Betsy and George

Betsy Ross and George Washington were abandoned by their owners on some property that they had been renting.  Fortunately for these two cute donkeys, some caring neighbors made sure that they had food and water so they wouldn't suffer.

From what I can tell, they are mother and son, the mother (Bets) appears to be under 5 years of age and the jack (George) is maybe one year old.  Obviously George has not been handled AT ALL and the Betsy has had limited handling.  Betsy will walk up to me for very limited petting and scratching but George will not tolerate touching at all other then a sneaky pat on the nose. They are both friendly in spite of their shyness and neither of them have shown any sign of aggression while I've worked with them so I think it wouldn't take too long to get them to overcome their shyness. 

George needs to be castrated, normally I have that procedure done before they are adopted out but if someone that I can trust to get him castrated after adoption wants him I will let him go in tact, otherwise he will have to stay here until he is tamed enough to be handled and castrated.

Bella

Bella is a very sweet, loving palomino mare that came to us by recommendation from one of my Horse Blanket Services clients.  She had previously owned the mare and sold her to a friend.  The friend no longer wanted Bella and decided to take her to the auction so she could "get a couple hundred dollars out of her".  Luckily for Bella, the lady was willing to bring her to HART so be placed in a new home. 

Once Bella arrived here the first thing we noticed that is she had "no wheels".  Have you ever heard the term "no foot, no horse?"  Well, poor Bella had terribly sore, chipped feet and could not tolerate walking on hard ground at all.  Because she is such a sweet, friendly, gentle well trained not to mention beautiful horse, there was a lot of interest in her and she was placed in a wonderful home in Newberg. 

When Bella's new family came to pick her up, a teeny 5 year old girl wanted to lead her out of the pasture.  Bella patiently followed behind this tiny girl, as we headed toward the gate the girl tripped and fell down right in front of Bella who instantly stopped and put her nose down as if to say "get up little girl and let's get going."  It was one of those precious moments that makes me so thankful that I am able to help these horses find better homes.

Bella's new owner is working diligently together with her farrier to get her feet ironed out, get some weight off her and get her back under the saddle packing children around.