This tall black beauty is TPDR Ali We found her in early October standing in a filthy pen at a sale barn along with a very small black pony and also little Shoddy. With quite a bit of patience finally the pony and Shoddy very carefully accepted a treat from our hands. Not so with Ali. As interested as she appeared to be in what we were offering her she would not come anywhere our outstretched hands. If the treat was dropped on the nasty, wet floor she would carefully take it then again turn away from us. This frightened baby came home from the sale with us the next afternoon. She was quite hand shy when it came to haltering, attaching a leadrope to her halter, or attempting to go near her face. It was time for a closer look. Well I sure didn’t like what I saw when I looked into her mouth!

I have looked into countless donkey mouths and not seen anything like what appears in the attached pictures. I sent the photos to my veterinarian and also to Leah at ADMS for their opinions. Both agreed that the blackened area was not natural pigment but most likely sloughing of the gum tissue. As none of us at the rescue were witness to the event that caused the trauma to Ali`s mouth we can only speculate. As Ali is a young maybe three year old it was evident her previous owner hadn’t taught her too much of anything. She was afraid of a lot of things (including being brushed) having her ears touched, she didn’t lead the best, her coat was full of burdocks and she was difficult to load into our trailer. Thankfully we purchased her companion Shoddy that same day so he was there to offer her moral support. At this time our thought is that to get her to into a trailer and to the sale barn, her previous owner/hauler put either a chain or twine into her mouth right above her teeth to aid him in getting her loaded and to the sale. We will never know what the circumstances were but she is safe here at this time so we can take care of her.

TPDR friend and adopter Dr. Bob Scharp D.D.S. of Big Rapids Mi. was also sent Ali`s photos.He was scheduled to come down here the following weekend to pick up his four new donkey geldings. Dr. Bob kindly brought us a product used to treat similar trauma in human mouths. We treat Ali at least four times each day. This unfortunately is a “wait an see” situation. We are all enjoying working with her as she so wants to be friends. She has NEVER been in the least bit grumpy with anyone only fearful.

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