Bad Ass, Naughty Goat

 Life here definitely keeps me on my toes. Between tiny humans and troublesome critters, there's never a dull moment.

 This week has been no different. Kids learning to ride bikes, kids crashing bikes, shopping for a "mom" bike, bottle-baby-kitten to foster, saddle fit issues, and goat & donkey shenanigans. 

 Feeding times in the barn is similar to herding cats. One would think that bringing two horses into a two stall barn should be fairly straight forward and simple. My mare Lily is the only well oiled machine in this whole process.

 Morning feed time is always the hardest. I put grain into each feed tub, including the donkey/goat tub on the ground in the aisle. I open the gate and they *should* all go to their said feed stations. Lily has no problem here. Spanky pony meanders his way to his stall while I race the goat to keep him out of the old pony's large amount of grain. This is assuming that the pony actually finds his stall and doesn't get sidetracked by the donkey's grain. If I don't win the goat race, I then get to play ring-around-the-pony trying catch the goat, which typically spooks pony and pony leaves to eat donkey's grain. Donkey gets mad, breys, snorts, and kicks at pony.

 Finally get all 4 legged critters in their places. Now I get to clean stalls and wait for 6 hours for pony to finish eating his grain. I prefer stall chains in the heat but have to shut pony's door to keep the starving goat out.

 On days like today the goat is not satisfied with his normal amount of raucous behavior. Today he talked Marco into breaking into the tack/feed room for second breakfast while I was distracted cleaning pony's stall. Silly me, thinking I could simply pull the door shut for the 15 minutes it takes to pick two stalls.

 Marco was at least respectful enough to jump & run when caught (after I had photographic evidence that is). Goat proceeded to look at me like "what?!", and had to be forcibly removed from the snack bar.

A little background on the one small ass.

Our Farm started out with just my horses, then added chickens, and goats, and our mascot Marco the mini donkey.
Marco was originally given to me by my father-in-law Oscar as a joke to irritate my husband. Oscar had a habit of going to horse auctions and buying things he never really needed. Just to get a rise out of my husband, I'd always tell him "be sure to keep an eye out for a mini donkey!".
Wouldn't you know, on my birthday in 2009, Oscar shows up with the stock trailer & unloads an intact, practically feral, 4 year old miniature donkey. Poor little guy was scared to death of humans and had obviously never has his feet touched as they were so long that trying to curl.
At this time, I was scheduled for back surgery in two weeks. With no time to start desensitizing (and the inability to bend over) the vet and farrier were scheduled for a joint appointment to castrate and trim hooves while fully sedated. Worked like a charm! While recovering from surgery, I decided on a name. Marco, a good Sicilian name for what I was hoping would become a good Sicilian donkey.
Took over a year to get him comfortable with me, and he became an excellent guard dog for our two goats. Several more years went by, slowly earning trust, learning to be a functioning member of society. Seven years later, he no longer try to kill the farrier, stands to be bathed and body clipped (doesn't shed until July), and is beginning his journey as a driving donkey!
Marco gets put on the back burner most of the time (other than treats and butt scratches) thanks to training horses, chasing tiny humans, a brief stint as a goat breeder, etc. Even this blog will probably focus more on my own riding and my mare Lily.

A little background.

Just a little background. I'm a hunter/jumper rider from Virginia, transplanted to Missouri for college, then converted to dressage after two babies and a back surgery.
I spent close to 20 years boarding horses at different farms, both in VA and MO. Always wanting my own farm. After getting married and living on a suitable property, horses moved home. Finally built a proper barn two years ago. The barn is actually a 20x30 carport we purchased and added stalls, tack room, and hay storage.