A Donkey Blessing
“I’m sorry, Annie, I can’t go riding today,” Mary said as Annie
and Midnight rode into her yard.
Ginger nickered and trotted up to the gate, but Mary didn’t even
look at her pony.
“Oh no, why not?” Annie said.
Mary huffed, “Because Mom says we are getting a new member of
the family which means another animal. I have to stay put until it gets here.”
She kicked a rock across the yard, startling
Ginger.
“I don’t understand,” Annie said. “We should practice our dressage steps to be ready for the horse show. Midnight is doing well with the half pass, but we need to work on collecting the canter.”
“I know. Ginger collects just right, and her half pass is okay,
but she doesn’t bend as well as Midnight.”
Midnight shook his head and snorted. Annie heard his silent
comment in her mind. “Any good pony can trot almost sideways, of course. I will
try to explain to Ginger how I run around a barrel and bend my body. But I do
not understand why we should run so slowly.”
Annie patted his neck, “It’s going to be just fine. Once you see
how the other horses canter in a collected gait, you’ll understand right
away.”
Mary stroked the black pony’s face. “He’s talking to you again
isn’t he?” she said.
“Yes he is. Maybe we can just practice in your corral. But I
want to know more about your new animal. Don’t you even know what kind you’re
getting?”
“Mom says we’re adopting a dumb old donkey.” Mary climbed up on
her corral fence and crossed her arms. “She didn’t even ask me if I wanted it
and she’ll probably make me take care of it. I probably won’t ever have time to
ride Ginger anymore. My pony is all I need. What am I going to
do?”
“Where’d the donkey come from?” Annie said. She slid off
Midnight’s back and climbed up on the fence beside
Mary.
“Mom says we’re getting it from someplace called the Bureau of
Land Management or something like that.”
“I’ve heard of them. They’re the government office that’s
supposed to take care of the wild horses. Do you think we can ride
it?”
“Ugh, no. It’s not a horse. It’s, it’s different. And besides
it’s wild.” Mary shuddered.
“Wow. I hope it’s not mean,” Annie turned to look at the sorrel
pony in the corral. “Maybe it will even fight with
Ginger.”
“Well, I’m not about to let that happen!” Mary said. She jumped
down from the fence and walked to her pony. Ginger nickered and nuzzled her. “I
guess we could practice in the corral for a little while. I never thought I
would like fancy riding like dressage. But, it’s wonderful, like dancing with
your horse.”
“That’s what I thought when I first learned,” Annie said. “I’ll
take Midnight’s saddle off and we can ride bareback. We will work on your turns
since your corral is too small for us to
canter.”
Annie and Mary rode their ponies around the corral. “See, when
you press your leg into Ginger’s side, she moves away from it. And when you give
her the leg cue while reining her in a circle toward the same side, she bends.”
Mary practiced turning to the left and to the right. All too
soon a pickup pulling a horse trailer rattled into her yard in a cloud of dust.
“They’re here,” Mary said frowning. “I guess we have to stop
now. I was finally this stuff out and Ginger was turning so
pretty.”
“It’s okay, Mary,” said Annie. “At least we’re ending our
training at a successful step. We can practice more. Short training time is
better anyway.”
The girls dismounted and led the ponies out the gate. “So where
is the donkey?” Mary said peering through the slats in the horse trailer. “I
don’t see anything in here. Maybe it got
away.”
Midnight nickered softly and snuffled into the back corner of
the vehicle. “Someone is hiding here. I think he is frightened,” he told
Annie.
“Will you look at that!” Annie reached through the slats. “He’s
only a young foal. He’s so tiny you can hardly see
him.”
The young donkey scrambled in terror to the opposite side of the
trailer. His hard, black hooves slipped on the floor and he nearly fell. Mary
ran around the trailer as if to catch him. “He’s so scared. We have to help
him!” She looked around for the driver, but the man was talking to her mother.
After Mary’s mother signed the papers she hurried to the house
to put the documents away. The man finally walked over to the horse trailer.
“Howdy, ladies. I’m Jeb Miller from the BLM. Seems funny we should put such a
little feller in this big horse trailer. We must follow the rules, though.” He
unlatched the gate. “I can probably carry this guy, but someone should get a
rope and halter anyway.”
Mary’s eyes were open wide. “We don’t own a small halter. What
are we going to do?”
“Don’t you still have your goat halter from when you showed your
goat in the 4-H fair?” Annie asked. Both girls dashed for Mary’s tack room and
returned with the miniature halter.
Mr. Miller stepped out of the trailer carrying the struggling
baby. The terrified donkey let out a long squeaky bray. The whites of his eyes
showed how scared he was. “Take it easy, little feller, no one here is going to
eat you. Calm down and I’ll let you go.” The man crooned and held the donkey
until he stopped kicking.
Mary stepped forward and slipped the halter over the little
one’s head. “His ears are longer than his face.” Mary and Annie giggled
together. “He’s all gray, like a fuzzy ball of dust.” Mary stoked the donkey’s
neck. “And his coat feels like sheep’s wool.”
The man set the donkey on the ground and instructed Mary. “This
little guy has been running wild since his birth. He’s only about four months
old and should still be with his mama.”
“What happened to her?” Annie asked. Midnight nudged her with
his nose and she scolded him, “Wait your turn. You’ll get to meet him in a
minute.”
“We’re not sure what happened to her. One of the ranchers on our
watch group found him wandering miles from the main herd. We had to find him a
home fast. We were lucky your Mom called us so quickly.” The man
explained.
Midnight pushed past Annie and touched noses with the baby then
nickered a message to Annie. “The young one tells me that the sharp clawed
hunter dropped from a high place and took his mother away. His family ran away
and left him behind.”
A tear fell from Annie’s eye. “I think his mother was killed by
a cougar,” she whispered reaching for the donkey’s face. The baby pulled back
against the rope in fear and Midnight nickered
again.
Mr. Miller rubbed his chin and nodded. “You’ve got a pretty good
guess. I’d be willing to bet you’re right about the cougar. Think like that
happen in nature. Keeps the balance.” He turned toward his truck. “I’d best be
going. We have plenty of work to get done back at BLM
headquarters.”
Mary’s mother returned from the house carrying a can full of
rolled oats. “Oh, our baby is a darling. Isn’t that a good name?” She held out
a handful of oats.
“Mom,” Mary said, “seriously? This is a boy. We can’t name him
Darling.”
Ginger extended her muzzle and nickered softly so only the
donkey heard her. Slowly the whites of his eyes disappeared and he stepped
toward the mare. She nuzzled him along the neck and down his back then she
licked him as if she was his mother.
“Look,” said Mary smiling, “Ginger likes
him.”
Midnight nuzzled the baby on his other side. He rubbed his nose
on the long brown stripe running down the donkey’s backbone. Then he nuzzled the
brown stripe which crossed the donkey’s withers and went down each shoulder
blade. Annie laid her hand on Midnight and relayed the story the pony
told.
“The donkey remembers the joy in his heart when he carried the
Virgin Mary in to Bethlehem where Jesus was born. The donkey also remembers the
sorrow he felt when he carried Jesus into Jerusalem to be crucified. The Lord
blessed the humble donkey for remembering by giving him a cross on his back.
Every donkey, big or small, grey or brown or pinto, carries the mark of the
cross and remembers.” Annie and Mary traced their fingers along the stripe that
crossed the baby’s shoulders.
“He really was blessed,” Mary whispered. “Now I don’t think it’s
so bad to have to take care of him. In fact, I think he’s a
blessing.”
“Blessing,” whispered Annie.
Ginger nickered.
Midnight nickered.
The donkey tossed his little head and
brayed.
“I guess he likes his name,” Mary said. “Blessing the Donkey. I
will be happy getting to know you.”