RHO & SADIE
All photos by Arlene Gawne
RHO & SADIE (aka MERCEDES)
Sadie – gray jennie (female burro) with a perfect dark cross; born 2006; captured 1-22-2007; adopted 2007 from the Red Rock HMA (Horse Management Area).
Sadie’s formal name is Mercedes so that Rho & Bill could say they kept a Mercedes in their back yard; however, affectionate Sadie offers more than the finest auto! She loves to be brushed and follows her adoptive humans around the property wherever they are working. Indeed, she can be quite demanding of attention, but her affection makes it worthwhile.
Sadie had been kept for 6 months in BLM short-term holding in Northern Nevada so was already halter & trailer trained before adoption. That’s convenient because every summer she is trailered with her yard-mates, 2 llamas, to her summer home in central Nevada.
Burros are extremely protective of their range – in this case their human’s property – and their herd-mates. Each summer, Sadie herds the llamas away from the cows on their pasture yet ignores nearby horses in the next property. Llama owners may be amazed that Sadie protects them from coyotes too. Rho has thought of getting her another burro as a companion, but Sadie seems very content with ‘her’ llamas, and vice versa.
In these February Las Vegas pictures, Sadie is wearing a shaggy winter coat and a perfect black cross on her back.
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