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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Lynda wrote:
> We had two.  A Jeruselum ass, a jenny, we got when she was 30+ years
> old. Sweet as the day was long.  The folks who had her left her in a
> field to "survive" which meant they provided water.  We got her home
> and fed her which seemed to have been a unique experience for her.
> Our kids were quite young then.  She'd never been ridden or anything
> but the kidlets rode her and she was great with them.  Not too
> pleased with adults but she tolerated us.  When we moved to a colder
> area we found her a home with some older folks who wanted a lawn
> ornament.  They built her a house *I'd* have loved to live in!  We
> lost contact with them but the last time we talked to them she was
> 45.
>
> Our other donkey was what is known as a burro.  He was one of the BLM
>  donkeys.  He was intact and was between 5 and 10 years old when we
> got him. We broke him to pull a cart and to ride.  He was
> stereotypical of donkeys. He was stubborn.  He was smart.  He
> wouldn't work if he didn't want to.  He quit when he decided it was
> time to quit.  However, he didn't have a mean bone in his body
> although he dumped the ex several times <g>  He was also great with
> the kidlets (they were about 3 and 5 when we got the two donkeys).


This reminds me...someone asked me the other day what the difference was
between a burro and a donkey...
the magazine discusses this, but here is the scoop...
The 'burros' of the Western US are not indigenous.  Burro is the Spanish
word for donkey, and when Spain colonized the Americas, they brought
with them the same donkey, the Jerusalem ass, technically the African
Wild Ass (I just love that name!<snicker>) as a pack animal to mine for
gold in Mexico and California, etc.  The donkeys were later abandoned
and became feral 'burros'.  The term burro is not used for the mammoths
or the minis, only the traditional size animal.  It would seem to me
that if you got a feral animal from the BLM it would be a burro right up
until you take it home, when it would become a donkey...lol...or a burro
if you speak Spanish...lol..

When you say you broke him to pull a cart...how did you do that and was
it hard?  Or do you mean you broke him to ride and trained him to pull?
Jack is independent and stubborn, but very sweet in a manipulative kind
of way-quite pathetic and adorable....not mean at all.  One of the
things I read was that they are great with kids and with the
handicapped, so your experiences are spot on with both animals.

The article says that you should not use an intact Jack as a guardian,
that they are too aggressive.  I just don't see aggression in Jack, but
then, I have never seen him react around lambs or kids.  All I have seen
is his behavior with geldings/horses.

--
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public
debt  should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered
and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed
lest Rome become bankrupt.  People must again learn to work, instead of
living on public assistance."

--Cicero, 55 BC
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