We’ve had two horses for almost a decade now, Mocha and Kai. Mocha is a 12 year old registered quarterhorse mare and Kai is a 14 year old gelding. We came out one morning a few weeks ago and had a new member of our equine herd, a donkey!

We are pretty sure that he was tame once upon a time, and was happy to find another herd to hang out with. Our problem is that Mocha shouldn’t get pregnant for many reasons, and Buzzy was intact, so we had to figure out something quick to do.

We hated to separate the horses, but for a while, we kept Mocha in protective custody in our corral and backyard where Buzz the donkey couldn’t get to her, and Buzz hung out with Kai out in our fields, but that wasn’t a permanent solution, because she needed to be able to get out to graze. We tried to find his previous owners, but no one around was looking for their donkey.

We thought about working on taming him and getting him gelded, but first we put out a call to see if we could find him another home. After almost losing hope with many things that didn’t work out, we hit the jackpot and found him a great home. There was a couple with 100 acres up in an area called Mountain View who had been looking for a donkey to keep their horse company, and Buzz totally fell in love with his new mama at first sight.

The day that they came over to pick Buzz up, a couple visiting the farm was on a tour and not only got to watch the maneuvering to get him into a secure paddock, into a chute and onto a truck, but they even got to help. (What, everyone doesn’t put visitors to work?!)

It was a perfect example of great teamwork, and a fairy-tale “happily ever after” ending to our story! Buzz is now in a great new home, Mocha is back out in the fields with her soulmate Kai, and we couldn’t possibly be happier.