Waylon Nelson Tales of the Pink Donkey

Waylon is undoubltedly the sweetest Donkey, but I feel that way about each one of his four companions.  Even Paco the scared (goat killing?!) Donkey has finally decided we can touch him.  Paco is our best guardian and keeps dogs in check around the property.  He has come along way since the curved feet.  We love him and look forward to his big face in the truck window wanting a handout.  His favorite treat are old fashioned rootbeer candy from tractor supply.  He greets me when I come home and walks beside my truck all the way to the gate each time I leave.  There is no better friend I could have.  If only he could give me advice or carry on a conversation with me. 

Waylon spends his days playing with his donkey pals and eating, lots of eating.  He love toys and will create his own if he can't find his ball or rope toy.  His favorite thing to play with is the feed bowl, he will partner up with another donkey and they will carry the bowl in their mouths and walk all around the yard together as if they were in a contest that is being judged on skill.

Donkey Play

Echo's Field Trip

The most important thing we do in the summer is a paint the minis activity at the special needs camp.  Right in the middle of Summer the horses caught a cold, not quite half the herd, but more sick horses at one time than we'd ever had before. Since we usually have none, this was frustrating for me and I had to get to the bottom of it.  The vet wasn't too concerned and said the virus would run it's course in about 10 days.  We were grounded and all activity had to cease for 10 days.  We missed a volunteer week and the next week not all the minis that participate were well enough to go so we enlisted in our healthy donkeys who were never affected by the virus and with one spot left we filled it with our mascot Echo, the smallest (and now fatest) mule in Texas.  Echo has been known to be honory and never worked out going to parties and events like some of his pals, but we needed him. He was placed under the supervision of his daddy Tibideaux the whole day.  He did very well and stayed patiently tied to the trailer like his dad.  He was even good about being hosed off after he was painted.  Echo doens't mind these things normally anyway, but it is usually on his time schedule not ours.  OK he's spoiled, extremely, not only by us but the other minis and donkeys too. 

Echo's field trip started out with a good brushing and an hour ride to the camp. He then ate hay and waited for his turn to be painted.  The whole day went well and he was such a trooper to fill in for the mini horses!