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Sweet Casper

In February 2021 I spontaneously had a vision of a little white donkey. I could see it in my mind’s eye and feel it in my heart. Within a few days on a Facebook page for Arizona horses, I saw a post for a mini horse and commented that I have a mini donkey and wondered about getting another one. Someone responded saying they had a donkey that needed help that they had just rescued.

At that point, I had said to the universe my preference was not to increase the herd size. I have learned that with preference of course I need to also have surrender and trust my intuition.

I did ask for a picture, and of course it was Casper, the little white donkey that had popped in to my consciousness to introduce himself to me a few days prior. He came to the ranch within a couple days.

Yes, vision, intuition and insight supersedes preference, that is for sure. He was just so darn cute! With a particularly endearing sort of innocence. There was lots of anticipation with him coming. And I let Charlie know he would not be the only cute little long ear here anymore. We would soon have two burritos.

There was a little snafu and a synchronicity during Casper’s shipping process. The shipper’s truck would not start up when she was about 45 minutes away getting gas. The best I could do was go to the Facebook page for the town she was in and put up her name and phone number asking for help for her. Very quickly someone came to her rescue, and it was actually a friend of hers from the past that recognized the phone number, and she just moved to that little town recently.

She went and picked up my little guy, and then the original shipper’s truck started and she safely got back to her home.

The universe was looking out for us that day.

I actually cried when Casper got off the trailer. I knew he was overweight, but but the pictures of him did not show just how unhealthy and obese he was. That, unfortunately, can lead to deadly consequences for horses and especially donkeys. He had obviously had founder in his feet within the last year, but thankfully the new growth looked tighter. That was good news. He had a much better chance that way.

We just had to get him stabilized and on the right regimen for his recovery.

Someone had been literally feeding him to death with too much pasture or alfalfa hay and maybe even grain. He is so dear and sweet that I’m sure people loved to give him apples and carrots, which is actually a no-no for an animal with metabolic issues like Casper.

The fat pad on his neck was so heavy it had broken his neck ligament and it flopped to the side. He was the ass with two or three asses back there. He actually looked like a little piggy behind. And his body was covered in fat pads. I had the vet out the next day to draw blood because it was obvious he had metabolic disorders at this point. We needed a baseline and a plan.

With research and intuition I settled on a couple supplements for him and the vet prescribed something short term. We had to get the weight off, but with enough gentleness not to send him into a spiral that could harm him, and the carbohydrates had to be kept as low as possible. Donkeys eat a lot of fibrous things like sticks and bark in the wild. So the food for horses is a bit too much for them.

The vet was so happy at the last visit. She got out of the car and she almost cried! All she could do was loudly say, we had done it! We had gotten his weight down to a manageable level and she was at that point confident he would be OK. It took quite a while. What a sigh of relief for us.

Casper is one of the dearest, gentlest equines I have ever met. He loves children. He trusts everyone. Just loves to follow us around for attention and scratches. He even let a toddler finger paint his hooves like polishing fingernails! There is such wisdom in his eyes and love from his heart.

He still gets his wonderful supplements daily, one all the way from England and then an additional magnesium source. He’s very slowly still firming up and looking healthier every day. It will always be obvious that he was once very much too heavy, but he’s on the way to having a long and happy life. He holds the record for the fattest donkey both the vet and the trimmer and another horse practitioner had ever seen. And they see a lot of animals.

Little Casper is just a totally lovable and huggable gem. The timing was just right for his rescue to turn into a lifesaver for him.

Thank you guidance for delivering his image to me so I clearly knew he was meant to be here. And just like Sedona, he’s also a medicine hat paint! Even the two little blind dogs indoors carry that coloration. They are harmonic of the Ranch, and it seems to attract it. The animals are all so unique, loved, and special.

Sweet Charlie has had a bit of adapting to do now that Casper sometimes gets a lot of attention. He appears tough sometimes, and that is just boy donkey play, actually. It’s good for Casper to have a buddy that chases him around a bit and keeps him active. 

And two donkeys are always better than one.