to be part of a real herd, it is good for him on many levels.  Al can handle himself without getting upset or causing trouble and my Dragon will keep the herd safe and in line.  Not bad for a day's work.

Little Albert Einstein

My friend Dave and I went and picked up Little Albert Einstein this afternoon.  I wasn't sure how much of a fight we would have getting him on the trailer.  To be honest, I was expecting a bit of a battle.  I have been working on Al's feet since last Fall - sort of, because he does NOT like having his feet picked up and he is most definitely capable of battle.  I've managed to get a few trims done, but mostly I have been working on gaining his trust and convincing him to work with me.  That paid off in a big way today.  He was afraid of the trailer and not happy about it at all, but I talked to him and asked nicely and he jumped on.  Al is a very brave, intelligent donkey and even though he was shaking like a leaf, he took the leap - very brave, tough little guy. 

He was met with the full court press.

I had set up this nice little condo for him, thinking he could stay there for the night.  He HATED it.  He started pacing incessnatly any time I walked away from him and I could see him think about jumping out the windows.

I gave them an hour or so to try to settle in and say hello over the fence....

...but is was clear that it was not going to work so I took Al out and showed him around a bit and then he headed right into the back of the barn.  I quickly set things up so he could stay there for the night and he was fine as long as I stayed with him.  I finally left them all to it and went in the house for an hour. 

When I came back out, Al had resumed his pacing and had himself quite worked up and sweated through.  I have seen this kind of pacing in stallions who are kept in small pens all by themselves.  It becomes a habit that can be hard to break.  Al was gelded late and I think he has spent a little too much time on a small space at some point in his murky, neglected past.  Since he seemed to be very respectful of the fence and confinement was making everyone crazy, I gave up trying to impose my ideas of how introductions should go and let them do it the donkey way.

There was a fair bit of wild galloping around....

...and then they settled down to discuss things.  Emma was intrigued and willing to talk, Ben was too - for a while.  Ramsey was intrigued but very wary and nervous, which is a huge improvement over terrified and appalled like he was when I brought Ben home.

Ben was fine with Al until he got close to Ramsey and Ramsey took off in fright.  It is only recently that Ben and Ramsey have become good buddies, but as soon as Ramsey seemed upset, out came the Dragon and Ben put himself between Al and Ramsey to protect his friend.

 (I keep telling those boys that they need to put their toys away, but they never listen.  Boys!)

After a certain amount of excitement and exploring, things settled down into the long, slow process of donkey negotiations.

I am hopeful that Al will make friends much faster than the 18 months it took Ben and Ramsey, but donkeys make up their minds when they feel like it and that is all there is to it.

All is dark and quiet now though and, while my crew my be unsure, Al himself is very sure he wants to stick close to the herd.  I think he will integrate faster than Ben did, because Little Albert is not one to be put off easily.

They will all come to terms in their own time...

...but I think they will make a nice little herd.

Stable Relations

The new herd dynamics are still sorting themselves out.  As always, I find the study of herd dynamics to be fascinating.  The big difference that I see between introducing new horses and introducing new donkeys is a difference in speed, velocity and drama.  Horses are all about galloping around, flying hooves, blowing, snorting, squealing and posturing.  Hierarchy is paramount and must be established.  There is much drama when introducing new horses.

Things are muuuch slower and more cerebral with donkeys.  They look at each other, maybe get close enough to sniff, then they back off, pretend the other doesn't exist and go their separate ways to think about the situation.  They come back later and repeat, getting a bit closer each time, but still backing off to think things through.

The only place this does not work well is in the barn where things can get crowded.  Emma and Ramsey are still very intimidated by Ben and he is a bit pushy about food.  He is not mean about it, but they get scared and want to escape, which can be problematic in the an enclosed space.

So, I got out the power tools and made some minor changes.

This is what the back of the barn has looked like for the past several years (minus the big donkey).....

That back, left corner is Emma's favorite spot.  It is where she chose to give birth to Ramsey.

Emma and Ramsey can duck under the center board and put a barrier between themselves and Tessa if they want to.  She is good to them, but they hate feeling crowded, especially Emma, and this partial wall gives them a space of their own to feel safe.

It still works great if I lock Ben in that stall, but that is not a viable long-term option.

I took the stall partition down....

...and replaced it with a single long board that little donkeys can pass under easily and big donkeys cannot.

If I have to, I can add another board down the center and create a space that is accessible to little donkeys only.  We will see how this works for now though.  Hopefully, they will all keep thinking about things and eventually decide, in their own donkey way and in their own donkey time, to get along.  For now, I just want everyone to be safe and not feel threatened.

The key to having a happy herd is to make sure that everyone feels safe, well fed, and not crowded.  If any one of those three things is lacking, there will be problems.  Which is true for all animals, including humans.  It is too bad we so often forget, or choose to ignore that.