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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

 
 HORSE PLAY RESCUES DONKEYS ,TOO
 
PUCK, MY BAD, BAD DONKEY
 
 
 




Oh, look at that sweet, cute donkey. So adorable. Such a furry little tike. Doesn't he seem to be looking at my friend Lance, peacefully waiting for the next happening?  Well, your are wrong, wrong, wrong. He is just planning his next donkey armed revolution!

His name is Puck and he is the donkey from hell. And yes, I did in fact rescue this miscreant.

He was about 9 years old and had been living on a sheep farm. His job, his responsibility, was to watch over the sheep and protect them for marauding coyotes and neighboring dogs run a muck.

He got into trouble when he couldn't seem to distinguish that the newborn lambs needed protection themselves and were not to be chased away.

Puck, at this point in his life, had never been gentled. He had not been handled and could not be easily caught or stalled. A decision was made to get rid of him before he damaged any more lambs.

I felt sorry for the little beastie and thought he deserved another chance. So, I bought him for $300 and began the "throwing away good money" rescue of this little monster. Albeit, a cute monster.

He stayed at the sheep farm while I worked out a few logistics.  For instance, fencing a meadow, buying electric fence paraphernalia, getting buckets and pails and grain and, and, and....

Before Puck was to come to me, I decided to have his feet trimmed, his teeth floated and any shots given. I knew that this endeavor was going to be a doosie. An all out war of the wills. After all, this little beastie boy did not come when called, ran when one approached and kicked and bucked when in the mood to disagree.

My 6 foot 4 vet came with his 6 foot assistant and a truck full of drugs and ropes. When they arrived, Puck had been lured into a stall with a bucket of grain. As we approached the stall, legs got rigid, head lowered and ears were flattened against his skull. All ominous signs of donkey displeasure.

It took the three of us, lots of drugs and a series of intricately wound ropes to finally get him in a submissive position. His feet were trimmed, his shots given and teeth floated. I, in turn, was given a colorful array of bruises and black and blues that took weeks to go away. The vet was given the opportunity to laugh at me and my Puck. This wasn't the first time he had been involved in one of my rescues.  He also got $329 for the pleasure.

And so it began with Mr. Puckster. And has continued. After four years, if he likes you, you can approach and pet him. If he thinks you are a suspicious character, all bets are off. He is getting better. Really. Lance does his feet now. That is still a battle of wills and involves large quantities of grain, a very firm hold on any hoof being trimmed and incredible agility to  stay clear of his teeth. Did I mention that Puck bites?

Puck is still a bad, bad donkey. I adore him immensely.

Stop by and give me some moolah for hay for Deidre's horse rescue organization.

Cheers, Stella.



1 comment:

  1. OH MY GOODNESS!I HAVE ALWAYS wanted a DONKEY since GUNSMOKE DAYS on TV!!!!!!HIs name was WORTHLESS do YOU remember?SO< this is where PUCK came from on INSTAGRAM!WHat has happened to him?I KNEW I LIKED YOU FROM THE GET GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!XO

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