An Update and Some Explanation of The Auction Photos

First of all, thank you Gayle for making them viewable on the blog - Herself is not quite - well, she means well, but you know ummmm...nevermind, I'll say no more.

The jack donkey is now called Leon and is thriving at Sheila's. Turns out he's a real people person when overtures are friendly and no one offers to strike him about the head. His feet are terribly long but will come back with care. He is to have what I have heard referred to as "brain surgery" on his nether regions. Humans - just don't know their donkey anatomy. He has a festering sore under his chin, possibly from the too-tight halter he has been wearing for who knows how long and several warty growths. He is young, just six, and is rapidly coming out of his state of guardedness.

The small pregnant jenny is now called Annabelle and after a rough first night, she is settling in well. The farrier made an emergency call on Monday and best of all, though the jenny is horribly foundered, it is a "mechanical" founder (this does not mean her feet are mechanized in any way) but that it is strictly from neglect and none of the internal foot structures are harmed. The humans who consigned her sawed off the front of her hoofs in an attempt no doubt to spruce her up for the auction. She has been dusted with louse powder, has been wormed and will have a vet check this week. She is being doted on by a volunteer called Carol and spends much time with her head buried in Carol's arms.

Annabelle had a bay pony stallion friend in her pen (possibly the father of her unborn baby?), consigned by the same humans, and he too was foundered but no longer lame and had also had his halter taken away. He was extremely courteous with the jenny and the humans alike and knew how to pull a cart and carry children. He was only about ten or eleven hands high so you can see in the photos that Annabelle is truly tiny. The pony was sold for twenty five dollars - fate unknown.

The lamb is now called Kristina-Rose, after the young lady who helped load the trailer and who lent a pony halter to Annabelle (knotted twice at the crown) so she could be led. The lamb is still confused (she is only four months old but was one of the largest at the auction) and sometimes seeks the security of the carrier in which she was transported but Helen, the ancient sheep, is behaving like a great granny and bossing her around so all will be well shortly. Goliath, the small donkey who is self-appointed sheep guardian, is hovering like an expectant father outside their pen, making whuffling noises of assurance.

Laurel, the saintly volunteer who works with TJ/Virgil has offered to take some photos of the crew and send them tomorrow so we shall all be able to see them in the safety and comfort of their new digs.