How Rocket Man came into my life

After we purchased MAA Rio Grande at age 9 months, we were immediately told that donkeys go in two’s; I said what? I was told donkeys need donkeys to be healthy and they play different than the horse. Okay, I saw that with the feed bowl tug and recalled how Rocket Man would bite Rio and make him sit down like a dog on his butt. Rio had bonded to Rocket Man after being weaned from his momma; the two were truly best friends. I said, "oh you don't have to bend my arm to take a mini donkey... they are adorable."

| Rocket Man Video: Size does not matter |

What Rocket Man has taught me

Rocket Man has taught me the psychology and deep mind of the donkey and their physical strength and flexibility. He is truly wise and smart. He has been around the block for sure with humans and the equine. Rocket Man had a life before coming to our farm. At one time, I was told he was the jack up at MAA. Rocket Man took his time to trust me and it took almost one year before I truly was trusted by him. He has experienced the human in good and bad and is careful whom he trusts. His mind is always looking for a way around me and I love the challenge of keeping ahead of him. Rocket Man is bipolar in the equine Parelli charts. I feel blessed by God to have received Rocket Man as he helped me to get my learning curve up fast before teaching Rio. As you can imagine, it is physically much easier to work with a mini donkey in the beginning than a Mammoth donkey. He is very unique and loves to love on me. He is short and stout, so I must get on my knees for him to place his little mini donkey head on my shoulder as he loves to smell me and me him. Funny thing is donkeys do not have any smell really, but they make up for no smell with lot’s of fur; they are adorable, intuitive, sensitive equine. Rocket Man will move his little donkey butt up to the human he trusts for a rub every time you meet him. He is truly a magnificent and special mini donkey and we are grateful to own him.

My goals for Rocket Man

We have already achieved the 1st goal to have him trust the human and walk in the woods with us. In the beginning, he would not go into the woods with me here at home as he believed something was going to eat him. He can now go for trail walks attached to Rio at ease. I hope to teach him how to drive and have heard he has done this before. I will teach him all the parelli games and how to jump the barrels. We truly love and adore all of our equine, but Rocket Man is our little treasure. We are grateful to God for all of our equine.