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Pansy was a 57 1/2" sorrel/red roan Mammoth Jackstock jennet. She came to Sagebrush Ranch in July 2001,
and was purchased from Loyd Hawley of Prairie Grove, Arkansas. Prior to our purchasing Pansy, she was shown
in halter and placed in the top of her classes at multiple shows including the 2001 Great Celebration Mule
and Donkey Show in Shelbyville, TN where she placed 3rd in her class.
Pansy had a very unique and endearing personality. She was one of the quietest donkeys I have ever met.
She would often squeak when she saw me coming, but very rarely actually brayed. I think in the first 3 1/2
years I owned her, I only heard her bray about a dozen times. I always thought she would be the perfect donkey
to own if I had to live in an area where people didn't like loud donkey noises!
When I was training her new things, if I presented her too quickly with something that was new and kind of
challenging, she would just shut down and stop trying until I slowed down and broke it up into little baby
steps. But if it was something she knew how to do well, she absolutely loved showing off what a smart girl she
was!
Her "bag of tricks" included walk, trot, canter, back and whoa from either a leadline or just following along
loose in the pasture. She also knew "touch" and enjoyed playing these games with us. Some of my fondest memories
are of playing follow-the-leader with her in the pasture. She was very competitive with her pasture buddy, Smokey,
and they both loved to play this game.
I would carry a small container of treats out with me, and call one of them over to me. Then I would take that
one through her paces. I'd ask her to "Walk on", and she'd walk along right beside me. Then I'd go a little
faster and as her to "Trot!” at which point she'd snap into a pretty little trot, then I'd run faster and call
out "Canter!" and she'd start cantering along beside me. After a few strides of that, I'd ask for her to slow
down, or maybe just call out "Whoa" and she'd do a fast sliding stop beside me. I'd have her back up a few steps,
and I'd praise her and give her a little treat. Then I'd go to the other girl and take her through the same kind
of routine, sometimes mixing up the order of commands a bit for variety.
It was so funny to watch Pansy when she was going through this follow-the-leader routine! She had been trained
most of these commands when she was little, so she knew them well and wanted to show off how smart she was! She'd
walk along nice for the "Walk" part. Then when I asked for "Trot" she'd start trotting but would add a little head
waggle like she was playing with a donkey buddy! When we did "Canter" sometimes she'd kick up her heals and really
enjoy herself, but all the while she was following along right behind/beside me where she was supposed to be. I'd
ask for "Whoa" and she'd slam on the brakes and stand very still where she stopped, waiting for the next command.
She'd back up nicely when I asked for it, then she'd stand nice and still with her head cocked a little to one side
looking at me as if to say "See, I did it! I'm ready for my treat now!" What a character!
We started doing a little preparatory saddle training with Pansy before we bred her last summer. We didn't get
far enough to teach her to rein very well, but she did learn to carry riders around on her back while she was
following someone else around in the follow-the-leader game. When she had a rider on her back, she was always very
careful to not goof off and play around, but would always carry them very confidently and smoothly. She was always
careful to save her silly playfulness for when she didn't have a rider on her back.
Pansy had an absolutely beautiful canter to watch. I still remember an evening earlier this spring when I let
the donkeys out of their pens to run and play around the field. It was a few months before Pansy's baby was due,
and while the foal was starting to get bigger, Pansy still felt comfortable enough to run and stretch her legs.
The other donkeys would race a little ways then spin and run off in the other direction, but Pansy was cantering
around and around the field in these big graceful circles, and every so often she would do the smoothest flying lead
change and turn back to canter in the other direction. She looked just like a well-trained reining horse cantering
those circles and doing her flying lead changes! I would have loved to have been able to get her trained to the
point where we could do those under saddle!
Pansy was due to foal her first baby the middle of May 2005, but she decided to go overdue 4 weeks, and finally
delivered her baby on June 11. Toward the end of Pansy's pregnancy she developed a special bond with me. I
separated her into my "foaling paddock" area for the last few weeks before her due date to give her a little more
privacy and a break from the other donkeys’ playfulness. She got to where she would bray more frequently when I
came to feed her and happily greet me at the gate. She absolutely loved it when I would give her back and shoulder
scratches!
Pansy had always loved tail and butt scratches (more so than my other donkeys), but in the last few weeks of
her pregnancy she developed a great love for scratches on her back as well. With her belly so big, she couldn't
reach her back and shoulders very easily, and she didn't have any buddies in her paddock to help scratch the itches
when she started shedding her winter coat. As hungry as she was during those weeks, she would even leave her dinner
to come over and get scratches!
As I'd rub her back, she'd quiver in ecstasy, stretch her head around in the funniest poses and wiggle her
lips so happily. Other times she would feel the need to reciprocate. I would obligingly hold out my other hand
where she could reach it, and she'd gently nuzzle the palm of that hand while I rubbed her shoulders with the
other. She wanted to make sure she gave me an equally good rubbing on my hand, but she was always very careful
to just use her upper lip and never try to bite me. Good girl!!
On June 11 just after midnight, with the help of the vet, Pansy delivered a beautiful red jennet foal.
Unfortunately the foal suffered an unusual birthing injury (broken ribs) and never responded or took a breath once
we got her out.
I kept a close eye on Pansy to monitor her recovery, but things didn't seem to be going quite right. Her udder
dried up fast within a few days of losing her baby, and she was acting perky and cheerful again. But at the same
time she developed a large amount of swelling in front of her udder that didn't go away.
I finally took her down to my vet clinic on July 1st to have her checked. They examined her and ultrasounded
the swelling areas, and found that she had several ruptures in her abdominal wall muscles, with intestines coming
through on one side. These could not be repaired and so I had to make the tough decision to put Pansy down.
She was such a beautiful, well-built girl with a love for life and fun. She looked so healthy and well that
day with so much potential ahead of her, but I knew that the ruptures wouldn't heal themselves and it would only
be a matter of days or weeks before she would eventually get a horrible impaction there and have to be put down
anyway. I didn't want to put her through that misery, so I went ahead and had her put down while she was still
feeling pretty happy. She enjoyed a bag of baby carrots all to herself and a good back rub before we said goodbye.
I will miss my special big redheaded girl who blessed me so much in the short time she was here. And her
precious little baby too.
If you would like to read more about Pansy's abdominal wall muscle rupture, I have documented in great detail
the symptoms that I noticed along the way - both in the weeks prior to Pansy foaling, and between then and when I
had her put down. I also have a lot of great photos showing what I observed. They can all be viewed at
http://sbr.longearsmall.com/pansy/index.htm
I have posted these details in hopes that it will help educate other equine owners about this rare condition,
so that they can recognize it and take action if they experience it with one of their brood mares or jennets.
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