Vacuuming donkeys

No, I haven't managed to teach Emma to vacuum my house for me.  Although, now I think about it, maybe I should give that a try.  But I digress.  My absolute favorite horse grooming tool is my horse vacuum that I purchased some fifteen years ago.  I decided that it was high time to introduce this marvel to Emma.  Her initial reaction was mild skepticism:

"What is that weird, blue, snakey thing Ma?  I'm not so sure that should be touching me"

Followed by, "OH, is that a carrot you're holding next to the weird, blue, snakey thing"
"Yes Emma but you have to come see the weird, blue, snakey thing "
"Well OK, if there are carrots involved"

"And see Emma, it makes a pretty good back scratcher too"

"Yeah, that does feel pretty good, a little to the right please."

"OK Em, I'm going to turn it on now, its going to be a little noisy"
"Hmmm, I think you should do Tessa first, I want to make sure that thing doesn't suck her right off her feet"

"Gosh Mom, that feels really good, why don't you vacuum me every day?"

 "I'll make sure to keep adding new dust to my coat so you don't have to worry about me getting cold or anything."

 I think I've created a monster.

A new home for baby

Well, baby brother is going to have a new home in the Syracuse area.  He is going to be taking on the important task of equine companionship, something that donkeys excel at.

Mom and Dad are looking pretty good, especially compared to their condition back in July.  I trimmed their feet again and gave them another dose of wormer.  While they are not perfect looking yet, they are MUCH better.  Both donkeys are moving so much better.

Jack treated us to a nice, long bray trying to entice us to come back for some more scratching.

 

Jenny really would have liked to jump in the back of the truck and if I thought I could get away with it I'd have let her.  She is so sweet, just like her daughter Emma.  I would have loved to bring her home with me.

Baby brother remained coy and shy but I have no doubt that he will be just as friendly and sweet as the rest with a little time and attention.  

I am so glad to have been able to help these wonderful donkeys.  If anyone out there in cyberspace  wants to dramatically improve your own life, look around for a donkey that needs a little help.  Believe me, there are a lot of them out there.  They will doubly return every bit of love you can give them. 

 

Oh Brother!

I think I mentioned that Emma has a little brother (click here for story) and that I was hoping to find a new home for him?  Well, I am going back over to see him and his parents this afternoon and meet with a prospective owner for the little guy.  I am looking forward to seeing how much he has grown and how his parents are doing.  I am hoping to see that they all look much improved since I dewormed them for the first time in many years.  I am going to take another tube with me along with my farrier tools and try to trim their feet again since I will be there.  I might as well do what I can when I can.  I'll post a progress report later.

No, you can't have the car tonight

I have been doing some work on my barn, trying to finish the siding.  This is all part of my Mother-Of-All-DIY-Projects that began in 2008 when I bought a piece of land and decided to build a house and a barn by myself.  That is a long story for another day, suffice it to say that my house and my barn are mostly finished.  Still, in the past few weeks I have been trying to finally get the battens on my barn, which is why it is sporting candystripes lately.

In order to work on one of the walls, I had to move a riding lawn mower out of its normal position under the shed roof of the barn.  Since I like to give my horses ample opporuntily to learn about potentially scary stuff in a safe and comfortable environment, I simply pushed the mower into the area in front of the barn and let Emma and Tessa give it a thorough going over.  Beyond a few nose-prints on the mower, what could it hurt?  

Well, a while later, I returned my attention to the mower.  I was amused to notice that the entire mower was covered with slightly muddy nose-prints.  I remained amused right up to the moment that I tried to start the thing.  My thoughts from that point went something like this:

Oh no, where's the key
OH NO, Emma has the key
OH NO, EMMA HAS THE KEY!

You really don't want to know the exact words going through my head at this point.  I was just beginning to think about how I might be able to get Emma to Cornell for emergency key removal when I spotted a shiny glint on the ground.  Thank God, there it was.  The whole thing was somewhat bent and the plastic bit on the end showed distinct donkey teeth-marks.  

Note to Self (and any other donkey owners or prospective owners):  One's donkey can not be trusted with the keys to the family car, or lawn mower, or tractor, wheel barrow, hammer, clothing, tools, etc, etc, etc,....

In fact, one's donkey cannot be trusted with anything that she can get into her mouth no matter how remote the possibility may seem.  One's donkey simply cannot be trusted.

Waiting for Spring

So, Tessa and I tried out our saddle again.  Unfortunatly, it didn't go so good.  She is still very obviously uncomfortable as soon as I get on her.  After her checkup on Tuesday, I had been hoping for a much better reaction.  It looks like she needs more time though so she will remain a lovley pasture onranment until Spring.  Hopefully, more time spent in Emma's marvelous company and the coming of good weather will bring her back to full soundness. 

This may be too big a job for just one little donkey.  Perhaps, I need to bring in reinforcments. 

Great News!!!!

According to Dr. Heather, Tessa has improved dramatically since she was here last.  Her vertebrae seem to have healed up very well.  There is still some stiffness in the hip, probably from a healing shear fracture in the top of the sacro-illiac joint but Tessa showed no pain reaction anywhere.

The most exciting part is that I actually get to try and ride Tessa tomorrow, just for five minutes to see how she feels and reacts.  If all goes well, I can continue working her very slowly.  If things don't go well tomorrow, we will wait until Spring to let her heal more.  Even if we have to wait, her prognosis is looking pretty good tonight. 

I truly believe that having Emma here has helped Tessa heal.  There is absolutely no stress in her life anymore and she is so relaxed and happy with her little donkey companion.  I can't think of a better way to promote healing and recuperation.  Lets hear it for the magical healing power of donkeys!

Checkup for Tessa

Late this afternoon, a chiropractic specialist is coming out to check Tessa.  This is the day I am hoping to find out how well (or not) Tessa's back and hip injuries are healing.  This visit could dictate what Tessa's future will be, either there should be significant signs of improvement or there are not likely to ever be any.  We're all hoping for good news.