DONKEY JACK AND DONKEY JEN

donkey jenny

The donkeys are such good natured donkeys that I am able to know them as I would know a dog. Big powerful beasts I would not have a chance attacked by one with murderous intent. They don't have court. It would take a lot to make a donkey kill a man, but mistreating one is a very dangerous thing to do. There comes a time they've had enough. They know my size and they know their size. They know I'm easy to push over. I'm not as certain on two feet as they are on four. I'd be gone in half a minute if one of the donkeys went at me furious. So I don't make them furious. I treat them the way I want them to treat me, and they do. Every living thing gives what they get. It's natural law like gravity and the speed of light. This is why it's in all the scriptures of all the religions. I don't hit donkeys with a stick, they don't kick me. I love having a friendship with a beast as powerful as a bear and with a brilliant mind that catches on as fast as a child's. I feel completely safe with the donkeys. Children are safe with them. They adore kids. I've tamed them not by training, but by loving them. I love them, they love me. I recall in the first weeks of becoming acquainted with Jack, one day I was visiting with him and said to him, You're my friend. He snorted and shook his head like in a slight uncontrollable spasm. He understood what I said. He liked hearing it. Every time I call him Friend, a mild calm runs through him. My familiar name for him is Donkey Jack. He likes Donkey Jack. I have both of them proud to be donkeys. I praise their beautiful donkey nature, their donkey minds, their donkey faces, donkey ears, donkey body, donkey legs and hooves, donkey speed, donkey power. I tell them both daily they are beautiful donkeys. At carrot time, I get down and look Jenny in the eye and say, I love you, beautiful donkey. Her eye responds by showing a degree of relaxation. Jenny's familiar name is Donkey Jen. She likes her name and Jack likes his. Both like to hear me speak their names. 

donkey jack

One day before Jenny arrived in the meadow, I was in the donkey shed with Jack. I said to him, I'd like to be able to ride you. He snorted, wiggled his head and held it down. I felt like he was saying he'd like me to ride him too. I said, But I'm so heavy now, I wouldn't want to risk hurting your back. He smiled, snorted and it felt like I heard him say, Thanks for the consideration. I heard those exact words in my mind's ear. I wondered if I might be tapping into his telepathic zone. I feel so certainly they read me by way of telepathy, I go to them with clear mind. The only danger I have in the meadow is they get so jealous, they'll take turns keeping the other away from me. At the fence in the morning for carrot time, Jack in his Alpha role comes running. He squeals and brays. I give him carrot while Jenny takes her time walking along. She approaches for her carrot, Jack squeals and snorts, donkey growling, turns his rear end to her telling her to stay back, MY ice cream man! Jack settles down as quickly as the gesture was begun. Jenny backs up a little to get out of range if Jack were to kick. He doesn't kick and she reaches to me with her lips reaching for carrot. Jack settles down and they stand side by side munching carrot. It was quite different in Jenny's time as Alpha. She would arrive at the fence first. As soon as Jack was anywhere near, see went at him kicking him, biting at him, sending him in a big half circle around her on his way to the carrot. I'd step over a ways to make it easier for him getting past Jenny. Once he took his first carrot, Jenny settled down. She was haughty with him, bold, a very difficult woman with Jack, and kicked him so much he took to liking it. She is bigger than Jack and feistier. However, when Jack goes into action, he is fierce as a dog. I saw Jenny and Jack fight enough during their early months together to get the picture, they are powerful. They fight like horses. I know better than to piss off a donkey. Like I say, they don't have court, nor do they have the Ten Commandments. 

jenny trickles down

It's by the force of their will they allow me to live. Both are free to swing around and let me have it any time I'm around them. Once, I stepped in the way when Jenny was about to pop Jack with a back hoof and she touched my leg. It was no more than a touch. At the moment of contact she realized she'd hit me, not Jack. She withdrew the power from the kick immediately so all I felt was a mere touch. Another time, I stepped between them just as Jack was hauling off to let Jenny have it. His hoof touched the back of my hand about like a butterfly landing. He realized on contact he'd hit the wrong one and pulled the power out of his kick so it was just a touch. I didn't scold him. I was impressed. I said, Thank you, Friend. I heard a statistic from a reliable source that in the course of a year more people around the world are killed by donkeys than die in plane crashes. That was the only thing I knew about donkeys when Jack took up here. I imagined an awful lot of men who work donkeys are not good to them. According to the range of human nature, some are good to donkeys and some are not, in degrees from one pole to the other. The statistic tells me a donkey will take abuse like a dog, but unlike a dog, a donkey doesn't have loyalty unto death in its nature. Donkeys want to please us. Don't allow the opportunity to be pleased, hit them and only scold them, there comes a moment the donkey says, I have given you my all and you did not deserve it. The western USA has wild donkey herds. I'm sure the mountains of Central and South America have herds of wild donkeys, herds that came from donkeys that escaped perhaps an abusive human and reproduced into a herd. Surely the Middle East has donkey herds in its remotest regions. Iran is covered with mountains. Surely donkey herds live in those hills. Southeast Asia surely has wild donkeys, rural China, Siberia. Original donkeys in Somalia are endangered down to around 500, the number shrinking fast. They eat them there. They also live in extreme poverty.

jack sniffs it

I want my donkeys to have a good donkey life. Ideally, they would live in a herd, but herd is not practical in circumstances here. I don't want a herd to deal with. I don't want a dozen kick-boxers stamping around me jealous of each other, back ends hopping up and down, legs kicking. It's weird enough between two of them going into a kick fest, even knowing I won't be kicked. I don't like to test trust. Trust gets tested by way of unforeseen circumstances enough without pop tests complicating it. I step out from between them and say, I'm going back to my barn. They settle down and return to grazing. The donkeys have shown me what I've seen in other four-leggeds I've known, dogs and cats, they hear, see and pay attention while giving the appearance they are not. We learn from the time we're babies that we are required to show that we are listening when talked to. They've never been taught you have to at least act like you're paying attention. I talk to them while they're grazing and they show no sign that they're listening, except I can see it in the way they're grazing that they're multi-tasking, grazing and listening to the ice cream man. Jenny and Jack are so familiar with the camera now they get frisky with it. Invariably, they, both of them, will run their nose right up to it just as I'm about to take a picture of a donkey face, giving me a donkey nose, and sometimes donkey teeth. Both act like they want to bite it but I know they only want to feel it with their lips and teeth, so I let them. Jenny made a dive for the camera, I held it for her like a carrot and clicked when she opened her mouth. Now that Jenny has given Alpha over to Jack, which she did in May, she is gentle and sweet all the time. She's still frisky Jenny, but only when Jack gets too close. Her eyes are different when she's not Alpha. Alpha, her eyes flash, she's in control, she's in charge, she wants all concerned to be aware of it. I so seldom see that flash in her eyes anymore, I sometimes wonder if she's not well. Her eyes are calm and serene all the time. She seems like she's in meditation with eyes open. Jack is a let-it-be Alpha. He is the lookout for the territory and first for carrots. Jenny defers to him as her conqueror. Once Jack conquered Jenny, she fell in love with him and passed Alpha to him.      

   

jack curls his lip

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TRAINING DONKEYS WITH LOVE

jenny

I had just picked up Henry Miller, read half a page, heard a Japanese car horn go beep, saw Justin's little Toyota slow down to stop. I had parts from yesterday's art project strewn about. Picked up the palm sander and its box from the chair just inside the door. It was all of them, Justin, Crystal, Vada and Cheyanne. It was petting zoo day. I had not seen Cheyanne in at least three weeks. First thing I noticed was her hair was longer. Vada was wearing a glowing pink raincoat and pink rain boots. The kids were lit up, big day, donkeys. I stepped inside for carrots and accompanied them to the gate. Jack was walking toward us, Jenny a ways behind him. This is their new pattern, Jack leads the way and Jenny follows, the reverse of when Jenny was Alpha. They have been a good education for me in Alpha behavior among equines. Jack is assertive now. He's da man. I like seeing the new Jack. In the time Jenny was Alpha, Jack just grazed about and let Jenny keep a lookout for any marauders crossing the fence into their territory. Jack is now the lookout, the first one to see anything moving. It felt good to see Jack walking toward us, seeing it was petting time, visitors, carrots, the human touch, perked up ears, walking in anticipation. I gave a piece of carrot to Cheyanne. Jenny's head was over the fence, her nose reaching for Cheyanne before she could get the carrot situated in her hand. Jenny's lips reached out like fingers and picked it up from Cheyanne's hand before Cheyanne had a chance to hand it to her. It scared and delighted Cheyanne. I was glad to see how gentle Jenny was being with Cheyanne. She picked the carrot out of Cheyanne's hand without touching the hand. I knew then that neither of the kids need be concerned about Jenny or Jack biting their fingers. Both donkeys were taking the carrot chunks with their lips.

 

jenny

 

Jenny was so gracious with both kids I was heartened to see her take to them with such adoration. Cheyanne put her hand on Jenny's open eye and all Jenny did was close the eye while Cheyanne's hand was there. I felt compelled to say, Don't put yer hand on her eye, but chose not to, Jenny knew how to handle it. I preferred for them to interact without me interrupting their communication. They were enjoying each other. Jenny likes Cheyanne. I was holding Vada in glowing raincoat. She wanted to hand Jenny a carrot. She was apprehensive, but I was certain by then Vada's fingers were safe. Jenny took the carrot with her lips and tickled Vada, made her giggle. She wanted to give Jenny another. Cheyanne took carrot to Jack while Vada was getting acquainted with Jenny. Jack was being just as gentle as Jenny with Cheyanne, reaching for the carrot with his lips. Donkey lips are so comic they made the kids laugh to see how they extended the upper lip like the two forefingers and lower lip like a thumb. It's comic because unexpected and it looks funny. They use the lips to take hold of things like with those two fingers and a thumb. They take hold of a tuft of grass with their lips, twist it and chop it off with their teeth. Those are efficient lips for an herbivore. I think I recollect seeing a camel's lips can extend like fingers, too. I was feeling happy about Jenny and Jack, happy to see they were so caring and gentle, dependable with the kids. I was glad to see the confidence I had in the donkeys was realistic. It tells me my reading of the donkeys is somewhat accurate. It felt like an experiential exam, a measure of how gentle the donkeys have become toward people who visit, with me. It tells me I know my donkeys, passed the beginner phase. And the donkeys were my only teachers. First hand, hands on experiential learning. It was how I learned the farm work from old man Tom, by working with him and paying attention.

 

jack

 

The kids got their next big thrill feeding jewelweed to the donkeys. They take the whole plant and munch it down the stem, bite off the roots and let them fall to the ground. It's comical to see the jewelweed plant with all it's leaves around Jenny's nose and her lips pulling them in. Cheyanne went back and forth from Jenny to Jack with jewelweed, having a great time, excited to be playing with the donkeys and them interacting with her. I was heartened to see the good vibes flowing both ways. Cheyanne was loving the donkeys and they were loving her. Vada, too. The affection was flowing both ways with her. It thrilled her out of her mind when Jenny took carrot from her hand and touched Vada's fingers with her lip. Vada was hesitant to risk her fingers again. I told her Jenny was just wanting to feel her finger, donkeys feel with their lips. I held my hand to Jenny and let her feel it all over with her lips to show Vada the lips don't hurt, and reassured her Jenny will not bite her finger when she takes a carrot. I did not want to push Vada to let Jenny feel her fingers again, just wanted to ease off the fear, show her Jenny's lips are safe. She didn't want to give Jenny a carrot again, and that was ok. At jewelweed time, Vada was ready with a new plant as soon as Jenny finished one. Crystal was picking jewelweed plants, handing them to the kids. Justin was watching, not as certain as I was of the donkeys, looking for any sign of danger or a threat. He was relaxed in his Alpha role seeing his babies were safe and happy. And I was relaxed seeing my babies were safe. This has been my ideal, that Cheyanne and Vada be safe with the donkeys.

 

jenny grazing in sunlight

 

I've learned from knowing dogs and cats how to communicate with the four-leggeds. I don't mean telepathic communication, though its included on the subconscious level, but body language, tone of voice, eyes. Eyes are very important in their communication. They read eyes. And I read their eyes. I've learned from living with several dogs and several cats along the way how to communicate with them. When I meet a new animal, like go into somebody's house and a cat comes to have a look and smell of a human never seen before, I make eye contact with the cat and say, in effect, I see you. Sometimes a cat will walk a straight line to me after we make eye contact. But all cats are different. Some shy, some not. I've trained all my dogs and cats with love. I've looked at dog training books and wouldn't do any of what they say to do to a friend of mine. I love my dogs. I don't stand over them so they'll know I am dominant, I am Alpha. I couldn't do that to one of my dogs. I could in play if we were wrestling around and being rambunctious, but not to say I'm dominant. I've loved all my cats and dogs, never trained any of them, never had to scold any of them, never had to hit them. I loved them and they loved me. They love me so much they want to make me happy. From their way of thinking, making me happy is done by pleasing me. They obey automatically. It's not even a matter of obedience. The donkeys respond to love the same. I have not trained them in any way. Don't have to. I can talk to them and they know what I'm saying. This is where our telepathy comes into play. I sometimes am tuned to be able to receive what they have to say. They don't care to talk a lot, talking isn't what they do. They pay more attention to nuances of feeling. They are way more physical than we are. They communicate physically like we do mentally with words. They pay attention to me and learn my language. I pay attention to them and learn their language.     

 

jenny's lips

 

 

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DONKEY JENNY'S MEADOW

jack after his appointment at the donkey hair styling barn

I'm living the farm experience every day. Wake up this morning, it's raining lightly after all night rain, some of it rough. Put on the jacket, the hat and the barnyard shoes, go out into the weather, whatever it is, pick up some hay, slip and slide over the entrance to the meadow where they like to gather and wait for the barnyard waiter to notice they're waiting. I go out the door and Jack cuts loose with a bray, mouth open, tongue and teeth showing, eyes sparkling. If they're off in the meadow when I go out, he will walk toward me and when his eyes focus on who it is at about fifty feet, his friend, the neck extends forward, his head points straight forward, lip curls up, teeth and gums show and he gives the bray all he's got. It's a donkey joyful noise. He makes a bee-line to me with his nose wanting to smell my hand or clothes first thing to confirm sight and sound with scent. I call, "Donkey Jack," to him to identify myself by sound. I'm thinking it's about fifty feet that Jack's eyesight can see a face clearly enough. That's the point where he sometimes starts running with neck forward, chin close to the ground, his face twisted up in a high whistling inbreath, Hee, followed by a long exhalation of Haaaaaauuw. It's the original horn. The H is definitely there. Hee-Haw is correct phonetic spelling of the sound. It's a comic sound that automatically fills me with delight. Sometimes he brays when a car goes by. Neighbors love hearing Jack bray when they pass on the road. I do too. Sometimes I think he brays just to be singing. I'll hear him during the day sometimes cut loose with a long honk and it cracks me up every time.

 

jenny sez, hello in there

 

I have a feeling Jenny cannot bray. I've heard some very poor attempts at making a bray that was not Jack's voice. I've never seen Jenny bray. I think I've only heard her attempt a bray three times. I see her watch Jack closely when he cuts loose with a bray. I don't know if braying might be gender specific, like roosters and crowing. I'll look into that. My guess would be that both jacks and jens are able to bray. Don't know. So much is different between the two characteristic of gender, it puts me in awe to discover their natures as two sides of the same coin. With only Jack to go by, I'd have access to only one half of the full circle that is donkeyness. I suspect size has something to do with their differences too. I feel like Jenny is the Alpha because she's the biggest. She feels to me, too, like she feels an urgency to keep intruders out of their meadow. The protector. She's possessive. She's a jealous woman. She's a little girl who holds her doll close, saying, "Mine!" Jenny eats with her ears back, telling the others to stay away from her mound of hay. She'll munch awhile at her hay, then she'll take a few steps with her ears back to Jack's hay where he's grazing. She noses him out of the way and he walks to another bunch of hay. It strikes me as possibly equine dominance behavior. If Jack were the biggest, he'd be doing it. The privilege of size. This is something else we humans think we have transcended with civilization, but have not.  

 

wet jack's back

 

Jack lived here about three months or more before Jenny arrived. Jack and I bonded in that time. I can walk around behind him and know he won't kick me. Today I walked around Jenny close behind her believing she would not kick. I watched her legs to see if ever an impulse made a muscle twitch. No. She watches me talk to Jack and rub his legs, drape my arms around his neck. Then she wants me to be familiar with her, too, not so much as to touch her legs, but rub behind her ears where she scratches herself on the dogwood tree and she likes to feel my fingertips run through the hair on her forehead. If she doesn't see me petting on Jack first, she doesn't want me touching her. Jenny and I have not had a chance to bond yet. We're close. I've only recently reached a place where I can sit down or lie down on the ground near her with confidence I won't be stepped on or kicked. Donkeys are like reverse kangaroos. Jenny seems to be settling down a little bit in her kicking Jack. I'm wondering what it means. Yesterday I saw him inadvertently side up too close to her and she went into what would have been a kicking fit. This time it was contained. It amounted to her rear jumping up and down several times and the back legs cocked to kick, but not kicking. Just hopping up and down like a warning. I read it for self control by her own will. Now that she has Jack apprized of the fact that Jenny is the matriarch of the meadow, Alpha Donkey, she doesn't have to be so rough on him. It has been a long struggle by her to take charge of Jack so he's not trying to climb on her back all the time like the serial rapist that he is by nature. I've an idea that a time or two when I've not been around they've had a fight that determined the hierarchy.

 

jenny after her appointment at the donkey hair styling barn

 

Jenny has muscled me about a few times, nothing threatening, just taking charge of me. I cannot carry a bowl of grain past her without giving it to her  immediately. If I don't, she'll jerk the bowl out of my hands and the grain will fly all over the ground. Rather than struggle against her, I put it down for her and take the one for Jack in my other hand a little ways from Jenny, because Jack will take it away from me too, just not as fast as Jenny will. This is how they would treat each other. It's how I want them to treat me. I don't want to be the Alpha. I'm happy to leave that to Jenny. She's not abusive with it. She is the first to see me when they are at the other end of the meadow. She's wide awake. I don't want to compromise her role in the meadow. I'm in the meadow a brief amount of time per day. I'm the visitor. The meadow is their home. I'm feeling that Jenny is settling into her new life she did not choose for herself, the life of a slave, sold from master to master. She has an intelligent mind. She assesses things closely, she pays close attention. Jenny is up and alert at all times. Jack drifts about, makes no waves. I get the feeling he doesn't like being smaller than Jenny. Though when it comes time to take charge of her, Jack doesn't need any help. Today I gave them carrots side by side. In the past I've had to give them the carrots both arm's reach apart to keep them from kicking. Their mouths were merely a foot apart while I handed them the carrots. No kicking, no grunts, no snorts, just carrot munching. I want them to work out their relationship without interference of human mind saying it hadn't oughta be one way or another. They look up to us human beings in such a big way that I can't abuse such adoration with harm and regret. I'm bonding with them by getting to know them, by talking to them like they have some sense, keeping them knowing I am aware of their consciousness, by communicating with them consciousness to consciousness, by keeping them aware that I am happy to have them for my friends. We don't need language. 

 

jenny sez, y'all come back and see me

 

 

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