# I may be insane, but is this the same donkey?



## NCdonkeygirl (Sep 14, 2007)

As I've mentioned a couple of times before we just bought 4 donkeys at an auction-three of which are already registed and 1 (a 2 month old) who isn't. I had the vet out last weekend and he _really _ didn't think our mama donkey was 7 years old. All I had to go on was her coggins test and what it said in the auction catalog so I was anxious to see if maybe her papers would say something different. (incidently the vet thinks she's younger than 7, which is better than being older I suppose) So, I get her papers today and the picture of the donkey they sent and the donkey I have don't even look the same! I'm so confused. I don't think the donkey we bought is the donkey they said she was! Someone else might have my donkey's papers and be wondering the same thing. Before I go insane and email the auction people can you guys look at these pictures and tell me if there is a possibility that this is the same donkey?

The first picture is the one that came with her papers. There were three pictures with her papers all clearly of the same donkey







This one I took. She's the big one facing forward. I know it's a little small-but do you see how she doesn't have any light points? Her muzzle is dark and so is her belly. And their description says she has white hairs on her forehead which mine doesn't seem to have. Can a donkey born with a light muzzle end up with a dark one?






If this isn't the same donkey what do I do? I still want her even if she isn't who they say she is-but goodness how to I figure out who she is? Now I see why they tatoo horses...


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## minimule (Sep 14, 2007)

I would have to say that isn't the same donkey. It's hard to tell but the donkey you have seems to be larger than the one on the papers too. Not sure what you can do though. The auction company may not care or may not be able to help you. Might be worth a call though.


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## PaintedMeadows (Sep 14, 2007)

Doesn't look the same to me either. I have no idea what you could do about it. Maybe check the registry? The people with the other papers might have contacted them already. Sorry I am not more help.


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## MeadowRidge Farm (Sep 14, 2007)

I dont think its the same donkey either, but dont really know if anything can be done about it...unless it was a HONEST mistake on the part of the seller mixing the papers up. I would call the auction company and inform them, but alot of times auctions could care less, and alot of sellers at auctions will pass off a unregistered animals with registration papers to try to get a better price. I would also be calling the registry and let them know. Corinne


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## NCdonkeygirl (Sep 14, 2007)

Thanks for confirming my suspicions. I'm hoping this is just a mistake. The donkey came from New Mexico, but the people who brought her to the auction were from somewhere else. I guess it's possible that in her transfer through several states that her papers just got mixed up, but you'd think people would be more responsible! I don't really care if she's registered, but we bought her thinking she had been pasture exposed to a jack and we don't know if that is true now. I guess I'll contact the auction house and I'll keep you posted.


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## JumpinJackFarm (Sep 14, 2007)

I agree with Shawna ..... the one you have now does look taller and all the Chocolates we have had born never lost their White muzzle

If the auction won't help you out .... I'd put an ad in a newspaper explaining your delima. Post the ad where they sell horses and such. I am sure it was just an honest mix-up in paperwork at the auction. You would think the auction personnel would help you out. Were there a BUNCH of Donks being auctioned off at the time?


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## NCdonkeygirl (Sep 14, 2007)

There were _a lot _ of donkeys for sale that day. There 70 something lots. I think I might know what happened. Our donkey came from New Mexico, but ended up on a farm in Georgia. There's another lot (the only one actually that matches) in the catalog for an _unregistered_ Chocolate jennet born in 2003 (again the vet said she was younger). This one also came with a jack by their side like the one we bought. AND it was listed by the husband of the person who listed ours. I Think it was just a mix-up. So now I'm going to contact the auction people and ask them how to proceed . I think I just need to send the papers to the new owners. What luck to find out your donkey is registered! And I'm sort of glad ours isn't so we can name her ourselves :bgrin


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## PaintedPromiseRanch (Sep 14, 2007)

NCdonkeygirl said:


> What luck to find out your donkey is registered! And I'm sort of glad ours isn't so we can name her ourselves :bgrin




and with ADMS you CAN get her registered... so you can start from now at least and have history for her foals and their foals and their foals and so on.


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## NCdonkeygirl (Sep 17, 2007)

So get this...I contacted the auction house and they gave me the number for the people who bought the other chocolate donkey and they don't think it's their donkey either. Also their donkey's coggins test said the donkey had a tatoo and I can't find a tatoo on mine SO I'm guessing maybe our donkeys weren't switched afterall. I am at a loss. There weren't any other chocolate or brown donkeys with jacks at their side listed in the auction catalog. I wouldn't be so upset about this except now I don't know when the jack was born-he supposedly was 2 months old, but I think he's older than that. I didn't have him vaccinated when the vet was out because he was "too young". I don't know when to wean him and now I'm scared to death he's going to breed with our Jenny who is still too young. We thought we had some time to sell him and get them separated before he was old enough to breed but I think we're going to need to sell him sooner than later. _He's been mounting the jenny _  She must be in heat because the gelding has been mounting her too. Also now we don't know if the mama donkey was bred or not. I'm just plain irritated. :ugh: I think I'm going to contact the people who sent the donkey to the auction. I don't have much hope that they can help, but maybe they can at least tell us who the heck this donkey is that we bought.


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## MeadowRidge Farm (Sep 17, 2007)

Its really not that unusual to hear stories like this coming out of auction animals, or some horse/donkey dealers either... That is one of the reasons I dont and wont buy from a auction, or dealer. They are all just to darn good at covering things up. There are a few very well run ones, (I'm not including the big name breeders auctions when I say this..they always have excellent animals and you know what your getting) but so many auctions animals are passed off as completely differant then what they are represented to be. I hope you can find out the truth about your donkey and get to the bottom of this. Corinne


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## JumpinJackFarm (Sep 17, 2007)

I am sure it is very frustrating :no:

My first Donk was found at an auction out of Portland.

He was sick and had horrible hooves .... but he was an absolute sweetheart with NO bad habits.

I have ALWAYS wondered what his story was and how he ended up there.

The auction was a "meat" auction. He was the only Donk there??

It just make you wonder?


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## NCdonkeygirl (Sep 17, 2007)

I don't really understand the point in selling a donkey with another donkey's papers. If they were really trying to pass them off as hers wouldn't they have at least attached her picture to the papers? And I guess I understand that the auction people assume people know their own animals and don't cross check papers, but they should. This was a donkey with a New Mexico coggins test brought to an auction in North Carolina by someone from Georgia-who was actually not the current owner of the donkey. The papers don't belong to the other chocolate donkey at the auction after all and I'm about to give up on trying to figure it out. Somebody out there knows what happened, but I don't think I'll be able to find an answer. In a nut shell I wish they would have just listed her as unregistered.


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## PaintedMeadows (Sep 17, 2007)

Could she be a donkey that was stolen? Is there a place to check? The whole thing seems a little hinky. I am so sorry you are having such a bad experience! Could you get her palpated or ultrasounded to see if she is pregnant? Peace of mind for you only of course. Good luck.


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## Ronnie (Sep 17, 2007)

MeadowRidge Farm said:


> I would call the auction company and inform them, but alot of times auctions could care less,


This is our sale, The Mount Airy Donkey Sale, owned and operated by my family as Trotting C Sales Co.

We do in fact care a great deal and try very hard to run a well managed and honest sale. My wife and my future daughter-in-law check in most all of the animals and they check to see if all paper work is in place (registration papers, transfers, breeders certificates, etc...) however we are not always able to catch errors on registration papers as they are presented to us by the consignors. If I catch sellers deliberatly missrepresenting animals I try to push them to make it right and they get a strong warning not to let it happen again or don't come back. As I said we try to have the information listed as accurately as possible but as our sale conditions state, any and all guarantees are between the seller and the buyer and none are made by the sale company. I do believe this was an honest mix up by the consignor as he has a lot of donkeys and between him and his son brought 14 to this sale. However, and with that being said, this buyer did contact us and we provided all of the contact information we had to help her clear this up and I would like to restate that we try hard to satisfy everyone. I have no real recourse with the consignor but I would like to offer that if you are not satisfed with this donkey, if you will bring her and her foal back I will gladly give you a full refund of the purchase price. Again this is one auction company that does care and will always care!

Best regards and let us know if we can help.

Ronnie Clifton

Trotting C Sales Co.


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## NCdonkeygirl (Sep 18, 2007)

Ronnie, I just want to say that I don't think that you or you wife had _anything_ to do with this mix-up and I don't think your auction is like the auctions people have been posting about. My husband and I had a great time at your auction and will most likely be back next summer. When I contacted you about this initially, your wife responded immediately. Unfortunately (for me) it's looking like this mix-up didn't actually happen at the auction which is why I'm so frustrated. I really thought 2 lots just got their paperwork switched by accident and we would find the owner of the true registered donkey and find out more about ours and it would be simple and easy, but it looks like that isn't the case after all. We're new to donkeys and even newer to breeding donkeys and we were really _excited_ about having a seasoned (registered) mama jennet to help us get started and that is what we thought we purchased. Call me naive, but I'd like to believe that this truly was a mistake and not intentional. However, that doesn't lessen my disappointment and I wish our donkey was who she was supposed to be. We understood the terms and conditions of the auction and _never_ would have asked you to take her back, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved that you offered. I'll contact you privately. It was never my intention to damage the reputation of your auction on this forum and would like to reiterate that I don't think you had any knowledge of this mix-up prior to the auction.

Emily


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