Helping Jak jak

This is Jak jak, he's the most recent Hithger rescue. Shortly after acquiring him it was discovered that he had chemical burns on his penis. I know you're thinking 'how the heck' or 'are you sure' , ya, whatever it is, it needs help to heal. He's been on antibiotics for some time now.

I had mentioned to his foster home that I had an idea for a 'fly mask' but really it's a 'cod piece' LOL!!
something to help keep that whole area cleaner and keep the flies off of it!!

So with my limited supplies that I have on hand, I constructed Jak jak the first ever donkey cod piece!
I already have plans to make another one, I need to get creative with what i have on hand, as I am not in a position to purchase more supplies. Although if anyone would like to donate or send supplies please leave a comment or contact me through the blog.

Some of the things I'll be needing are:
1.5" rings
1" D rings
1" heavy elastic
1" strapping - any kind - cotton, poly pro or nylon

Ok, so I know this looks soooo ridiculous, but it's doing it's job, keeping the flies off of his sheath area. and YES he can urinate LOL the material is Phirtex+ that I accidentally bought for fly masks, but the weave is too tight for the 'eye' area. I'm happy I ended up keeping it.

Jak jak did not seem to mind, he even seemed calmer, not as much stomping and swishing while wearing it.
I'm fabricating  a whole body fly sheet for him and the listed supplies will also help get that in the works. Right now I'm 'recycling' hardware since I've used the last bit of bigger stuff on Jak's cod piece.

Jak jak's protective cod piece before I trimmed the straps

Just got an update that Jack jack managed to itch himself bloody overnight ( the cod piece is removed - night time, less flies!)

so now I have been requested to make a donkey neck cradle!
because obviously horse size would not fit him!
So now we have to prevent the flies and HIM to from doing damage. This all just needs to heal! ACK!

Daisy's britchen is done!! WOO!!

Finally finished Daisy's britchen, or breeching!! I think it turned out awesome!!

Hoof cleaning, all of the time

After the girl's trim the other day my trimmer informed me that they're a little thrushy!!
in the middle of summer!?! ( actually the end now)

I take full responsibility, I had not been cleaning their feet enough.
So now they get their feet cleaned everyday, just like they're supposed too!!

I read someplace the best thing for thrush is a hoofpick!! and man what a difference of keeping their hooves clean has made!

I still went ahead & got some thrush treatment. I decided to go with 'no thrush' made by a farm in California. I don't like the idea of putting super caustic chemicals on the girls, ( I always try got keep everything to a minimum like fly sprays etc. - but with Daisy's front legs being eaten alive I have to apply it, until i make fly boots!)No thrush is a dry treatment, made of natural compounds.

I recieved my 'no thrush' yesterday and got it applied, this stuff does really 'sucks up the yuck'!! before I even put the foot down I could see it being absorbed into the thrushy areas.

IF you wanna check out no thrush I'll post a link - also it was in this month's Western Horsemen magazine, I thought that was cool

http://www.nothrushshop.com/index.html

The girls don't have much thrush, each have a little spot on about 2 hooves, but I need to make sure it gets taken care of. They don't really like me cleaning it out either, but each day I get more & more out. so eventually we'll get there.

Also my other plan of attack has been to keep their pasture spotless! And I have!
in an earlier post i posted about how clean their pen was, it's still like that! I clean their pen twice a day, especially right after I clean feet. That was the only wet thing in their pasture that has been causing their thrush! POOP! they find the one pile & go step in it!

so somehow, amazingly, i get up ( yes in my pajama's!! LOL) and feed, then pick up all the poop in the morning -yes you heard right, BEFORE COFFEE!!

LOL
then in the evening I clean feet, pick up poop, then feed again.

I've been experimenting with their feeding situation ( while the weather is still good), I've been placing their hay in little teeny tiny piles all over the pasture ( I weigh both rations together). That way it's a big hay easter egg hunt. they nibble on a pile, walk to he next, nibble, walk. Almost like real grazing!! LOL

This morning Daisy tried to mob me while i was distributing the piles, i wasn't having it!!
she got nothing! Little brat, I made it clear to her she is not allowed to come up and bully me while I'm putting out hay. Martha is respectful and just waits for a pile to be dropped and starts eating, no bullying.

I have plans to do a pasture paradise setup in the pasture this winter, so when spring grasses come they can't have access to ALL of it all of the time. I believe this is what made martha a little chubby - also i shouldve fed less during those months.

I imagine when it rains I'll have to set up some slow feeders in the shelter. But for now this is working out well.

Britchen Progress!!

I'm about 75% Done!! WOO HOO!!

I'm halfway done with the first cinch tug, and have to braid the other one and then that's it!
This is quite the project! I love how it's turning out, I love that it's gonna be super adjustable and strong!!

Keep track of your donkey's health records with this free form!

Found this today, and it's great for anyone who is looking for an easy way to keep track of your equine's health records!

I personally made a spreadsheet for Daisy & Martha :)

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/media/pdf/horse-health-record.pdf

Daisy skids a tire!

recently acquired a singletree & got it all hooked up to Daisy, used some twine to put it back further than the tugs on the breastcollar.

As far as I know this is her first time actually pulling something!!

Poop Free

Spent almost 5 hours cleaning the pasture/run. I had been seriously slacking on it, so I just went and did ALL of it!
I'm beat, but it least the girls have a clean place to hang out

they both got their feet cleaned twice today!

the pen and the alley way all got scraped and scooped. part of the pasture got the same, but I started running out of steam, so it just got picked up. the only thing thats left is lots of dead grass and really old poo. I noticed when I got to the pasture I was picking up a lot of fluff, the wheelbarrow was significantly lighter than what came out of the pen/alleyway

Today's driving day

Both girls got trimmed this morning woo!

I went out and worked on Daisy's driving. She did pretty well. I'm still trying to incorporate the clicker training with everything. The last couple times I drove her it was more 'traditional' style. I'm still trying to figure out how to combine the two.I think my ultimate goal is to have them responding to mostly vocal commands
.
overall she did well, I was teaching her to move off tapping of the whip on her hips. Tap the right hip to go right, etc. At this point I didn't have my reins connected to the bit,just had them snapped to the rings on her halter.I also was just focusing on the whip part too, so no rein pressure at all. I figure I gotta break it up into little pieces. (light tapping!)

so i worked a bit on each side, then once I felt like she had a pretty good understand of it, I started to mix it up a bit. she did pretty well.Its neat seeing her try to figure out what I'm asking, her little brain working lol. there were times we just kept walking in  a circle, but not the direction I was asking LOL! then the first step in the right direction C/T.

I decided to mix it up a bit, I started working on forward movement, most of the time it ended up with her walking in a circle- as soon as she took a straight step forward I c/t. I didn't get as far as I wanted too with the forward walking.  still trying to figure out how to clicker train that.

She also tried -at the very beginning to go back down the alley way to the shelter. she learned that yes we can go down there, but it doesn't mean we're quitting! LOL I worked her back out of it. she then proceeded to walk straight to the gate at the end of the pasture, as if to say 'we're going out right??' She always seems a little bummed and not motivated to work in the pasture.

I guess I should be happy that sh readily walks in a circle it's better than donkey glue and no movement at all. Trying to get in as much training as possible before the Little Equine festival in October.

9.12.10
Just did some research, and found this blog, for some reason this helps me alot! LOL i HAD been doing this with Daisy, maybe I just progressed to fast and she wasn't sure what walk on meant, or she's being a butt. anywho, glad I found this, it cleared my frustrated brain from yesterday. Maybe we will try it today.

http://portraitswithhorses.com/blog/?p=706

Awesome clicker day!

Today I did two short sessions with Daisy & Martha indivdually. Of course Martha was having meltdown the entire time I was working with Daisy.  CLICK ME! CLICK MEEEE!

LOL, so Daisy did well, the last time I tried target training with her she was more interested in trying to get as close as possible to the treat bag, hoping it would dispense. She def has some manners to be worked on, she's not bad, but she will mug you a bit, both of them will try to steal treats if given the opportunity.

Daisy had much more understanding of the target today, she was easily touching it, sometimes touching it again, even though she got clicked.  I started to teach her to back, do a head down and step up. some of these things she already knows. As far as a donkey is concerned she's very light and responds to pressure well. I started adding commands to each of these tasks, in hopes that someday she'll respond on command only.  she's backed up on command only before, but it was never solid, same thing with her whoa. Both of which I did not teach her, man I got lucky!!

I was a bit worried she'd get confused with having to touch the target sometimes and other times performing a move, I think in time it'll all make sense. Overall she did fantastic, and we're on our way to being a good example at the little equine festival in October.

Martha did very well, the last time ( which was also the first time!) I did target training with her she reallyt 'got it' and would consistently bump the target when I held it out. Today we worked on following the target, which I hope someday to put a 'walk on' command to. She followed the target really well. I asked for some bends, which she did well too. Then I was trying to teach her to back up in order to touch the target, she had a hard time with this, i think because she couldn't see it.

So i improvised a bit and lightly tapped her on the chest with the target. she took a step back!! OMG C/T JACKPOT!! I was so proud! I've tried some 'moving away from pressure stuff with her before, and it just didn't make sense to her. I tried again, and after about 45 seconds of tapping she stepped back again! C/T!!
I'm talking LIGHT tapping, just barely tapping her! I was so amazed she was moving off of such light pressure, i really hope this transfers to other parts of her body. I did the same thing 3 more times, and each time I was thinking to myself 'ok, end on a good note, don't ask too much!'

After the fifth time I called it quits. On both donks I've introduced an 'all done' cue and I hold up my hands to show that,. I want them to know that we're done and they didn't give a wrong answer.

Oh ya I did a couple manners thing with Daisy too, almost forgot. At the end of the session I just stood there, she mugged me a bit, trying to figure out how to get a click, as soon as she backed up, moved away or looked away she got a C/T. Hopefully teaching her that being in my space doesn't necessarily get her goodies!

Please help the donkeys

I'm a volunteer for a local donkey and mustang rescue called Hole in the Head Gang equine rescue.
They recently took in a little gelding that is suffering from chemical burns. If you would like to learn more about this little guy or about the rescue please visit

http://hithger.org/default.aspx

If you would like to donate scroll down on the home page and click the donate button.
Big or small any donations helps this rescue provide the care and training they need to be healthy, happy and the chance to be re-homed.

To check out the blog, please visit the link below
http://hithgerfoster.wordpress.com/2010/09/03/sponsers-needed/


To be friends with them on FB click the link below
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=313055477817&ref=ts

Donkeys are often the 'forgotten' equine, and this rescue helps teach people about the plight of the American Donkey.

Jack, the newest rescue