This is definitely a monumental moment. It was 1 year, 6 months, 27 days in the making*.
Nigel wore a halter for the first time yesterday.
There was a lot of Happy Dancing going on here; Nigel included:
As most of you know, Nigel was quite wild and completely untouchable when he came to us in April 2010, and it took almost five months for us to touch him. He’s always had a “thing” about ropes; the mere sight of a rope has always sent him into a bit of a panic.
Once Nigel discovered the halter wasn’t going to prevent him from eating, he was a seriously happy camper.
*In case you’re wondering, I didn’t count out the days and months. Of course, there’s a website that calculates the time between dates:
From and including: Friday, April 16, 2010
To, but not including : Saturday, November 12, 2011
It is 575 days from the start date to the end date, but not including the end date
Or 1 year, 6 months, 27 days excluding the end date
Alternative time units
575 days can be converted to one of these units:
- 49,680,000 seconds
- 828,000 minutes
- 13,800 hours
- 82 weeks (rounded down)
I love you, Nigel.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
November 13, 2011 at 4:08 am
Love his expression . . . you know he is just humoring you 🙂
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November 13, 2011 at 5:07 am
Nigel makes a beautiful picture with his pretty halter on. 🙂
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November 13, 2011 at 5:09 am
It looks like he is smiling and posing with his new halter.
Well done, Justina, no I mean well done NIGEL!
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November 13, 2011 at 5:20 am
Woo-hoo! That’s wonderful news. And it tells you how far he has come with his trust in you that he would let this happen and be calm about it.
You two are good donkey whisperers.
Well done, Nigel!
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November 13, 2011 at 5:40 am
What an achievement, to have gained Nigel’s trust so completely.
It should make both of you feel good about yourselves.
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November 13, 2011 at 6:26 am
That is HUGE!!! Way to be patient and let Nigel come around. Now he trusts you! It won’t be long and you’ll be leading him around and he’ll be lovin’ it!
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November 13, 2011 at 6:57 am
Yesssss! Happy dance here from a big Nigel fan! Who knew that a donkey wearing a halter in New Mexico could make someone in Canada happy!
May I suggest a halter with shorter cheeks; the noseband knots could be back about 3 inches. Or, if you are handy with knots, you can adjust this halter. What a milestone in Nigel’s life, worth celebrating. Good job!
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November 13, 2011 at 5:40 pm
Shirley,
Yes, you may. 🙂 This is Fergus’s old halter and needs to be adjusted to fit Nigel when we can more easily work with him. I didn’t want anyone other than Nigel to have Fergus’s halter, so the halter we had on hand for Nigel will go to Gracie when she’s ready. 🙂
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November 14, 2011 at 7:11 am
Aw, that’s so sweet. 🙂
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November 14, 2011 at 12:29 pm
Ah, sheesh. I was ok until you said it was Fergus’s old halter. Now I’m crying over strange donkeys at work again. I love your herd, Justina. I used that caluclator to figure out how long until I quit my job and move to my farm so I can start my own little herd. It says 1 year, 8 months, and 7 days.
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November 14, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Grace,
We’ll count down with you! 🙂
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November 13, 2011 at 8:14 am
Your Babies are so blessed to have you !!
Nigel is beautiful!!
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November 13, 2011 at 8:36 am
This is really great news, way to go Nigel! This just goes to show that patience and perseverance are the best guides in a donkey life.
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November 13, 2011 at 8:54 am
Nigel is standing so stately with his achievement. Congratulations to all!!
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November 13, 2011 at 9:04 am
A wonderful reward for all of your patience. I think you and Nigel will progress by leaps and bounds from here on. Nicely done.
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November 13, 2011 at 9:04 am
The Cuckoos send their love to you sweet Nigel. Way to go. First you conquer the alligators and now the rope. I’d say well done beauty boy. Smooches, squoozes and squeals from us.
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November 13, 2011 at 9:13 am
“Halter schmalter”, Nigel says! He could do it all along; he was just testing your patience.
Way to go everyone!
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November 13, 2011 at 9:34 am
A great accomplishment, for you and for Nigel! I still remember the thrill I felt the first time I got a halter on an abandoned alpaca I was fostering – a monumental moment indeed. Congratulations.
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November 13, 2011 at 10:05 am
I actually caught my breath and said “Wow!” when I saw that first picture! It’s so good to see Nigel catching up to his brudders. He looks really good in blue. And he looks really happy–I think I see a twinkle in his eye that says “Pshaw, I coulda worn this months ago; I just wanted to see how long I could string Mom and Dad along.”
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November 13, 2011 at 10:18 am
Way to go Nigel! We’re proud of you. 😉
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November 13, 2011 at 10:29 am
Your animals are so lucky to be able to experience such gentle patience.
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November 13, 2011 at 11:01 am
Victory! Congratulations on all of your hard work and love. Nigel is an excellent boy. Did you give him lots of carrot coins as a reward?
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November 13, 2011 at 5:35 pm
martina,
Yes! 🙂
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November 13, 2011 at 11:57 am
No question this boy is posing like crazy with his new ‘look’ ………you DO look dashing in Blue,Nigel !!
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November 13, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Oh, this is great news. Congratulations all around! And what a beautiful boy!
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November 13, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Nigel looks very stylish in blue. “Did he let you take it off ?” is the next question. Or is he so proud of himself he wanted to keep it on ?
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November 13, 2011 at 5:35 pm
gazelle,
After having it on for about an hour yesterday, he let me take it off without too much fuss. Today was a different story though… once he had it on, he wasn’t interested in having anyone touch his face. It took a while, but we finally got it off of him.
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November 13, 2011 at 7:59 pm
All your love has created a very confident, friendly donkey. And blue is his color.
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November 13, 2011 at 9:14 pm
What a fantastic achievement!! I still haven’t gotten a halter on Zeppelin, but to tell the truth I haven’t tried. I’m so used to doing things at liberty with all of them I just don’t think about it. I do need to try though.
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November 14, 2011 at 7:52 am
Hooray!!!!
When I first got my corgi Buzz (he was one year old), he was very afraid of things with wheels. And young boys. !!!!!!!
The first time we went for a walk in the neighborhood, he encountered a bike, parked, standing on the sidewalk (with no rider in sight). If he hadn’t had a leash on, he’d have been across the street and still going…..
His “sister” Sophie, another corgi, and I worked with him on the wheeled
objects — showing him that she wasn’t scared, and that she got a treat for walking up to bikes, wagons, etc. He got treats for coming closer and closer, and eventually would fearlessly eat a treat right off a parked wagon or trike.
We worked at finding some nice boys, who would talk to him quietly and feed him treats. Luckily the family on the corner of our block had three nice boys (who also had a very nice friend). Those boys really helped Buzz change his mind about boys.
Buzz could certainly have identified with Nigel’s distress — who knows what happened to them in the past……….. And he would have offered Nigel the thought that all the monkeys are not bad, and some of them are actually very trustworthy, once you get to know them…….
What good, brave boys.
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November 14, 2011 at 8:45 am
Yay for Nigel! I think it’s wonderful that he gets Fergus’ halter.
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November 15, 2011 at 7:10 am
:)!!!!
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