April 25, 2010

Sunday Cinema – Picking up Fergus’s foot

Posted by Morning Bray under Burros, Sunday Cinema | Tags: , , |
[18] Comments 

Fergus’s front feet are a teensy bit too long. 

It’s not earth-shattering, nor is it an emergency, but from watching the way he walks, I know he’ll feel better once his feet are trimmed. He walks like you’d walk if you had shoes on that were too big. 

So, we’ve been working on rubbing his legs and touching his feet this week. 

Yesterday afternoon, I was in the corral hanging out with the boys and figured I’d give it a shot. 

Other than putting his head down as if to say, “Umm… excuse me?”, he really didn’t seem to object. The jerkiness of the video and the abrupt ending came along when Bernard decided he wanted to pay homage to the hockey playoffs by coming up behind me, taking the hem of my shirt in his mouth and trying to pull it up over my head. ♥ 

In any case, you are now an official witness to the very first time one of Fergus’s feet was picked up.

 

April 10, 2010

Saturday Parts – Feet

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

Carson has pointed out that there probably isn’t anything about the boys that I don’t “absolutely love.”   Okay, fine, she’s right.   But I do absolutely love the way Bernard always stands with his back feet so perfectly positioned together.

 

 

March 7, 2010

Sunday Cinema – The bell is ringing for Ellsworth

Posted by Morning Bray under Donkeys, Friends and Family, Sunday Cinema | Tags: , , , , , , |
[21] Comments 

Ellsworth had a huge breakthrough moment with the farrier yesterday. We’re so proud of him.

It was the very first time Shorty was able to trim Ellsworth’s back feet.

Ellsworth, we’re so proud of you buddy!

Like I said, this was a huge breakthrough for Ellsworth. Unfortunately, a couple of mishaps at the place he came from really had him freaked out about having his back feet touched. For those of you who initially followed Ellsworth’s story over at The 7MSN Ranch, you’ll remember that Ellsworth was “accident prone.” At one point, according to his previous people, he had a nail stuck in one of his back feet. To remove it, they tied a rope to his leg and let him kick until he got tired so they could take the nail out. At another point, he had barbed wire tangled around one of his ankles. So yes, he really was freaked out when anyone tried to touch his back feet.

We realized some pretty important things yesterday. We were reminded that we have so much to learn from our animals. These donkey boys have taught us more than I could have ever imagined about patience. Shorty has been absolutely wonderful about this too. He coached Don on working with Ellsworth and getting him used to having those back legs and feet touched. I have a lump in my throat right now just thinking about this transformation in Ellsworth.

So, Ellsworth is an old pro at this now.  When it was Bernard’s turn, Ellsworth ran right over to comfort his best friend and to let him know it was alright.