Ronda Rich

Syndicated Columnist

She wasn’t hired to be boss. She wasn’t even hired. She was bought.

It all started because I decided that our miniature Jerusalem donkey needed a friend. There she was, a tiny thing, standing between two big horses that kept pushing her around — and she took it. Poor Sweet Tea. She’s a doll and so adorable with her black-rimmed eyes and her lumbering walk.

Two things to know about this tiny breed of animal. First, coyotes are terrified of them. This is remarkable since coyotes are villains, especially during birthing season which lasts from May through the end of September. We have lost many a cat to those ravenous animals, especially our favorite cat, Auburn, a tiny kitten who jumped off an embankment and plopped down at my feet one day. So tiny.

I picked her and since she was orange, I named Auburn. All six of our cats are named after Southern universities. Donkeys are also herd animals. They need friends.

Sweet Tea often moped around, reluctantly following after the horses, or hung out with them from afar. But she was always an outsider. I was her best friend. She was always happy to see me and get a lot of loving and sweet feed fed from my hand.

We are blessed to have two pastures, front and back, and both have a large creek. During the summer months, when the grass slows due to the brutal sun and lack of rain, we move the horses between pastures every three or four weeks.

This entails them leaving one pasture, then loping through our side yard, about 75 yards, then galloping into the barn or other pasture, just waiting for them.

I’ve trained them and it’s easily done (there’s sweet feed waiting for them). I started this when Tink was in Canada, shooting a TV series. In a golf cart, with the horn playing their favorite, old song, I keep them straight. Of course, Biscuit, our beagle, fancies herself a horse dog, so she pretends she’s helping while our dachshund, Dixie Dew Drop, is smart enough to stay out of the way and watch from a safe distance.

One day, I videoed what I called – and which is now the official name – a “modern day roundup.”

Tink showed it to everyone and it got a huge laugh.

Then, I had the brilliant idea to buy another Jerusalem donkey (and this the other thing about them) they are so named because they are said to have descended from the breed Jesus rode into Jerusalem. On their backs, they carry a cross, in black hair against grey, down their spine and across their shoulder blades.

“No,” Tink said at first, “not another donkey.”

Still, I made my case. “I think Sweet Tea needs a friend and she’ll live longer with a friend. She’s lonely. We have a farm. Let’s add to it. Besides,” I reminded him, “that’s how we came to get a second horse. You thought Charlie needed a friend.” Finally, Tink agreed.

The new donkey looks like a Disney character, back in their stellar years of creating precious characters. She is tiny, with long eyelashes framing big, round dark eyes, with a short mane that sticks straight up.

Her name is Belle Whatley — since all of our animals have Southern names. I intended to name her after the red-haired madam in “Gone With The Wind” who loved Rhett Butler madly but he loved only Scarlett. After the naming, I discovered that Belle’s last name was actually Whatling. But Belle prefers Whatley and, since that was the name of my favorite drugstore/soda fountain as a child, I honored two favorite childhood favorites at once.

Belle is adorable but she’s so spunky that she has become the ramrod of the herd. She walked in, took charge, and the others meekly gave in. Charlie, our big paint horse, shares his stall and food with Belle. This is quite something because Charlie is a greedy-gut.

Belle watched, last week, as Tink attempted a modern day roundup.

The others behaved admirably.

Not Belle. She stayed put. After all, leaders have to prove they do not follow.

Later, I talked to her: “I am general. You are major general.”

She listened.

Then, she followed me to the other pasture. She still thinks she’s the boss, though.

Ronda Rich is the best-selling author of the “Sapelo Island: A Stella Bankwell Mystery.” Visit www. rondarich.com to sign up for her free newsletter.