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Orphan Amy Update
Topic Started: Mar 22 2009, 03:57 PM (539 Views)
OTF
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Little Amy has grown 2” in almost 2 months! Amy had her first hoof trim on March 5 and aside from a little wiggling, she did great. She got her booster vaccs yesterday, along with a microchip (she did not appreciate that at all!). I’ve started walking her on lead in the mini donk pasture, watching the reactions of the others to see who/what I need to watch. Annie (the queen bee of the pasture) will be the key; she has rushed at Amy several times, ears pinned and teeth bared. I simply point at Annie and she turns away. But if they decide to double team her (and they will), Amy might panic. She’s as tall or taller than most of them, but they know she’s still a baby and will use this to their advantage.

We have electric fence, and I’ve been walking the perimeter with her; I have to keep reminding myself not to pull her away from the wire…as hard as it is to let her touch the wire, I must let her get zapped several times so she learns what the wire means…then, when she’s free in there with the other donkeys, if they should chase her, I hope she won’t panic and will turn instead of running through the wire, same as I used to do with the foals. I can’t help being overly cautious.

Amy has been in the round pen (in the BIG donkey pasture) during the day for the last couple of weeks. I had one scare when big Liebchen pushed between me and Amy as I was trying to take Amy from the round pen to the pasture gate. Close call. Yesterday I put Cavalier (gelding) in with her; of all the mini group, he has been the most friendly toward her, so I figured this would be a good way to start. Of course, he’s never been away from his group of mini mama’s and has never been with the two big donkeys, so he was keen to see what they were all about. He quickly got irritated at being confined in the round pen, but other than lifting a rear leg at Amy a time or two because she interrupted his checking out the new area, all was okay.

Today, I considered putting Queen Bee Annie with Amy in the round pen, but I wussed out and selected Feather (with the Harry Potter ears) who is a spoiled prima donna (for which I proudly take credit). Feather is Annie’s daughter, heir to the throne. Aside from playing soccer with the water bucket and laying claim to a bit of Amy’s alfalfa, Feather only lightly disciplined Amy for invading her space and brayed loudly and often to be taken back to the mini’s!

So, one on one, there is not much of a problem. Once I am relatively confident that Amy is familiar with the fenceline and understands what electricity is, I will let her loose in the minidonk territory by herself (with me) and then with Cavalier, Feather, etc., on down the line, adding a donkey each time.

Robert wants to pasture Amy with the two big donkeys, but one kick from them could do some real damage. So I persist in working toward putting her with the mini’s. A long process, slowly, but we’ll get there. I am a certifiable lunatic. On to the photos:

Cavalier and Amy:
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Right before the leg action:
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Cavalier meets Dicey and Liebchen - whoa there, is this what happens when you get a lot to eat?
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Cavalier says I've had enough, take me back to my mommies:
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Feather wonders if walking next to Amy makes her butt look big:
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Liebchen offers to walk Amy around (heh, heh, not a chance):
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Trialbyfire
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:woot: Go Amy :woot:
:woot: Go Amy :woot:

Yaaay!!! OTF you are truly awesome!!! Of course it LOOKS like all fun and games but I know you work so hard!!! She looks fantastic and it's great to see her next to some other minis for comparison! She looked so tiny before but it's nice to see that she's not that little, after all. And soon she'll have some booty like Feather does!!

Keep the updates coming!! So exciting to see the pictures!

PS I love the big donks. Can't remember - do you ride them?

Thanks for sharing, as always!! :cloud9: :cloud9:
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Sing Mia Song
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Oh, I love Leibchen! What a great name!
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Brydelle Farm
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Woohoo Amy! She has been eating her wheaties!! :)

Love the pics and all the donks!
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Corey94
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Off visiting Candy Cave, be right back.
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OTF, she looks fabulous! Love the pics, and loved the captions! Made my Sunday evening...
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CDE Driver
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:teehee: :teehee: :teehee: :teehee: Donkey booty!

Feather's got back! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
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Fish Cheeks
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She looks great!

How big are mini donks? Can they eat the same things that horses eat? Do you need special fencing for them? Are they hardy?

When our old Skipper pony goes, I'm considering if/what my next move will be. We don't want another horse, but with three horses if Mr. Fishy and I take two off the property for a trail ride or overnight trip, the other would get upset and it would be nice to have a companion....

(Don't tell Mr. Fishy that I'm already thinking about this...he thinks we're at max capacity!!! :innocent: )
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zbar
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It'll be an adventure! We're going on an adventure!
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:woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

She looks great OTF! They are so precious!!! :cloud9:
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jillincolorado
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OMG she looks like a totally different girl!!

Did I know you had two BIG donks??? :huh:

Thanks for the update. BIG SMILES from Texas!!!! :rose: :rose: :rose:
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Sannois
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OH MY they are so adorable. You have done so much for little Amy. You are a mini doncs Guardian Angel OTF!
:cloud9: :cloud9: :hug: :rose:
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Buryinghill1
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Amy should write a children's BOOK ;)

I will help. Copper and LaG will illustrate. TP&O could proofread it for kid-approved context.

Now all we need is a publisher.

Any offers? :woot:
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Indy
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Awww, look at her! She looks so good!

And Cavalier is precious!
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headlesshorseman
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She's LOOKIN' GOOD!!!!

I'm glad you found her!!!!

HH :)
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RNB
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OMTiH!!!! <3

She's looking great!!!!

Gads....I'd love to have a long-earred!!

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Black Tack
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She's sure lookin good OTF, her widdle butt is starting to fill out (not quite like Feather's yet but.... :teehee: ) It's great that you are being so paitient and taking it slowly. Thanks for keeping us updated on her progress. :rose: :hug:
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