It’s Monday, it’s really cold but it’s the start of a new week!
Last part of Irie’s story to get us up to present day!
On arrival to MA, the rescues go straight to Meredith where we have our quarantine facilities set up ready to receive them. We are exceptionally fortunate to be on Meredith because quarantine is tricky to accommodate on most farms. I hold a certificate in Equine Bio Security which means I’m a real pain in the ass regarding containment and disinfection practices. Our space, skills and willing volunteers mean that we are able to offer quarantine to other registered 501 c 3 organizations. This in turn enables more rescues to leave the slaughter pipeline. That is the reward for all the extra work! Basic quarantine lasts for thirty day, costs around $1500 per equine no matter their size and requires a dedicated person for at least a minimum of twice a day visits. We provide our quarantine service with no charge to the other rescue. It is of course funded by our fantastic donors, for whom we are exceptionally grateful! Observation, sterilization and care is provided willingly and consistently and often stretches over the thirty day basic care.
Irie and her support donkey, Marley, are housed in a double sized stall with a foal door which allows smaller equines to see out into the barn. Decompression can begin. We take things slowly because we are fortunate to have plenty of time and no end schedule in mind. Our wonderful vet arrives to give us a more detailed vet inspection and answer all the questions we have. Irie’s eyes have no vision but we suspect she can identify shadows. She is younger than we thought at nine. Dr P thinks her loss of sight is a result of infection which could most likely have been cured with drops. We will never know. Given her body condition, it’s a pretty good assumption to believe that she had been neglected for some time before arriving at auction. She certainly isn’t willing to interact or easy to handle.
We have a dedicated care and confidence giving team on Meredith who supplement the volunteers. They live on the farm which means care is spread throughout the day and observations are plenty! Corey naturally gravitates towards Irie and she is calm in Corey’s presence. We know that Irie requires a paddock with few obstacles, one kind of similar to Corey’s grassy yard…. So with a good amount of planning, adapting a lovely storage shed to a barn and creating a secure, safe, smaller paddock, temporary accommodations are set up for Irie and Marley the support donkey. The care and nurturing is confidently handed over to Corey, on a temporary basis. The moral of this part of Irie’s story is never ever put a time on temporary when you’re dealing with us! Temporary managed to stretch on and on until we had two animals that had made themselves a little bit too comfortable in accommodations. Watching Marley standing on the beautiful covered porch calmly eating from Jasper’s bowl brought home the fact that now was the time to integrated them into the bigger herds. That and the fact that Jasper is a dog and a very good boy to accept the greedy donkey stealing his food!
We thank Corey profusely for her exceptional care and for over staying our temporary status and watch with delight as she returns to dog rescue accommodations! Minus the food stealing donkey!
We have two confident animals to accommodate in herds, one with more specific needs than the other. We are not actively searching for a home for Marley but a highly suitable opportunity opens up for him and we decide to rehome him to a five star home in New Hampshire. We spend a great deal of time deliberating just how this will affect Irie. Marley is young, energetic with a deep sense of mischief. He needs a home that is active with donkey friends to interact with in the usual donkey roughhousing kind of way. Irie is not that companion. She is assertive and at the first sign of nonsense lets him know her displeasure. With Corey’s input she is confident and has relied less on Marley as a support. We test her in the enormous paddock that borders her ‘temporary’ home. She can hear the dogs, it smells familiar as do the animals in the large paddock because they have socialized through the fence. She takes a decided liking to Ms Momo and the similarity in coloring and difference in size makes for an amusing contrast. Ms Momo must recognize her sight issue because she is surprisingly tolerant of her tiny shadow!
We have many changes in that herd, not least the devastating passing of Ms Momo. While Irie remains happy there, we have decided to up her training. She is walking well in hand, is easy to catch if it suits her, and is now working on her voice commands while out and about. We’re developing a program that allows us to work out how best to accommodate her outside of the paddock. Most excitingly, Wilbur will be moving over to Meredith to see if they workout together. They have similar nutritional needs and accommodations that make them sensible herd companions. Let’s see how our strong independent Irie takes that intrusion into her space! Good luck Wilbur, you’re going to need it!
Carlene’s current wellbeing, brain is over active, hands are readily engaged, legs are working but not yet as efficiently as hoped. All good and definitely progressing in the right direction.
