Dare to Be Different Long Ear Hoof Care

01/11/2023

PSA(because apparently I need to make one and Im angry). If you call me to trim your donkeys, during that conversation I will ask questions and ask for pictures if you have them. I tell you my rate and I also tell you that you have to stay on a schedule. 90 percent of the donkeys on my books have been some form of rehab. Most of the donkeys I meet for the first time are in a new home and have come from a neglecting one. I don't change my rate, because what may take me an hour and a half in the beginning will end up being 20 minutes over time. I almost always have to train your donkeys and teach them that I'm helping, not hurting and I am their friend. I will bust my ass, get my ass busted, and I will schedule another appt before I leave or within a day if we get talking too much and we forget. I am on time and if I was going to be late I would call(it did happen once) and I ALWAYS work on the donkeys time, which I warn you about at the first phone call. I am always open to texts for advice and i get alot of them. I dont want you to have to learn things the hard way like I did. The schedule I put you on depends on a number of factors. I take into account your time, your financial situation, but most of all I schedule for what the donkey needs. If I put you on a rehab schedule, we are going to be seeing each other far more frequently than if you are a 20 minute maintenence trim. If you don't keep your appt, i get it, life happens. But, You need to reschedule, which I tell you at the time. I also tell you my availability. If you don't, and you ghost me,I assume that you have either gone back to your old farrier( which is fine, no hard feelings) or you really don't give a s**t about your donkeys. If you do not reschedule, or call within a weeks time to do so, then odds are im firing you. I love your donkeys, but if you cancel in the middle of a rehab schedule and then I hear from you 6 plus months later, you are telling me several things. One, I am going to have to start from scratch, which is ALOT of work, two, there is a good chance it will happen again, and three, you really don't care about your donkeys health and well being and you should probably just sell them to someone who does. And threatening me and saying how unprofessional I am for telling you i dont have room in my books for you (when i even gave you names of other farriers in The area)and that you're going to tell everyone just reaffirms my suspicions. My book is full with clients who stay on a schedule. If it makes you feel better to bad mouth me, by all means. I feel sorry for your donkeys and hope they eventually find the good homes they deserve.

09/07/2022

I love this!!! Everyone should watch it! She's just awesome!

05/20/2022

I follow the local auction house. Every damn Time I see a donkey advertised. I pray they get a good home. And I am sorry sorry that I can't be the one.

05/14/2022

10/24/2021

10/10/2021

The donkey diaries: "I'm so glad I found you". I hear that alot when I take on a new client, like today. It's a wonderful thing, not just for me, but for the owners and most importantly their long ear companions. I so desperately wish there were more "me's" to go around. Unfortunately, this is also the third time I have heard. "The breeder I got donkey from said they don't need their feet trimmed. Maybe once a year." This makes me want to puke and pi**es me off to levels where I feel like I could self combust. Puppy mills anyone?
I bi***ed at my steering wheel.so.much on thr way home,, I gave myself a headache.. In what universe would it be okay for a donkey, a horse, a dog, a pig, a sheep, or a person for that matter to not have their nails trimmed??? Can you imagine what your toenails would look like if you didn't do anything with them for a year?????? How painful that would be? Funny thing is, this is the second or third new owner I have taken on that realized this is wrong...from TikTok!!!! So, social media isn't totally crap.

10/02/2021

My schedule somehow allowed for a couple nice weekends off. Back to my circuit today.

09/07/2021

The Donkey Diaries: it was a good day. Doris has been in a funk for a couple weeks now. She handled Daisy's passing better than I thought, but once Dani showed up, She ended up odd man out. Which at first I didn't think would be a problem, because she is the queen. But it has been. She has been kinda off by herself a little. Not really "talking" to me or the other girls. And just putting off this vibe that things aren't ok. I had her teeth floated just in case. She had already had a vet appointment. In case you didn't know. Grief is a real thing for donkeys. They can actually get a condition known as hyperlipidimea and die. Bret and I have talked and I have decided that this is unacceptable. The place she came before me are clients of mine and I have started making inquiries about finding one of her "old" buddies or finding one of her children because donkeys never forget. If I can do that for her, nothing would make me happier and I will do whatever it takes to make that happen. So, I'm working on it. But today, she didn't ignore me and I brushed her and loved her today. It's funny because those times of peace between us make me so emotional and filled with love and gratitude. I know I have said this a thousand times but there is not a being in the world like this old girl. She owns my soul.

09/06/2021

08/16/2021

The donkey diaries: little frustrated today. I absolutely love love love when people bring a donkey(or any other non human), into their lives and they are family. When I meet a new client and they ask me a gazillion questions on how to take care of their new donkey the right way. When I see a donkey that is loved and well cared for, nothing makes me happier. I love helping people that want to be the best donkey moms and dads they can be. What I can't stand and infuriates me and frustrates the crap out of me are the places some of these donkeys come from before they find their forever family. Folks, there is such a thing a donkey mill. These are the people who breed donkeys just to make a buck, not all places are like that for sure, there are most definitely reputable breeders out there who take the time to do things right and make sure the donkeys they sell are the best they can be. It's the s**theads who don't handle their donkeys, who over breed their donkeys, who breed them too young. The as****es that don't put them on a proper schedule for trimming or just do it "when they get really long" or even better just do it themselves and not know what they are doing to save a buck, potentially causing permanent damage that the donkey tries to hide because its stoic as all hell. S**t that would kill a horse! Damn it! How about you Dont cut your toenails for a year or two and see how you like it!!! It's kinda a no Brainer, you would think! That's why so many farriers don't like trimming donkeys, because too many donkeys don't get the respect they deserve and become fearful and "stubborn". For all the moms and dads out there, who do the very best they can for their long ear children regardless of the crap they are told. I salute you. I praise you. You are heroes. For the others, I hope karma finds you and shoves her foot so far up your ass you have shoelaces for nose hairs.. You most definitely deserve it. END RANT.

08/06/2021

This is baby Dani. She is 3 weeks old. Until Tuesday, I couldn't get anywhere near her because mom was very protective. (Mom is very shy and untrusting still, it's been a rough couple months for us but that's another story). Once Dani let me pet her..it was all over. She's my new best friend.😍

07/16/2021

The Donkey Diaries: The girls are gonna be on TV! I havent posted a whole lot about it on social media. A few months ago I was contacted by my mentor, Megan Hensley . She told me that she is doing a documentary with Backyard Green Films about The Donkey Farrier. She told me that they want to fly our from California to meet with me!!! I specifically remember getting off the phone that day, staring at the wall and saying," What the f # just happened?" Well, today she contacted me and told me they are coming out in October and they are locking in the dates now! I am so excited to be able to bring light to donkeys. Their feet, their well being, their perfect souls!!! She told me to go ahead and share this information and to get the word out!!! I am going to contact the local media in the next few weeks to give them a heads up as to what is happening. She asked me and told me to ask my friends(that's you) to contact the local PBS( it's out of Utica and they have a web form..I looked) and ask them to play "the Holstein Dilemma". Which is a documentary Backyard Green Films has done that has recently been picked up by PBS. It will make it more likely that ours will be aired on PBS also!! The funniest part about all of this...its an amazing opportunity for me as a Donkey Farrier. I mean..geez..who doesnt want that kind of publicity. The funniest part is..I just want people to be able to see my girls..and how friggin amazing they are. I want the world to see Doris..who is my heart. I want people who dont even know me to understand why I started doing this. I want to be able to tell their story...because it's really not mine. I'm just the girl that decided to get a severely obese, foundered, nervous mini donkey as a companion to my horse all those years ago.

I am making this post public. .so please share...because it's awesome. I will also be putting it on my Dare to Be Different page.

https://www.facebook.com/BackyardGreenFilms/

Backyard Green Films is an independent documentary film production company located in San Diego, CA.

07/04/2021

Let me tell you a little about myself. I call these tales the Donkey Diaries.
I had two horses. I sold one because I wasn't able to be what he needed. The horse I had left needed a companion. I looked at goats, other horses, etc. A coworker said to me.."well..my neighbor has Mini donkeys." I got a phone number and made a call. 5 years later.. I have no horses and 7 and 3/4 minature donkeys(one is going to have a baby here soon..whenever she feels like it apparently). It was the best thing (beside my children, cant forget them) that happened to me. My first Donkey, Doris..owns my heart.
I had a really good farrier..but he didnt like working on donkeys..which is often the case I have found. He did a fantastic job and had a great deal of "donkey patience " and I learned alot from him but once the horse left..he didnt call me back. I ended up using a different farrier. At the time, I had two mini jennies. I was with them all of the time. I never had a problem picking up Doris hooves myself. But when the farrier came..it was a different story. It was heart breaking. She was terrified. The other Donkey. .Daisy..had been in an abusive situation when I found her and her hooves and the internal structures in them had been destroyed from mismanagement and poor ownership.
That was the moment that I decided that I was going to learn. I was going to learn diet (which is the foundation of everything). I was going to learn how to properly trim a donkey(because they arent horses.) I was going to learn. And I was going to help the donkeys. I was going to help Doris. I was going to do the best i could possibly do for Daisy. I attended a Pete Ramey clinic. I brought Daisy. I didnt understand anything he told me. I joined PHCP after attending a webinar with Megan Hensley. I still remember the "eureka moment", when she explained stress lines and what causes them. It made so much sense.
I cannon balled into donkey hoof care.
I decided that I was going to be one of the few " Donkey Farriers" in the country. I have taken 10 week courses on reading a radiographs. I can look at a donkey hoof and "see" it. I can make a friend. I am not the farrier. I am thier friend. I tell all my clients when they comment about how people feel donkeys are difficult. And sometimes are not handled appropriately. Well.."how would you feel if some stranger came up to you and tried to grab your foot?"Me? I would fight. I think that sums up a large difference between horses and donkeys
Personality wise. I would much rather be "stubborn as an ass". Just saying. If you think of all the jackass vernacular that is used in today's society....they arent stubborn..they are smart. Whoever said" an elephant never forgets"...they never met donkey. So, that's me. I am not a donkey whisperer. I am committed to being their friend. Because I would trust someone who I know isnt going to hurt me to pick up my foot. Wouldn't you?

07/03/2021

Sorry for the blurry photo..I got too excited to take a pic with my new client, the beautiful Sophia today. I'm a fan girl for sure!!!

06/29/2021

Well! Here it is! Its official. Welcome to my group. It's all about Donkeys. As most of you know from my little stories. Donkeys are different. They are amazing and sadly, they dont always get the respect they deserve. Which is why I started going to school, taking classes and doing mentorships to learn how to take better care of them as the unique individuals they are...especially those feet. I also work with people on how to better feed their long ear friends so they have good feet! What goes in a donkeys mouth ultimately shows up in its hooves.