Muddles and Whisper, 4 year old geldings, are a bonded pair at WRR and the smallest of our standards. These two little guys hitched a ride to join our crew while on a rescue mission to pick up 2 unhandleable jacks (Mayhem and Chaos/Cosmo) and a jenny named Gypsy from a Central NY dealer lot in July 2023, as we absolutely could not leave them behind. Generous supporters donated for their bail and they were brought home. We originally thought they were just babies due to their size but after a vet check, they were determined to already be 3-4 years old! They were both weak and underweight and had to undergo several months of vet care, diagnostic testing, medications and extensive extra TLC from the volunteers. Eventually these two bestie friends, who are practically joined at the hip, began to thrive and joined the main herd. They are sweet and friendly. They are pending adoption to a large beautiful horse farm in Central NY and will be housed with a pony that is in need of friends.

 

Muddles DOB: 01/01/2022

Whisper DOB: 01/01/2022

Muddles and Whispers's Fun Donkey Fact: The diet requirements for donkeys are different for that of horses. The wild burro/donkey grazes on low nutritional forage 14-18 hrs a day. Donkeys have incredibly efficient digestive systems, utilizing 95% of what they eat. Therefore it is very important not to overfeed a donkey with a daily diet of grains and too many sweet treats or to allow unrestricted lush sweet grass grazing as it could cause extensive health issues due to their metabolism. For a healthy donkey, the best diet is of a lesser quality meadow hay that is lower in starch and sugar (1st cut hay) and/or forage feeding or limiting their pasture time when sweet/lush grass is abundant. However supplements, grains and quality hay are sometimes necessary when warranted in special cases such as pregnant or nursing jennies, or for older, underweight or working donkeys.