Taz

Cash Draw (aka Taz)

Cash Draw was born in April 2000 from top quality show stock to a top quality mini farm. His mother rejected him at birth and continuous attempts to encourage his mother to care for him and nurse him failed; it was not to be. He was raised on an Igloo cooler fitted with a nipple and kept filled with milk supplement. He thrived. He was purchased by another top quality mini farm in hopes of being a herd sire one day. He was growing up to be one handsome dude!! He regularly visited public places where he drew a crowd and enjoyed lots of attention, ear rubs, butt rubs and treats.

One day he came down with an unknown illness. He was not getting any better and test after test failed to determine exactly what was going on with him. He was sent to a University Veterinary Hospital where he was stalled and kept on intravenous fluids and medicines, etc. for months. He finally got over his illness even though there was never a diagnosis as to what exactly was wrong with him in the first place. He finally went home.

For some reason, his personality had drastically changed. Once home, he displayed somewhat aggressive, unpredictable behavior. He was not totally safe or trustworthy to be around or to have around when people were visiting the farm. The choice was made to send him to a trainer’s farm to see if anything could be done to alter his behavior. The trainer's methods did not work in this case and Cash was worse than ever. His owners picked him up and took him home.

He was now even more unsafe to have around the breeding farm that regularly has public visitors. He bit his owner and bit his owner's neighbor through a fence. The decision was made that he was too aggressive and unpredictable. He had to be put down. His plight was posted over the internet via an email list of other donkey lovers. A rescue organization in MS told his owners that she would like to take him in and give him a chance. Cash was transported to MS. He was promptly gelded and put to pasture with other donkeys and horses. His new education was begun on his manners and attitude.

Now, it just so happens that we took some of our donkeys to graze some pasture at this rescue organization that summer. When we went to pick up our stock in the fall, Cash has bonded with Scoobie and Disnie, two of our special needs donkeys. He got in the trailer with them and refused to get out. We were told that if we wanted him, we could take him as it would probably upset him more to be split from them and “rejected” once again in his life. We closed the trailer door and came home.

Please understand that we do a fair amount of rescue work ourselves and have experience in working with abuse, neglect and other special needs cases. We did not just take Cash home because he got into the trailer. We felt that we would like to give him a chance to recover from his ordeals and maybe become that sweet, loveable donkey once again. We felt that in a family situation he would probably be able to get more personal attention that he needed.

What an experience it has been having Cash around. He started off here rearing on his hind legs and coming at you with front hooves flailing and teeth bared. He would allow only minimal, if any, touching and petting before rearing, biting and kicking and/or any combination of the above. He could squeal, spin and kick as high as your chin faster than I can type that. We started calling him Taz (yes, from Tasmanian Devil) as the spin and kick became his trademark defense. The nickname stuck. He would let no one in past the wall he had built around himself. We knew he had a good start in his life but somehow that had drastically changed. We felt that sweet donkey was still in there but he was just afraid to let it out.

We figured he needed more mental healing than anything. We turned him out in the pasture with our donkeys and placed no demands on him. His negative attitude and behavior was ignored and we “talked” to him with returned foot stomps, arm waves and head tosses when he looked like he was coming on aggressively. He was especially aggressive towards men. We just never took our eyes off him. He was not stalled and was fed separately in the aisle way between our barns with a feeder on the fence. This way he would not feel trapped, confined or threatened in any way.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he started coming around. He started letting us touch him, then pet him, then brush him etc. We proceeded with tiny baby steps being careful to never let him feel threatened or trapped so as to keep that aggression to a minimum. The raring front hoof/teeth attacks stopped quickly. The spin and kick attacks lessened over time and became half hearted near misses and eventually just little butt hops. He learned once again to love ear rubs and butt rubs and treats. He now approaches strangers with friendly curiosity and allows them to pet and rub him all over. He follows us everywhere and is a regular pest….but an enjoyable pest!!

We are so glad that “Taz” came to live on our farm. He has become a wonderful addition to our herd. He hangs out with the rest of the herd and is a calm little butterball of a mini-donkey. He still has his moments where the Taz in him shows but it is barely noticeable and he returns to being calm and sweet quickly. He has taught us many lessons of patience and understanding along the way. He is a living example of our farm motto.

May all your days be donkey days, full of patience, affection and understanding.