Sparky Has Requests

Sparky the donkey is very good at expressing his wants and needs, and over the years I've gotten better at interpreting his communications. Sparky was diagnosed with Cushing's and had his first body clip in 2016, so this marked year three of body clipping for him.

For no particular reason I usually clip Sparky last every spring. This spring Sparky had different plans. He had started acting lethargic and wasn't quite on his A-game. He also started refusing his morning cookies. Every morning Sparky gets a pill pocket with his Prascend tablet in it, and then we follow up his pill pocket with a few Mrs. Pastures horse cookies for good measure. He had a few days where he would eat his pill pocket but then refuse his Mrs. Pastures cookies. I was pretty sure I knew what he was trying to communicate. He was screaming at me that he was hot underneath his full winter coat and he wanted to be clipped.

The first year I clipped Sparky in the spring of 2016 he had to have so much sedation in him he could hardly stand up before I could get near him with the clippers. Last year I clipped with him no sedation and he was really good, only a few minor twitches and slow motion leg lifts in protest. This year Sparky stood like a statue, I mean completely motionless, for his body clip. I have a few horses that I clip each year that are really good and don't move, but I've never had the pleasure of clipping an actual statue before. I clipped every inch of him, including every hair on his head and face. Sparky never moved, twitched, shifted his weight the entire time I clipped him.

I thought I had answered Sparky's request after clipping him. The pep returned to his step immediately and he was very active out in his pasture. However, the next morning Sparky ate his pill pocket and only two Mrs. Pastures cookies which is quite a bit short of his usual 7 or 8 cookies in the morning. I thought about what he could possibly want, and then realized I had bought some different peppermint flavored treats a few days previously and had given a few to Sparky one afternoon. I went and got a handful of the peppermint treats and Sparky happily ate them. He's now getting his pill pocket along with a mix of Mrs. Pastures and peppermint treats in the mornings. Sparky gets what Sparky wants.

In other news the body clipping train is rolling along. I think we only have maybe 6 or 7 clips to go. The end of the annual spring body clipping marathon is near. All of the horses getting clipped have Cushing's/PPID and either don't shed at all or don't fully shed, so they need extra help through clipping. The rest of the horses shed fine without a need for clipping.

Sparky's clip in progress

one fully clipped donkey

Sparky let me clip every hair on his face, he was such a champ

Taco giving me the side eye while looking for an escape route back to his pasture

Taco after his clip

Paramount mid clip

Paramount was also searching for a way to leave and get back to his pasture; look how shiny he was after his clip

I never could get a decent "after" pose from Paramount, he was over this whole clipping business

Sebastian in progress

Sebastian was perky and anxious to return to his pasture after being clipped

Blu and B-Rad having a pre-bath grooming session

B-Rad in progress

B-Rad after

Blu in progress

Blu after

Blu and B-Rad did not hang around for one second after being returned to their pasture . . . 

. . . bye Blu and B-Rad

Gus in progress

Gus after

Maisie, Calimba and MyLight

Cuffie and Lily

Thomas and Homer

Roho and Gus

Duesy, Remmy, Bruno and Fabrizzio

Sushi and Squirrel

Rubrico and Wilson

Hemi and Apollo

a sunset pose from Sabrina

The Day Sparky Was Willingly Vaccinated

Today was Vaccination Day number one. We finally got smart a few years ago and split up vaccination day into two days. We vaccinate the front half of the farm one day, and then the second half of the farm another day. This makes for a much more pleasant experience. Our two most challenging participants on vaccination days are Sparky the donkey and Timbit the mini.

Sparky and Timbit are never runners, but they both hate needle sticks. Timbit used to cream everybody within 10 feet of him on vaccination day. I finally solved his needle phobia by clicker training him and using toothpicks to stimulate needle sticks. The last three times we've vaccinated Timbit he's tossed his head and pranced a few steps but there has been no rearing, kicking, biting and bolting. The first time we vaccinated Timbit we actually didn't finish because four people weren't enough to keep the mini safely under control. All four hooves were flying, he was rearing, biting, bolting and spinning into position to double-barrel kick anyone who came near him. I repeat, four adults could not get Timbit under enough control to vaccinate him that year. Clicker training solved the problem.

On the other hand Sparky the donkey isn't food motivated enough for clicker training to work. Sparky is a champ about anything in life where he can see a direct benefit. The first year I had to body clip him after he developed PPID/Cushing's, he had so much sedation in him it was a miracle he was standing. The next year he needed no sedation at all as he stood like a statue and let me clip him. He remembered being clipped and knew that he felt better afterwards.  Sparky is a star for the farrier because he makes the correlation that he feels better after having his hooves trimmed. He stands like a statue with the speculum in his mouth to have his teeth floated because he knows his mouth feels better after his teeth are done.

On the other hand Sparky gets absolutely nothing out of being vaccinated. He feels a bunch of needle sticks and then feels exactly the same after it is all done. In his mind he is standing politely and then we stick needles in him for no reason. He sees it as us being rude when he was being polite. For 22 years Sparky has made a career out of dragging anyone who cared to hold him - often multiple people - around as the vet attempted to stick needles in him. For the last 13 years Jason has been tasked with trying to hold on to Sparky while he is being vaccinated since he was the only one who could halfway stop Sparky when Sparky decided it was time to end things. Sparky had slowly gotten better over the years. The last couple of years Jason has required no chiropractic adjustments or massages to recover from Sparky's escape attempts, and these had all been required in previous years.

This year Sparky stood almost motionless while he was being vaccinated. I think he tossed his head twice, but he never actually moved a leg. We were all kind of speechless for a minute, then everyone moved in to pet Sparky, tell him how great he was, and feed him treats. Jason didn't even have to take a single Tylenol. It was a day for the record books.

Havana and Cino innocently grazing with their halters on, oblivious that their daily plan of doing nothing will be interrupted by vaccines

Asterik

Paramount and Mick

Toledo

Johnny, Walon and Rocky

Cocomo and Silver

Dawn and MyLight

Charlotte and Renatta

Renatta, Lily and Calimba

Merlin and Havana

Cino and Art

Fabrizzio, Alfie and Taylor

Merlin, Art and Remmy

Baby and Trigger

Sabrina and Flower

B-Rad and Nemo

Life Goals

It has been 21 years since Sparky the donkey joined our family so I feel like I know him pretty well at this point. Sparky has fairly simple wants and goals in life. He wants his daily treats each morning. He wants his blanket on him if there is even a hint of cold in the air. I've never met an equid that genuinely enjoys wearing a blanket like Sparky. Sparky loves a good butt scratch, and will turn his rump to you and start backing up when he wants a butt scratch. People who don't know him think he's getting ready to kick, but he's just putting himself in position to make it easy for you to give him a butt scratch. Finally, Sparky wants to have friends. He doesn't want friends that obsess over him, cling to him, and try to run his life. He just wants regular friendship.

Sparky struggles a lot with meeting that last life goal. It almost never works out for him. He's been obsessed over, clung to, and followed around by mares and geldings alike. No matter what pasture he is in, no matter what group he lives with, the highest honor is always getting to be Sparky's special friend. Sparky's special friend always has to follow him around, try to run his life and try to keep him from having other friends. 

When you are as cute and sweet as Sparky, I guess it is inevitable that you will attract more attention than desired. Sparky currently has Sabrina and Bonnie obsessing over him and running his life, and Sabrina is the definition of the clingy girlfriend. She dutifully follows Sparky's every step and continually attempts to give him unsolicited advice on how to run his life. As he has done with every other equine that has been obsessed with him, Sparky largely ignores her and goes on with life. At this point he has a minimum of 21 years of practice at ignoring unsolicited life advice. Hopefully he has many more.

Sparky sandwiched between Bonnie and Sabrina, the two horses currently obsessed with micromanaging his life

Merlin and Cino

Moe and Levendi

Elfin and Grand

the grey horse club had claimed a section of the pasture; L-R Asterik, George, Gus, Cocomo, Silver

Johnny and Happy

Nemo and Lighty

Lily and Calimba

Flyer and Donneur

Gibson waiting for breakfast

Toledo and Rocky

the World's Cutest Fainting Goats were ready to start their day; Jo, Miss Lyle and Mina

Toledo and Johnny

Apollo and Thomas heading in for breakfast, escorted by Ewen

Cisco, Baby and Trigger

Miel and Mick