Equine adoptive families are as unique as human adoptive families. They come in all shapes, colors and sizes, but they share a common bond of love and commitment that makes the family even stronger and more enduring.

Miss Beasley is the 3rd of 4 generations of donkeys that Red Bucket has rescued. Her mother is Tornado, her grandmother is Windy, her big sisters are Petunia and Millie, and her kid brother is Petey. She is also Auntie to her sister Millie’s baby, Miss Manners, who is the 4th generation and granddaughter of Tornado…is everyone completely confused yet?

When Red Bucket was notified that several relatives of our “Red-donk-ulous” little donkey family were being rounded up by the BLM, the decision to reunite this family was an obvious one. As is our custom, we squeezed in our elbows at the dinner table and made room for a few more. There was one little problem…three of them were pregnant and one of the mothers-to-be still had a toddler in tow! Susan Peirce recalls the day of the “equine explosion” with amusement. “Miss Beasley had the cutest little freckle-face you ever saw! She arrived with her mama Tornado who was pregnant at the time, along with Millie and Peanut, who were also both pregnant.”

Red Bucket volunteer Sandy Brimer also remembers Miss Beasley fondly. Sandy shares, “Miss Beasley came to us a wild baby with an adorable spotted face, who was still nursing from her mother Tornado. She was with us such a short time but she quickly became friendly and curious and allowed us to brush her beautiful, soft spotted coat. Of course we all fell in love. Donkeys are very intelligent and thoughtful, and one of the ways they learn is by watching. I think watching the other jennies being snuggled and groomed was part of the reason Miss Beasley socialized so quickly.”

Donkeys have strong family bonds, and Red Bucket always prefers to keep a few of them together in the same adoptive home. Tornado was due to give birth shortly, so sending her with little Miss Beasley to a new home was out of the question. Could Miss Beasley – a tot who was just barely old enough to leave her mother– be sent to a new adoptive family all alone? That’s when Susan met Gwen Grierson.

Gwen recalls the day she met Miss Beasley. “My daughter Makenna had heard about Red Bucket through a fellow rider, Amy Knox, who was a Red Bucket volunteer. Makenna would see Amy at horse shows where they were both competing, and we also followed Red Bucket on Facebook. Our vet had mentioned that donkeys make very good ‘watchdogs’ because they bray whenever someone is coming or if they see a coyote or a snake. We have a few acres of land and I thought having a donkey was a great idea. When Susan brought us into the donkey paddock at Red Bucket, Miss Beasley was so cute! I loved her right away. Susan didn’t want to adopt out a single donkey, but I told her that Miss Beasley would be joining a family of goats and she was willing to give it a try.”

“We got a nice stall prepared for Miss Beasley’s arrival. When the trailer pulled up and the lady unloaded her, she asked why we weren’t just putting the donkey and the goats together immediately. We decided to go ahead and put them together right away, and they’ve been together ever since!”

Miss Beasley is very protective of her two little charges, Butters and Bean. Gwen recalls an incident just a few weeks ago when she was tussling with one of the goats. “I was playing around with our brown goat, Bean, when Miss Beasley decided that the play was getting too rough and she charged in to split up the fight! Bean is a bit of a rascal, but Miss Beasley’s favorite goat is Butters, who is very sweet. Sometimes I see them grazing together, with Butters standing completely underneath Miss Beasley.”

Recently Gwen has been working on Miss Beasley’s halter training. “I want to make sure that we can evacuate her in the event of a fire. I purchased a few break-away halters and even had one specially made for Miss Beasley, but she broke them all! We are still working with her to load into the trailer.” Next time Gwen is going to try putting the goats into the trailer first. She is pretty sure that where the goats go, Miss Beasley will follow!

Miss Beasley has assumed her new role as “jenny-goat” beautifully, and Gwen’s neighbors are pretty happy about the arrangement as well. Gwen shares, “We live next to a 55+ mobile home community. The residents get such a kick out of Miss Beasley. She is very friendly and sociable and they love to come up to the fence and visit with her. They enjoy her so much.”

Miss Beasley has happily integrated herself into the Grierson family, and Gwen couldn’t be more pleased. “I love to hear her calling to me as I come up the drive. It makes me smile.” The family often gathers together outside for a little R&R, happily sharing a few corn chips with the newest member of their very diverse – and tightly bonded – loving family. And we at Red Bucket are just “braying” with happiness for them!

Story by Linda Rose