Winding Path to a Small Ass - Part 5 of 6

Forever Herd

I was reading a book on donkeys the other day which confirmed that we did exactly the right thing the day we brought our two mini’s home. It said that opening up the trailer and giving the donkeys the entire space was good. Chalk another one up for instinct. Live and learn.

When we opened up the trailer at my farm we were not sure what to expect. Would they come barreling out? Would they be lying down? Were they scared or happy? So we opened the doors slowly and peeked in. Nothing could have been gentler. I slowly moved into the trailer fighting my desire to rush in and throw my arms around their adorable little bodies. Damaris and I each held a lead rope and walked with them to the edge of the trailer. We four stood and looked out at the farm; Damaris and I with our feet firmly on the earth. I tried to see it for the first time as if from their eyes, and I saw a few things that might concern me. The main thing that caught my eye was the orange plastic fencing draped around the harrow ~ that looked kind of spooky. Then the young grey donkey delicately jumped out the trailer followed quickly by her elder.  We were off … at a slow meander.

With absolutely no fanfare we walked slowly towards the gate to the north pasture and their new home. We paused occasionally to sniff the air and their little ears resembled antennae searching non-stop for signals. Lakota, my sweet horse, stood in the paddock with her head over the fence observing the slow moving parade. I had been telling her for a week about her new friends and she was ready to meet them. Her demeanor was calm; she was curious not anxious. I had wondered how she would react as she had been terrified the first time we met miniature horses. (In her defense, we were riding in a long parade and our horse group had been staged a few spaces in front of a miniature horse club and directly behind a troop of beautifully dressed Mexican dancers. The women specialized in twirling their long skirts to make perfect circles in the air ~ a marvelous visual for the crowd but very upsetting to Lakota ~ but that is another story.)

On this fine Saturday, Lakota was happy to greet her new fiends. She was expecting them and I knew that she knew that these two little creatures were different.

They were her “forever herd”.

Lakota stood still so as not to scare them. Her eyes were large as she explored them from her side of the fence. As an energy worker I can tell you there was a lot of energy and information flowing between horse and donkey. Damaris and I gently guided the mini’s through the gate and commented on how glad we were that this new adventure was going so easily. Both of the little donkeys wore tiny raspberry colored halters with matching lead ropes. They walked side by side for the most part and Damaris and I flanked to the outside.

We led the girls around the perimeter of the north pasture to show them the boundary of their new territory.  It is well over one acre and enclosed with woven wire fence perfect for their diminutive size. This area is considerable larger than the sturdy pole paddocks where they had spent most of their lives.
I was forming pictures in my head of the two of them romping in the open field, rolling in the dirt baths, and hanging with Lakota.

It was a comforting picture of safety, and community, and my expanding dream of  “heaven on earth.”

… to be continued.