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Sagebrush Alpine Elegance (aka Ellie) was a black Mammoth Jackstock jennet, and was
the first foal to be born at Sagebrush Ranch. She was sired by a black 60" jack from
Tennessee, and her mother was Sagebrush Desert Delight (Lily).
She was born at approximately 1:15pm on July 29, 2001, just 11 hours after we brought
her mother home.
She was approximately 37" tall at birth, and was a sweet fuzzy baby. She loved to
run around her mother! She also adored people, and would come running for attention when
ever we visited her pasture.
Ellie first became a part of my life when I bought her mother just a few days before
Ellie was born. We had gone to Arkansas to pick out and purchase 3 Mammoth jennets to add
to our breeding and show herd.
Once I decided to buy Ellie's mother, Lily, I knew we had to get her home as soon as
possible, because she looked like she would foal in about 2-4 weeks (or less). So we
drove all the way home from Arkansas to northern Utah in two days, stopping every few
hours to let Lily get out and walk around a little.
We got home about 2 am Sunday morning, and were glad to be home where the donkeys
could get out and have a place to walk around and spread out to sleep, and we could get
some sleep in our own beds again. And I was especially glad to have Lily home before she
foaled.
About 11:45am Sunday morning, I went out to see how my new jennets were settling in,
and to give them some attention. I happened to look in our stall and noticed that Lily
had gone in there and started foaling. I put the other two jennets in a separate pen so
they wouldn't bother Lily and her new baby.
After about an hour of waiting, and still no foal, I went back to the house to call
the vet and see if he wanted to come check Lily.
When I came back out Lily had laid down in the stall, but I couldn't really see how
things were going in there without getting up close where I might bother her. So I went
around to the back side of the stall and peeped in through the window.
That was when I first saw Ellie. She was laying beside her mother looking around at
her new surroundings while her mother licked her off. She was dark black with bright
white on her nose and around her eyes. And her fur was soooo curly, and her ears so big
and floppy!
Shortly after Lily got up, we cautiously entered the stall to see if she would let us
come up and see her new baby. Lily was a great mother, and gave us no trouble in letting
us pet and handle her baby. She also took great care of Ellie, and was the best I could
have hoped for in a mother donkey.
Ellie grew fast, and learned early on to love human attention and handling. When she
was still learning to get around, she had already learned to let us pick up and handle
her hooves, and loved shoulder and back rubs.
At first Ellie didn't like us touching her neck and face. We decided to try teaching
her a trick called "touch", that we had taught our older donkeys. The only
difference was that she didn't eat grain or treats yet, so we couldn't use that to help
teach her the trick.
Instead we used shoulder scratches as a reward, and Ellie quickly learned that
touching our outstretched hand got good results. She would deliberately walk up to us
and nudge our hand and then turn her shoulder toward us for her reward. I told my mother
that even as a young little girl that Ellie had already learned to use the "magic
word".
By having her touch our hand with her nose in order to get shoulder scratches, Ellie
learned that humans touching her neck, face, and nose was a good thing, and completely
got over her dislike of us handling her head and neck.
Ellie would follow us all over her pasture for more attention, and would sometimes
follow us far enough away that her mother would get worried and leave her food to come
and see what Ellie was doing.
My sister also taught Ellie to give "kisses" by touching my sister's head
or her hand held near her face.
On several occasions we took Lily and Ellie into our backyard to eat grass and go
exploring with us. Ellie just loved the feel of romping on the grass in our yard! While
her mother was busy eating, Ellie would race around the yard in big circles. Ellie
quickly learned that it was fun to go for walks in our backyard.
After that, when we would leave her pasture after playing with her, she would put her
head through the gate, and beg to come with us.
Ellie was acting like a normal healthy, energetic foal until almost the time of her
death. Therefore it came as kind of a surprise to lose her so suddenly.
The day before Ellie died, I noticed that it looked like she hadn't nursed one side of
her mother's udder, but the other side looked normal, and when I fed the older donkeys,
Ellie was eating hay right along with them, and didn't seem to have any lack of appetite
for hay. So I thought I'd just watch her and see what happened.
That afternoon I went out and gave several of the older donkeys attention. Then I went
to Ellie and gave her some scratches and attention. I remember thinking that she was
acting a little sleepy, but figured it was normal nap time and nothing to really worry
about. After all, baby donkeys need naps, too.
The next morning my sister went out to feed the donkeys breakfast. She came back in
and told me that she thought Ellie was dead. So I went out to see, and sure enough, Ellie
was laying stiff and cold in the middle of the pasture where she usually slept at night.
I figure Ellie must have died in her sleep. She was almost exactly 8 weeks old.
We took her body to be autopsied, so that we might be able to find out more about what
had made her die, and how to prevent it in the future.
The vet said that Ellie died of Bacterial Septicemia, an infection in her blood system
that basically involved her whole body. The vet thought that for what ever reason, Ellie
must not have been producing enough antibodies to fight off the bacteria, and so she got
sick, and since babies can get real sick fast, she died before we saw any real noticeable
signs of her being in trouble.
I miss Ellie, and wish that there were something I could have done differently to have
saved her, but I did the best I knew how. Hopefully I will be able to use what I learned
from this experience in the future with other foals.
A Tribute To Ellie Dear
(to the tune of Billy Boy)
Ellie Dear, Ellie Dear,
Oh, she really was so sweet a girl,
With her long brown ears,
And her pretty little face,
Ellie was a really sweet girl.
Ellie Dear, Ellie Dear,
Ellie was a little donkey girl,
She was only eight weeks old,
But, she really was quite smart,
Ellie was a sweet little girl.
Ellie Dear, Ellie Dear,
She knew how to touch and to "kiss",
And she even knew how
to lift her feet up,
Ellie was such a sweet little donkey.
Ellie Dear, Ellie Dear,
She was very sweet indeed,
But, one day when I went,
out to feed their morning meal,
Our sweet little Ellie was dead.
Oh, I miss her, yes, I do,
Our sweet little Ellie dear,
Maybe someday I can know,
What made her die so soon,
Oh, how sweet was little Ellie dear.
Written by Karen Jorgensen, trainer
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