![\"Pegasus](\"https:\/\/www.stephaniemarohn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/p-and-p-coop1.jpg\")
<\/a>Pegasus and Perseus in the chicken coop\u00a0(Pegasus is wearing a fly mask)<\/p><\/div>\n
During the winter, however, the donkeys ate one of the wood walls (literally, ate it\u2014I came out one morning\u00a0and there was open air where there used to be a solid side). This summer, whether because\u00a0there are more flies in the chicken coop now or because I regularly give her horse cookies from the house door, Pegasus is spending a lot of time in the garage.\u00a0Pegasus and I have been together\u00a0since September 20, 1997. She is likely at least\u00a028 years old but\u00a0could be 30 (a rescue, her age is unknown). She is a bit frail but enjoying her new food. The vet gave me the go-ahead to give her alfalfa, which I’d had to avoid before this because of her foundering issue (too rich food can precipitate an episode). So I let her into the hay area and she eats to her heart’s content\u2014a joy to see.<\/p>\n
From my writing studio, I just\u00a0heard the clop of hooves on the cement floor in the garage, which means Pegasus’s\u00a0beloved companion Perseus just joined her\u00a0in her\u00a0cool retreat. Earlier the sheep and goats stopped by for a drink of water and Sunshine the lamb took a nap near Pegasus. Sunshine is\u00a0nearly full size now but still a small sheep, smaller than her twin sister, Moonglow.\u00a0Sunshine\u00a0will forever be a lamb to me, who bottle-fed her. Sunshine\u00a0just baaed from the garage, as if she heard what I said about her. I guess she’s back for another nap.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, three generations of my family women\u00a0visited\u00a0the sanctuary\u2014my sister-in-law, her daughter, and her daughter’s 7-month-old baby. As we handed out apples and horse cookies in the garage, my niece told her daughter\u00a0that she first met\u00a0Pegasus when she was a little girl.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Pegasus with my niece and great-niece<\/p><\/div>\n
Now here she is,\u00a017 years later, introducing Pegasus to her own child.<\/p>\n
Pegasus has always loved\u00a0children, both four-legged and two-legged.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Sunshine and Moonglow meet the baby too<\/p><\/div>\n
I didn’t know, though, that the donkeys would be so interested. I had never seen them like this before. The first clue was Raphael walked right into the garage. The donkeys don’t usually come in because there is only one exit. Yes, he was interested in the treats but clearly more interested in the baby.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Raphael greets the baby<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
We went outside and the three donkeys gathered around to investigate the little one. They touched their noses to her skin, breathed in her smell, and stayed in the circle with us, interested the whole time.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Donkey Circle<\/p><\/div>\n
They only left when we went inside.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Perseus joins the circle<\/p><\/div>\n
What a lovely welcome for a new baby!<\/p>\n
(All pictures taken by the baby’s grandmother, my dear sister-in-law.)<\/p>\n
<\/a>Perseus meets the baby, with Moonglow looking on<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last summer, in the heat of the day, Pegasus could often be found in\u00a0the chicken coop, probably because the screening\u00a0kept the flies down. During the winter, however, the donkeys ate one of the wood walls (literally, ate it\u2014I came out … Continue reading