Donkeys are wonderful, gentle animals. I love Bud and JD very much...if they could be cats, I honestly believe they would take the offer.
With that said, donkeys are not called jackasses for nothing. They are indeed the epitome of the jackass. They're stubborn, and smart. They're strong, and tireless. Basically, they're a giant toddler.
Donkeys need diligent hoof care just like horses. Our donkeys have not had this hoof care, and definitely needed pedicures. If their hooves are not ferried every so often, they will turn into what looks like elf feet, and it can become painful.
It took me almost two years to find a farrier to work on donkeys. Most larger businesses refuse to work on donkeys because, unlike a horse, they kick to intentionally injure the farrier. They're faster, they tend to bite more, and they're smarter. Not a safe combination.
I found a young guy, just starting out, who hadn't been hurt enough to refuse Bud and JD.
The first time he worked on the donkeys it took almost four hours, with Jasen holding them. At one point the farrier had a rope wrapped around both him and the donkey, and was holding onto his back leg for dear life. This guy wrestled with that donkey for 45 minutes before he took the first snip at his hooves.
It was terrifying, and amazing at the same time. He never shouted, never hit, and never gave up.
Today was a different story. We sedated the older, ungelded donkey. He doesn't like anyone near the family jewels, and I can't blame him. But that makes it incredibly dangerous to work on his hind legs.
Apparently, donkeys have a unique gift ... they can ignore sedation and fight back. We dosed him again, and tied him to a cemented pole. He rared up, struck his hind legs toward the farrier, and clawed his front hooves up and over the fence. He snorted, even growled. Sweat began dripping off his body, down the farriers nose, and beaded my upper lip.
It was a good 90 degrees today, and painfully humid. The farrier hoisted bud's front left hoof up under his body. That didn't work. He led him in circles and retied him to the post. That's didn't work. He had me hold him. Nope. Nothing. So we gave up.
With the smaller, younger gelding, we opted out of the sedation, because when he was castrated he had an adverse reaction. Last time JD fought for a while, but eventually submitted. This time he knew better and refused.
I'd never had to twitch an animal before. Until today. The apparatus was too large, since it's made for horses. So I had to use my hands. Try to picture this:
Grabbing a donkey's upper lip with my right hand, and twisting. Then grabbing the lower lip with my left hand, and twisting. Then, when they rare back, I don't let go. It was horrible. he was completely pissed, and just didn't give in. I let go instead of hurting him.
My options are basically to let them be (and possibly have pain in their hooves), sell or give them away to be someone elses problem (although they are very sweet, this whole farrier thing is a pain) or to have a vet come out and sedate them to the ground, which is several hundred dollars per animal. Ouch. I haven't decided what to do yet, since all of those options just plain suck to me.
Right now the farrier is licking his pride wounds, and I'm looking at the rope burn on my left hand and wondering just how sore my body will feel tomorrow.
The second we let the donkey's back into the field tonight they ran to the opposite fence, pouted for 30 seconds, and then ran back to me like nothing had happened. That's my definition of Jackass.
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