On their own terms....

Will you play with me?

We gave the donkeys 2 hula hoops the first week we got them.   It was as if the toys weren't there.   There was no interest at all.   Nada.    We tried an old ball that my daughter had in the yard.   I tossed it out there, it rolled right by them, totally ignored.   Then a couple of weeks ago we had a soccer ball that Sassy (a dog cousin that came over for a visit) decided to deflate during a rambunctious play episode, we decided to toss that over into the pasture as well.   You guessed it, totally ignored.

Then I took the tractor down to the bottom of the pasture the other day and what did I come across?  The original hula hoop we gave the boys.   It has been flattened and had obviously been played with.   I picked it up and brought it up to the top of the pasture and now they play with it most every day.   As you can see above, Lefty enjoys holding it in his mouth and walks through it when he carries it.   I think he would try to use it as a Jump Rope if he could.

Then the other day, I found the first ball we put out there for them.  Totally shredded from what I can only assume was a very spirited game of tug o war.   Then I saw them sparring over the deflated soccer ball the next afternoon.

It appears that they do enjoy the toys, but only on their own terms.   That caused me to start thinking about the dreaded and feared 'Fly Spray' that we still haven't been able to introduce them to.    It would make their life so much better to not have to deal with the gnats and flies biting them all time, but for some reason they have deemed it totally 'off limits.'    What if we had a way to introduce it to them on their own terms?  

Next stop the Tractor Supply website and during a browsing session I saw it...   Even though it's designed for cows, it surely can't hurt to try it out.   Here is a link to the Cow Life Cattle Rub that I think might just do the trick.    I can put the Fly Spray liquid on this contraption and then Pancho and Lefty can apply the stuff to them the first time 'on their own terms.'    You reckon it might work?   It's sure worth 20 bucks to find out to me.

I'll give you this, life with these boys is never dull.   I hope you all have a great weekend, and Pancho says...

"Check out my profile... Aren't I handsome?"