Donkeys

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August 7, 2010

Saturday Stuff – A reflection

Posted by Morning Bray under Donkeys, Saturday Parts & Stuff | Tags: Bernard, reflection |
[10] Comments

August 6, 2010

For the love of donkeys – Gunny and Harry, Sparkle and Shyann

Posted by Morning Bray under Donkeys, For the love of donkeys | Tags: donkeys, Gunny, Harry, Shyann, Sparkle |
[14] Comments

If you think about it, what could be better than getting to meet new donkeys every week?

First, thanks to Denise for sharing her mini donkeys – Gunny and Harry – with us.

Gunny (Gunsmoke) is about 3 years old and Harry is 1-1/2. I “adopted” both of them from Linda Marchi at Seein’ Spots Farm near Los Olivos, California. She has many many more and I am so tempted every time I visit. We bought Harry as a 4-month-old so his mama, Flower, came along for a few months while we weaned him and he grew up a little. They are FUN FUN FUN!

Don’t they just make you want to melt? Incidentally, Denise’s sister is Di, The Blue Ridge Gal. Hi, Di! There’s an adorable baby picture of Harry on Di’s blog. Check it out here.

Second, from Mel in N.Y., we get to meet Toby’s and Tyler’s mammas!

Here are the proud mothers of Toby and Tyler. Sparkle, (gray spot) and Shyann (more often called Attitude Ann around here). Shying for two reasons, first, she is shy all the spots she is supposed to have, and two, shy is definitely NOT what she is, or ever has been!! Right from day one, she has believed that she was Queen, and every thing should be done just to please her. The day she was born, she rubbed against my legs and demanded that I pet her. If I was paying attention to some other donkey, she would push in between us and say pet ME! When she was 11 months old, she decided it was time for her to take over being boss of the herd and by the end of summer she had become Number 2 boss! Sparkle, her mother, and number one boss, just will not give in to her! That was a fun summer!

My first rule in having a foal each year was to sell the foals when they were weaned. I broke that rule with Ann. She was so much fun, I decided to keep her until she was old enough to have a foal of her own and then sell her. Now that time has come, and I find that I can’t let her go ! She is still fun, and I’m too attached to her!

Just look at this happy, gorgeous family. (You can click on the picture below to see a larger image.)

I want to jump on a plane to New York right now…

Keep your positive stories, experiences and photos of donkeys and burros coming! Send them to us at morningbray@hotmail.com and we’ll post them here. ♥

August 4, 2010

We’re not counting our chickens before they hatch…

Posted by Morning Bray under Birds, Burros, Donkeys, Farm | Tags: Alma, chicken coop, chickens, Jane, Joanie, Trixie |
[33] Comments

…but we are talking about them.

After all the talk of fly control lately and some of you suggesting we should have chickens, we’re considering it. Mind you, just considering it.

Some of the things we’ve talked about:

With some changes and updates, our old shed might make a fine chicken coop.

If we do get chickens, they’ll be named after our favorite female characters in Deadwood. And, if we do get chickens, it won’t be until next year.

Of course, we asked the boys what they thought about having chickens. While Bernard was noncommittal, Ellsworth thought it was a good idea.

And while Fergus thought it might be cool,

Nigel thought the idea rocked. He even asked to borrow the book so he could do some more research on the topic.

What do you think?

August 2, 2010

Capturing the moment

Posted by Morning Bray under Burros, Dogs, Donkeys, Farm, Friends and Family | Tags: Lei Photography |
[24] Comments

We were so fortunate to have Stanley and Cindy from Lei Photography visit us on Saturday.

The boys took an instant liking to them.

Stanley and Cindy are amazing photographers… and incredibly nice people who absolutely love animals.

Through their photos, they captured the feel and emotion of every moment they were here.

And, they completely captured the magic of Morning Bray Farm.

I think that’s a very special gift.

Thank you, Stanley and Cindy. ♥

You can also visit Lei Photography on Facebook here.

July 30, 2010

For the love of donkeys – Zedonks and Russell

Posted by Morning Bray under Donkeys, For the love of donkeys | Tags: CeeCee, My Little Bit of Heaven, Rosanne, Russell the mini donk, zedonk |
[11] Comments

Thank you to CeeCee at My Little Bit of Heaven for sending this:

I was delighted to see this in my newspaper this morning and found it on the internet so I could share it with you.

Holy moly. Look at how cute this baby zedonk is:

Apparently, when a zebra father has a baby with a donkey mother, the end result is what is called a zedonk. Read more about it here.

And thank you to Rosanne for more pictures of Russell, her mini donk. I begged, and Rosanne delivered! Russell is so cute.

From Rosanne:

Here’s a photo of my little porker resting in the shade. It’s been hot and humid here since the monsoon started.

Here’s another photo of Russell playing with one of our geldings. These two are hilarious together. Please ignore my dirty horse-he loves lying down in manure. LOL

We’re lovin’ ya Russ. ♥

Please keep your positive stories, experiences and photos of donkeys and burros coming! Remember to send them to us at morningbray@hotmail.com.

July 28, 2010

A visit from the vet

Posted by Morning Bray under Donkeys | Tags: donkey teeth, Ellsworth, floating teeth, veterinarian |
[33] Comments

Early Monday morning, I looked out the window to see Ellsworth doing his mouth thing again. Because it was early and it was cool out, flies weren’t yet an issue. I’m not sure what prompted me to look in his mouth again, but when I did, a couple of his lower incisors didn’t look right. I also noticed an abnormal mouth odor, and Ellsworth just didn’t seem right. That’s when I decided to call the vet.

Our vet, Dr. D, paid us a visit yesterday afternoon. He’s awesome and we think he’s wonderful (thanks Carson!). He gave Ellsworth a complete once over… temperature normal, lung and gut sounds normal, everything okay.

Here’s what we learned about donkey teeth:

The baby teeth of a young donkey are replaced by the permanent teeth between the ages of 2 1/2 and 4 years. Donkey permanent teeth include:

Three incisors on top and bottom on each side
One canine on top and bottom of each side (males)
Three premolars (four if wolf teeth are present) on top and bottom on each side
Three molars on top and bottom of each side

Dr. D determined that two of Ellsworth’s baby incisors were very loose and ready to come out, which could be causing him discomfort, so we decided to go ahead and have them pulled. They came out very easily. You can see there wasn’t a whole lot of them left as they were quite worn down:

You can also see that Ellsworth’s permanent teeth are well on their way. These photos were taken after his baby teeth were pulled (and right after he had his evening portion of sweet feed).

We also decided to have Dr. D float Ellsworth’s teeth while he was here. For those of you not familiar with “floating teeth”, here’s an explanation from Donkeys: A Veterinary Guide for Owners and Breeders: Sharp points on cheek teeth may be resolved by a technique known as floating. A long-handled file is introduced into the mouth and rapidly moved in and out as it is angled diagonally to the tooth edges – this blunts and rounds the sharp points. (Sharp points may develop on the outside edges of the upper cheek teeth and/or inside of the lower cheek teeth. These points can irritate or cut the cheeks or tongue and cause the animal to be reluctant to chew food properly.)

Needless to say, because it was Don’s and my first time witnessing this procedure, it was a little painful for us to watch. (In case you’re wondering, Ellsworth was sedated, and we were very thankful for that.)

Of course, we’ll keep an eye on Ellsworth for the next few days to see if his odd behavior continues. Thanks to everyone who left comments on Friday’s post… we appreciate everything we learn from all of you. A lot. ♥

July 26, 2010

Driving Mister Bernard

Posted by Morning Bray under Donkeys | Tags: Bernard, driving, driving donkeys |
[31] Comments

On Friday, the mailman delivered a special package for Bernard.

Bernard always needs to be doing something, so it was quite fitting that while the other boys were each off doing their own thing, Bernard was solely focused on the contents of his package… a driving harness.

Because the harness and its accoutrements didn’t come with instructions, we were thankful we saved the handout from the driving clinic we attended back in February.

Bernard acted as if though he was born to do this. I mean to tell ya, he was really into it.

Bernard with a bit in his mouth for the very first time. Just like that.

A lot of time was spent making adjustments to get the fit just right.

It was right about now I think Bernard started singing…

Get your motor runnin’
Head out on the highway
Lookin’ for adventure
And whatever comes our way…

When Don took a short break to make some tedious adjustments, Bernard got impatient. Hurry up, Dad!

Look at our boy!

Driving Mister Bernard.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

July 23, 2010

A party in Ellsworth’s mouth?

Posted by Morning Bray under Donkeys | Tags: behavior, donkey behavior, Ellsworth |
[43] Comments

We’re not quite sure what to make of this behavior from Ellsworth. As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the flies are bad here this year, and we’re doing everything we can to fight them.

Over the last week or so though, we’ve been finding Ellsworth standing around with his mouth hanging open. Odd.

Aside from this strange behavior, it’s business as usual. There have been absolutely no other changes in his routine or behavior. He’s eating fine and plays like he always does.

Any ideas out there? We’re thinking it’s not the flehmen response. Is he just letting the flies have a party in his mouth?

Be sure to check out the For the love of donkeys page today. You’re going to love it. ♥

July 22, 2010

For the love of donkeys – Mel in N.Y.

Posted by Morning Bray under Burros, Donkeys, For the love of donkeys | Tags: donkeys |
[20] Comments

The American Donkey is one of the most misunderstood and often the most mistreated animal in our society. Improving the plight of these incredible animals begins with knowledge.

-Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue

I realize now this is so true.

It’s shocking how different life was for Don and me only a year ago… BD; Before Donkeys. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I will. While I would never mistreat any animal, I bought into the “beasts of burden” thing. I never gave donkeys a second thought. I thought they were stubborn, I didn’t think they were intelligent, yadda, yadda. I mean, after all, why would so many people treat donkeys the way they do if donkeys were smart, willing creatures?

We know differently now, and so do many of you. That’s why we’re starting a new page on our site called, For the love of donkeys. Our hope is that you’ll share your positive stories, experiences and photos of donkeys and burros. Just send them to us at morningbray@hotmail.com and we’ll post them. We’ll see what evolves from here.

For our inaugural For the love of donkeys post, we’d like you to meet Toby and Tyler.

Just look at them! Thanks so much to Mel in N.Y. for sharing them. Mel and I emailed back and forth yesterday about our love for donkeys.

From Mel:

You know how much fun the big donkeys are, the babies are just that much more fun!! You must know by now just how contagious donkeys are. You can’t just have one or two, or three or four, 6, 8, LOL.

Toby and Tyler are now 6 and 11 weeks old. In the picture they were 3 and 8 weeks.

I’m still waiting for you to give Nigel a hug from me.

-Mel

Toby and Tyler’s father is a black and white spotted jack. The mothers (a mother and her daughter) are a gray and white spotted and a frosted spot white. According to Mel, “I had my order in for two black and white spotted jenny foals, but someone got the order mixed up! LOL. With those eyes, the white one should have been a jenny!”

It’s obvious that Mel knows and loves his donks. We love that. ♥