Princess Buttercup Pebbles is a very timid, young, previously wild donkey.

I received her a few months ago, shortly after she was rescued from a kill pen in Texas.

Now that she has shed a bit, I have discovered that she is a BLM donkey.  Hmmmm.  She appears to be about 2-3 years old.  So I expect she was adopted from a BLM holding facility, kept for a year, not handled, and sent to the kill pen after they received their $1000 from the BLM.

She is very sweet… and loves treats… but she is not very trusting.

This girl has not had any handling.  In fact, she was rescued from the killpen with a too small for her halter on her head with a dangling 2′ lead rope attached.  Clearly, they put that on once and used the catch rope to grab her if they needed her.

Yup.  She didn’t learn much… and what she did learn was not good.

She used to hide behind Ethel Merdonk a lot. (Ethel is in front here)

But now she will come right up to me and ask for a treat.

So, we started over when she came here.

I’d sit in the pen with her and Ethel Merdonk.  Princess Buttercup Pebbles learned to take cookies and she loved to have her face rubbed.

At this point, I can put a halter on her (sometimes) and I can rub her face and neck.  That’s it.

BUT, what I did learn is that when I went on vacation (10 days) – Princess Buttercup Pebbles has regressed – a lot.  This is frustrating for me, but I just have to go with it because there is no rushing the process.

Now that we were gone for 10 days, she has reverted a bit. Here you can see that she is tentative to come as close as previously. She’s rather stretch her neck to take her treat, instead of coming straight up to me.

I’m eager to get her gentled because I want to do her feet and I also would like to be able to read her brand.  Presently, her hair is too thick.  I need to shave her neck or get a really good photo, which is impossible because she is scared of the phone unless it is in front of her.  And, I cannot stand next to her – yet.  She wants me in front of her.

The first mark is clearly the “U” for USA.  The next mark, which should be the two number of the year of her birth.  It is either a ‘9 (which makes no sense because it should be ’09 or “19) or it is a ’38 – which also makes no sense.  I have no idea…

In any event, PBP is a very smart, young girl, and I need to be consistent and steady.  That will win this race.

As her hair is shedding, I see that she has a BLM brand! I cannot read it, yet. Too much hair still. From what I think I see, it is a very confusing brand because it looks like she was born in ‘9 – which doesn’t exist (it should be ’09 or ’19). So, I need to get clippers in there – or at least feel it, which I cannot do just yet.

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