Introducing.......

[dixie_belle]

We have four mini horses and I have always thought a little mini donkey would make a perfect addition to our farm. This week Festus has come to live here. As of right now we are keeping him apart from the horses. There is always a wall or a fence between them. They can touch noses but not much else. In two weeks or so, I will put them all out in the pasture at the same time. Hubby and I will supervise, but they will have to figure out the herd thing at that time.

So here he is:

And of course, during the picture taking process, Fudge just had to stick his head in to see what all the fuss was about.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

he's very cute

I had an appaloosa mini mule who was called Festus. The long ears are a lot of fun and dare I say much smarter than their horse cousins

.

 

[ohmt]

What a cutie!

 

[REO]

Very cute!! I hope I'll have a mini donkey some day

 

[Taylor Richelle]

Awww he is adorable! Love him! Congrats

 

[Jill]

Awww!!! He's precious!!! We'd like to have some mini donkeys one day, too. Congratulations on your new little boy

 

[dixie_belle]

Well, here I was all worried about aggression by my big paint, Spot. Turns out, they are smarter than their old mom. I have three pastures, a little less than 3 acres each. I only use one (the one closest to the house, simply because it is the closest), and they can't overgraze it, anyway. So this morning I decided to put three of the mini horses down in a "new" pasture where they had never been before, and put my most mellow horse and Festus in the regular pasture. The three in the far pasture considered it a whole new world. They ran and ran and inspected the fence line and then settled down to eat. Peanut and Festus were in the regular pasture and Peanut was mighty unhappy. He kept running the fence line with Festus in persuit. (Now I must admit here to being lazy and saying that I didn't lock the gate between the pastures.) Peanut pushed the gate open to be with his friends and, of course, Festus trotted along behind him. So I rush out there, fearing the worst and by the time I get there, they are all calmly grazing like they are the best of friends. Huh?? Now THAT I didn't expect. I guess since this is virgin territory, no one is protecting "his" pasture from an intruder. I will keep a watchful eye on them, just to be safe. And all gates are open so Festus can run to mommy for help if he needs to.

So here I was all worried and it turned out to be a non-event.