The REAL Eeyore

[Siren]

Some of you may have read this story before from another thread, but I took this pic last week and felt I needed to share...

The ranch I ride at, the owner went to NC to get a new pet, a miniature donkey. She picked out a stallion they had. He has been living with the other stallions. His previous owner bred him and the other mini-donks. Well, keeping a bunch of stallions together is like keeping a bunch of unneutered male dogs together unsupervised, eventually, they are gonna have a serious fight. One of the other stallion bit this donkey's tail so hard, it broke it. And the owners didn't call a vet. They didn't bandage or treat it. They just let it bleed, rot, and eventually, fall off all together. Donkeys use their tails like horses and cows do, so swat away flies. Losing their tail both is an annoyance and can make them more susceptible to infections due to bug bites. The ranch owner paid for him to get gelded and brought him down to the ranch. He had some generic name, but she renamed him...very suitably...Eeyore.

I love doing photography there. I took this photo of him and instantly...I couldn't help but see, Eeyore is the REAL Eeyore.

It just looks like he is saying, "Thanks for noticing me"


I wanna teach him to sit, so I can get a really good Eeyore pic

[Margos]

I just can't get over how cute he is! I love donkeys, I think they're very underrated animals. They don't have quite the "awesome" factor that horses do.... but they're just so gosh-darned adorable!

It is sad to hear what happened to his tail.... But at least he has a good home now, and definitely the perfect name!

[Siren]

Yeah, he isn't riding material. Being a miniature. But normal sized donkeys make good mounts. There is a reason why they are used over horses in canyon trails. Donkeys are sure footed and often fearless. If they feel they will be in danger walking a trail, they simply won't go. People call them stubborn, but its just trail smarts. Where as a horse, if you push most horses enough, they will go even when they are fearful. And also because donkeys are nearly fearless, they don't spook so easily. Where as a paper bag flying by may send a horse into a spook, a donkey won't take notice. Donkeys aren't gonna do dressage or rodeo anytime soon, but I consider them the cats of the equines. Dogs aim to please, so do horses. Donkeys, like cats, prefer to take their own way about things.