Young meets old.....

Oh my! All the things that happen when you add a 3 1/2 year old to the mix of senior citizens. Last week Odin, the baby of the DSC was brought over to the special needs side, mainly because he looked a little bit to skinny.....boy this side has not been the same since, and it is hilarious to watch. Odin was born at the DSC in the summer of 06, can't believe it's been that long ago already. His pregnant mom and brother were brought to the DSC shortly before his birth, so Odin never had a bad day in his life and it's amazing how you can tell a healthy happy animal from one that has been neglected or abused. Odin is a typical rambunctious young donkey boy and boy does he keep the special side hoping...literally. He is very nosey and has to check everything out, he was carefully watching as I was grooming some donkeys and watched every move I made and as soon as I laid a brush down, he had to check it out. He is constantly looking for a play mate to run and roam around, hard to find on the special needs side, since they are either old or not feeling well, but he sure gets them all going and some of them I haven't seen move like that in all my years. He really bonded with Chiclet, an eleven year old with a lot of problems, but both of them were seen frolicking through the mud chasing each other and playing.Maybe it's good to have Odin on this side to bring some spunk back into some of these oldies and remind them that they still can have fun being old sick donkeys. Of course there are some of them who don't want anything to do with Odin and they let him have it too, but Odin isn't giving up, he will get them going eventually.

Odin in the Fall of 2006

I learnt a few things today too.....mostly don't under estimate the power of a tiny little mini donkey....well according to the grooming book every donkey is rated as per how easy it is to be groomed...there is easy....advanced ....and there is with staff assistance......so since I still classify myself as a newbie I tend to pick the easy ones, so my sweet tiny little Sable is classified as easy.....hmmmm.....haltering no problem.....walking her to the fence.....a little bit of a challenge but we managed.....tying her up...no problem......but that little creature was not having any of this grooming part today, talk about strong and stubborn little cutie, omg thought she was gonna rip the fence down and I had to let her go...thank god she was tied up with a quick release knot....but even getting to that was a little bit of a challenge since she was turning and kicking out , I think maybe it had to do with Odin being in the way too because even after she was free she couldn't resist to give him a few kicks as he was trying to chase her down. It's funny to watch a mini donkey try to kick a standard, it's actually hilarious and the efforts are really wasted....too cute. Ok on to the next one...Pansy, another mini, she was no problem at all, I even did all her feet today, she was such a good little donkey. You don't realize how small they really are until you have to bend down to clean their feet, I guess my own ass was sticking out more then usual and Odin saw that as a good opportunity to nip me in the butt, because I was not giving him any attention and kind of moved him out of the way to get to Pansy from all sides. And of course i did my beloved Buffy. Buffy is such a good donkey, a little shy and timid around the other ones, but she has come a long way and it is so nice to have her come up to you, well actually seek you out from where ever you are....makes me feel so special.
I also learnt that even in the donkey world friendships don't last forever and I felt so sad for Dolly yesterday. She is a perfectly healthy donkey but has been on the special side because of her tight bond with Dusty Rose, Dolly never leaves her side and where ever Dusty goes, Dolly is sure to follow, but over the last couple of weeks Dusty has totally ignored Dolly and given her the cold shoulder. But Dolly like a faithful puppy keeps with her despite that, so yesterday the staff decided to move Dolly to the other side to the main herd, in hopes of Dolly bonding with another donkey and to just be with a group. Well poor Dolly was not happy, all day she spent at the gate and shaking it because she wanted back over to the special care side to be with Dusty. She looked so sad and lonely, poor little thing. Hopefully she will make a new friend soon, or maybe Dusty will start to miss her too and look for her, she didn't do it yesterday though. :( I can't wait to next week to find out show she made out.
Driving every week to the DSC on the unpaved muddy back roads has my Jeep starting to look the way a Jeep is suppose to look like....all covered in mud.....woo hooo.....surprised that the AH hasn't said anything yet about that.