We adopted our little Donkey Mija as a 2 year from the Bureau of Land Management back in 2001.  Before I adopted her, I called up BLM and asked them what it took to train a donkey and if they were anything like the wild horses. (I have one of those too)  The ranger at BLM told me to get a donkey, take it home, and within a week of us being around her, she’ll be completely trained.  I’m IN!  So, we hitched the trailer and headed for the fairgrounds in Vallejo where they were holding the wild horse and burro adoptions.  There were so many cute long ears, it was hard to choose. We eventually picked out a little 2-year-old female who seemed pretty docile. When it came time to load her up and take her home, it took about 6 rough cowboys to get that wild donkey into my trailer. She was having none of it. She sat down, pulled back, and fought like crazy. When they eventually got her loaded by pure force, I thought I’d been dupped by the BLM ranger I spoke to on the phone. Oh well, this was going to be an adventure in donkey training.

When we got home, I opened the trailer door, and Mija wouldn’t come out. We left the door open at the corral gate, and after about an hour, she finally decided to meander out. It took only a couple of days for Mija to trust us.  We only had her for a few months when we took her on her first high country trip on the PCT near Carson pass. (10K feet).  This is a pretty rough and shakey video as this was 2003 and its 8mm. Imagin Alex (my husband) riding a horse carrying a pretty good-sized video camera. This section of trail is steep with loose shale that was pretty scary at times and the wind wanted to blow us off of the ridge. Mija did great. These days, at 20 years old, Mija is quite a character and a huge part of the family. She chases my car down the driveway, blocks my car in the garage when she hears the door go up, wants to lay her head on my shoulder, and lives for treats and ear rubs.