Donkeys in Rehab

In mid December of 2007, I was contacted by a volunteer of Frog Pond Farm Draft Horse and Pony Rescue a Ohio 501-3-C to make Turning Pointe aware of a small donkey and pony that were destined for the local auction barn.

When I was told of the owners circumstances, and why these two were being disposed of I agreed to take them both into our rescue. I am very familiar with the sale barn they were headed to. They would NOT have fared well going there.

Within days, Jackie Minges (Darryl & Darnell`s mom) and I were on our way to southeastern Ohio to bring them home.

It seems that Popcorn had been dumped at an auction once before. That was when he was taken off his mom as a tiny foal only several months old. He was young enough to be transported to the buyers home stuffed into a dog cage in the back of a truck. He remained on the side of the hill, behind the barn in his pen for eight long years till we came for him.

Yes he had been well fed, saw the vet for yearly vaccines and de-worming, and saw the farrier from time to time.

But in a bit better than eight years he had never seen more than his pen and the cattle that lived at the bottom of the hill.

Popcorn will take a very, very long time to ever begin to be even mildly comfortably in his surroundings here. Everything is very frightening to him. I was told by his previous owner that it was almost impossible to catch him. That told me that he was routinely CHASED into the barn and GRABBED when they needed to do something with him.

The best he can manage with me at this time is to stretch his neck out, grab a treat from my hand, and retreat quickly to the far corner of his pen. Some days he allows me to scratch the left side of his neck. To reach over to the right side is really scary to him.

I have only known one other donkey that so wanted to avoid people to this extent. That was our beautiful TPDR Ruth. She is now in the loving, patient hands of her adoptive mom Carol Huff in Georgia. I had Ruth here with me for a year and a half before she moved to Georgia.

Popcorn will be here for as long as it takes. Could there be a Carol out there for him too?

Check here for Ruth's Story