Just Call Me DON-KEH!

Well we had a new arrival over the weekend. This cute little thing is our new donkey named....you guessed it Donkey-Donk!

 

This great new addition to the family was donated by Indian Joe and Shelia. I just absolutely love this little guy already! However, I quickly learned donkeys are A LOT different than horses. Yesterday he started refusing to come into the barn with everyone else at feeding time. So I put the butt rope on him like you would a foal and pulled him right on inside. Well now that's not working and he has planted himself a la Eeoyre in the dirt right outside. So my long suffering neighbor came over and helped me encourage him to go indoors. We repeated the excersise two or three times and now he leads in and out very nicely. But wow are they different but I suppose in a good way. Now I have a cute little critter that doesn't mind when I just want to cuddle and hee-haws adorabley when he sees me!

River is still progressing as expected and is now probably at a BCS of 2. Ribs and backbone are quickly disappearing so now the only thing left will be the tail head and her hips! Its amazing how they bounce back!

Horse Show Tonight

Prepping for my trip into town for the 3rd Crittenden County Saddle Club points show. Me and Troubadour are gonna run like the wind tonight and hopefully emerge victorious. There's some more exciting news on River today. We had our first little ride. She was absolutely adorable! We flat walked and at her insistence had a little running walk going. The ride lasted for no more than five minutes but she was nodding her head and wagging her ears and smooth as a Caddy! We'll do a little riding every day to help build up her muscles. Next week we'll take some more milestone pictures as she's looking better and better. :D

Going for broke!

Yes, the title of today's post comes from the fact the farrier just left the tip of my driveway. Having three horses seen to puts a big, swirling drain on my pocket book. The running horse got all new shoes and a little tweaking to put him more on his toes in the front, fat, sassy pony got a trim, and River got a trim as well. She stood perfect and the verdict on her feet are they are GOOD! *insert touchdown signal* The grand total for my glee is $105. *swallows hard to put stomach back where it belongs* Well at least I'll be starting my new job soon. I am now an officical emloyee of Arkansas State University Agriculture Department and I answer directly to the barn manager. This provides me with a paying job doing something I enjoy and gives me good references for later in life. So life is pretty sweet at the moment :D

First Bath

Well River had her first bath yesterday. The heat had actually abated somewhat around here and I figured it was as good a time as any to scrub off the crustiness. I decided against tying her as the last thing I needed was a broken fence. As I sprayed her down she danced a little and tried to walk around me but smart old girl that she is realized it wasn't getting her anywhere so she just stood still. I got every nook and cranny clean, including her long, thick, beautiful tail. After she was bathed I decided to try and clip her just to see if she would let me. She snorted at it a few times but for the most part stood like a champ.


River is steadily gaining her weight and is starting to look like a horse again. Her ribs have almost disappeared and she's beginning to fill in around her spine and tail head. It hasn't even been a full two weeks and I'm seeing significant improvement. It's always like Fugs said, "Old DOES NOT equal skinny!" I tried contacting her previous owners but all leads have gone cold. If anyone out there knows a Gary Henson of Paragould, Ar please contact me immediately.

Sorry ya'll but this a rant post

Today I am going to rant because my work days are long, hot, and stressful. Dealing with people's money in a hot, cramped, frantic environment makes my very worn out and frazzled.

I have seen women who come in pregnant with three small kids with shorts so short their ass cheeks were hanging out and their saggy boobs spilling out of their halter top, sweaty overweight women pull wet cash out of their bra and dare to say I'm racist when I don't want to take their soggy money, and people come to the fireworks stand in a taxi.

Yesterday I worked from 5pm till 11pm and did thousands of dollars worth of transactions. I love the people who come to my register polite and friendly and who bought something off the shelves instead of off the "buy 1 get 5 free" tables. These are my favorite people because they will talk and joke with you, marvel at my ability to remember prices, are truly appreciative of their free gift, and do not imply that I am an idiot and a cheat when I total up their purchases and they have spent over $100. And they humor me when I attempt to sell them a little more so they can get a better free gift. My second favorite customers are the ones who are looking to make a big purchase and take my advice as I unloaded the truck, unpacked the boxes, put the merchandise on the shelf, and priced every little 80 cent firecracker with a price gun.

Now I'm going to talk about my least favorite customers. These are the people who buy exclusively off the "buy 1 get 5 free" table plus a few other things and simply can't believe that the paper grocery sack full of fireworks cost over $50. THEN they make me un-bag all of their things and re-add. And OF COURSE its when I have a mile long  line at my register. If you really want to piss me off stand there and tell me you didn't intend to spend that much and can I just give it to you. HELL NO! The icing on the cake to make me come after you is to go out to your car, get out your calculator, and add up what was on your receipt. When you finally realize I did not cheat you and it pisses you off, get your friend to come in and demand a 2nd free gift. We'll give it to you but we're not going to think much of you and when you come in again we'll just add tax twice. :D

BTW: I feel truly sorry for these ladies' husbands.

P.S. When you go and buy your firecrackers this 4th please be kind and respectful to the employees. We worked hard to get the merchandise ready to sell and organized in very hot, unfavorable conditions, please put unwanted items back where you got them, and a kind word is always appreciated. Oh! And if you're extra nice we're liable to throw in some extra goodies!

Here's come comic relief:

Bwaahahahahaha!!! Nuff' said.



It's amazing what happens when you FEED THEM!!!

Today is July 1st, I've had River since June 26th and I can already tell a difference in the way she looks. Her keel bone is not stuck out as far as it was, she's laying down fat over her ribs, and she's filling in around her tail head. I honestly did not expect her to do so well so quickly. She's out on pasture about 20 hours a day with about 4lbs of Senior mush 4x's a day, dang Arkansas Delta weather doesn't permit turnout from noon till 4pm. My hard-keeping Appendix bred also seems to be benefiting from the extra feedings, he's getting kind of portly. River also has a new fly mask that was smartly purchased at a used tack sale. The only thing that puzzles me is that when I whistled in the morning and in the evening my geldings used to come dashing up to the barn. Now they pretty much ignore me and I have to go grab someone by the fly mask and lead them in. Wonder what that's about?


Well it probably will be a few days before the next update. I'm working one of the temporary firework stands for the 4th so its busy busy busy until sometime next week. I'll be sure to get more (and better) pictures of River soon. Happy mush making!



You can really see in this picture how her shoulder bones, spine, and ribs are sticking out and how thin her neck looks.




This picture shows how prominent her tail head is but it doesn't show the perfect detail of the skeletal structure. She's probably about a 1.5 on the BCS.