The vet saw her yesterday and said she is 6 months old, not a yearling. That means she would be highly unlikely to be bred. The jack was supposedly in with all the ladies 3 months ago and not since. Not that I wouldn't welcome a cute baby, but she's too young.
She's about 12.1 hands according to my rough measurement, so she should be big enough to ride in several years.
The vet gave her a body condition score of barely 3. Her spine sticks up so far! I rubbed her a lot (felt all of her bones) and she really enjoyed it, but her main focus is food.
The donkeys ate a whole mineral salt block overnight and are emptying a 150 gallon water tank 3 times a day. Obviously they haven't been getting what they need. One will foal very soon and quite possibly die in the process. Another is pretty imminent too but in better shape.
I can't remember if I posted this pic of the little boy:
I'm still tempted to take the baby boy as well, but the idea of having to train two of them to pick up their feet makes my back hurt. I tried picking up a foot on one of the adult girls (who looks a lot like Bob) and she threw a little fit. I like her a lot too, but again, ugh, hoof training.
The sweet girl who looks like Bob:
Good news on my ongoing injury symptoms! The dizziness and nausea I've been having are probably due to my neck, not my head! So it can be fixed. I think. There is hope for me yet! I like my new physical therapy doctor.
See, I told you donkeys are good at healing, you are already doing better:) You should also keep in mind that donkeys, especially young donkeys, need donkey friends. You should get two.
ReplyDeleteI can't help, but I can enable:) I do hope it works out for you.
Speaking from my own experience, you might want to talk with the vet about giving that jenny a shot of lutalyse. It would cause her to abort if she is bred. I know it sounds awful but if she is only 6 months old....
We had a bull get loose a few years ago and breed a 4 month old heifer. Everyone said we were crazy to worry about it, but we never saw her come into heat and gave her a shot just to be safe. A few days later she aborted. She would never have survived giving birth at her age. My vet told me there was no way Emma would be pregnant either. It worked out OK for her and I love Ramsey (baby donkeys are just the best thing ever!) but it was hard on Emma. We were lucky that it all came out OK.
I'll ask the vet who is overseeing all this if we can give her a shot. I don't want to take any risks with her having a baby too young, but I also don't know how safe the shot is.
DeleteWhen I adopted Bella from the BLM, I hoped she was too young to be pregnant. But then there was Scout, who is wonderful. But I still wonder big Bella hadn't gotten so large so young, if her stifles would have been OK. She would have been a phenomenal riding horse.