Just after dawn, we opened Rocky’s stall and let him out. I stood between he and Simon. When Simon put his ears back and lowered his head, I came around him and kicked him squarely in the butt. Shocked, he backed off. I call this “doing the bear.” Sometimes you just have to let animals know they are not in charge, especially when they are male.

Rocky ignored the donkeys, he went about his business, walking right by them, then circling around to go into the pasture. Simon kept an eye on him, but kept on eating. This was a dramatic improvement over last week, when Simon stalked Rocky, bit and kicked him and chased him to the fences. Very different feeling this morning. Rocky seemed very much at ease and just went about his business. We’ll separate them again for a day or two, then leave them together for good.

It was hard to do this, honestly, I had dreams about Rocky getting kicked and bit, but I know this is also the way of animals, their way of dealing with things is so different. I think we took a great big step this morning, and we will keep moving in steps. This afternoon, another step, we will released Mother and Minnie into our new world after cutting a hole in the barn so they can access the pasture easily.