Remi seemed a tad upset even though he still had Tank around to keep him company. But that special arrangement came to a screeching halt when Tank's daddy called and said he needed him to come back.
Oh noooo, now what are we going to do? Remi is not going to like being alone one bit and we certainly didn't need him getting off his feed again. We knew that Tank would be going back one day, but that day came up quicker than we would have liked, so we had to spring into action.
We knew we couldn't get another horse right now, and we certainly didn't want to get a goat. Thanks but um, nope not happening. So we set our sights on getting him a donkey to keep him company.
We found a little guy named Wally who was very sweet and needed a good home. Wally had half an ear after getting into it with the owner's dog, but it didn't seem to bother him in the least. Off we went to go pick Wally up. Uh yeah, easier said than done. After almost an hour in the sweltering heat, he wasn't budging and alas, Wally went back to his pasture and we headed home with an empty trailer.
A touch of panic set in and we hit the ads to see if we could locate another buddy for Remi. Everyone that looked like they may work was already gone by the time we called so we really didn't know what we were going to do at that point.
Tank left on a Saturday and I spent well over 5 hours down at the barn keeping my boy company. He was bellowing something fierce and wandering the property looking for his bud. We knew we couldn't stay down there 24x7 and decided on Sunday we would start the search again.
Lo and behold a miracle happened and it was truly a blessing. We had just gotten in 139 bales of hay and there was no way Remi could go through all that so Trainer Mom placed an ad to sell some of it. A man from a nearby town came and bought 25 bales and in the course of a conversation, Trainer Mom asked if he knew anyone who had a donkey because Remi needed a bud.
He not only knew someone, but that someone was himself. He had several donkeys that he wanted to find homes for because the herd was getting to big. So we traded him 3 bales of hay, Trainer Mom followed him home and back she came with Remi's new friend.
As she drove the trailer to the front of the barn, Remi was following it closely trying to figure out what the heck was in there. His little buddy let out a Hee without the Haw and Remi jumped backwards and started shaking his head. As Trainer Mom led the little guy out, Remi couldn't quite put his hoof on what this creature was.
The donkey took one look at Remi and rambled off to the other side of the pasture. Well, of course, you know my curious boy, he had to go stick his nose where it didn't belong and learned real soon that his new little bud had back feet that could fly pretty high. "Hmmm, that wasn't fun" he seemed to be thinking.
We watched for awhile and they seemed to be settling in to getting to know each other. By the next day, they were pretty well sticking together. Remi stopped his bellowing and seems to like his little friend. When we go down to feed in the morning now, they are both waiting at the fence and we are greeted with a huge Hee Haw and a sweet nicker.
We started calling the new addition Donk. He seems to be learning his name and he loves to follow you around and will stand in your way until you give him a good scritchin'. He's a great addition to the ranchette and we are very happy and grateful he's here. Remi has someone to keep him company and bust away from the hay bags, but he also has someone who will be by his side and keep him from being lonely.
Here's Donk grabbing some shade from the hot summer sun. He's so cute and sweet. Ya just gotta love him. And I have to say, I think Remi does too.
Stay tuned, Stay happy and Stay with us!
