EUGENE
Never have we made an impulse buy. That is, until Eugene and here’s why.
What we didn’t realize was that there was a large amount of donkeys that needed to be sold off first before they got to the dwarfs.
As we sat in the bleachers, surrounded mostly by people who attend as some what of an amateur spectating sport, we had to wait through three hours of donkeys going up for sale.
And then, Eugene came through. Eugene was big. A full size donkey, and he could hardly walk. In fact, we thought this poor donkey’s leg was broken.
Belle and I make it a rule not to go to auctions in person. We know what they look like and quite honestly, don’t have the stomach for it, or the ability to turn our back.
However, when there was a young dwarf with deformed legs, coming to an auction that was three hours away from the Ranch, we took our horse van and went, anticipating getting it.
Belle and I couldn’t take it. We were both nearly moved to tears and as they prodded Eugene out of the sale pen, I grabbed my forehead, unable to bear witness to his treatment as he hobbled as fast as he could on his way out and that’s when the auctioneer looked at me and asked, “Do you want him?” To which I replied with a rather weak, “Yes.” And with that, the gavel slammed down with a Bang and I found my voice and asked, “How much is he?” To which I was told, “$50.”
​
​
How could the two “men” in the sale pen be prodding him to move faster?
So, that is how we acquired, through an impulse buy, Eugene, our full size donkey who also happened to be a stallion.
Eugene’s feet were so overgrown, it was truly painful to see him walk. He was terrified of people and combined, we were like a bunch of lost souls, no one knew where to start or how.
In time, Eugene settled in. We isolated him on our attached property which allowed him to settle in to a beautiful place all of his own.
Over time, we began making progress with him, at first, with an outstretched hand full of grass, to begin building a level of trust.
His feet, on the other hand, eluded us. After three attempts with our farrier, both with sedation and our vet, we realized we need a different type of help with Eugene.
Enter Ed. Ed came in town from the middle of Missouri and brought along with him a lifetime of experience working with donkeys and mules.
Within two hours of his arrival, Eugene’s feet were trimmed.
With that, Eugene began to walk comfortably. Adding in comfort to his life meant happiness started to creep in, too.
Progress was made with Eugene with petting him, brushing him and hand feeding him, however, Eugene, once feeling pretty good, proved to be too much for what we could safely navigate with gentling him.
So, Ed made a second appearance into Eugene’s life. This time, we made the decision to let Eugene go back to Ed’s farm for training where we expect him to stay for 30-60 days.
Plans to visit Eugene on a bi-weekly basis are underway.