Compassion on Hooves Tiptoe's Journey as an Emotional Support Donkey

Have you ever considered the profound connections that can form across species? Join me, Natalie Webster, as I share a conversation with Erin about the extraordinary relationship between her emotional support donkey, Tiptoe, and her blind horse.

Discover the comfort Tiptoe brings to assisted living home residents, including a memorable encounter with a former equine vet that demonstrates the remarkable impact animals have on human lives. Erin opens up about the considerations and joys of introducing an animal into public spaces, highlighting Tiptoe's special place in the community and hearts.

The delight was palpable when Tiptoe visited our office, bringing smiles and a sense of camaraderie to everyone he encountered. If you're moved by the healing power of animals and the community they can create, listen to learn how you might help support Erin and Tiptoe’s mission as they look to connect with more hearts online and offline.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Connecting Through an Emotional Support Donkey
• 10:37 Tiptoe's Efforts and Impact

Transcript

Natalie : 0:00

Hello, I'm Natalie Webster and this is Tonka Talk, where we share the ways people create community and connection, and we're in studio today and out in our office is an emotional support donkey that some people in the community family and friends are enjoying, and I'm sitting here in our studio talking with his owner, Erin, who's gonna share with us. How do you go about getting to the point where you have an emotional support donkey?

Erin: 0:23

Well, I have a blind horse that I rescued about two and a half years ago and he needed a long-term buddy and his vet and Tiptoe the donkey's now helicopter. Auntie Tabea told me a donkey is best because they're loyal and they're really protective and the donkey can live to be up to 60s, so he will be there forever for Tai as long as he needs him. Wow.

Natalie : 0:46

so Tai is A blind horse, the blind horse, and so Tiptoe has been the seeing eye donkey for the horse.

Erin: 0:54

Yes, Tiptoe wears a little bell so that Tai can listen for him and follow him around. So Tiptoe will lead Tai into and out of the shelter, will bring him to the water, will bring him to the food. Yeah, it's very special, yeah.

Natalie : 1:07

How did you figure out that Tiptoe was People? I have now met Tiptoe. This is not your average donkey. It's not that I've met a ton of donkeys in my time, but he really is. Exceptionally, he's got this. He exudes this kind of kindness and love and he's cuddling up and snuggling up to people Right now who get close to him. I know right now I can see him nuzzling my grandson. It's so cute. How did you find out that there was that aspect to his personality?

Erin: 1:43

So the day we took Tai's eye out, we saw a Facebook post that Tiptoe was at the only donkey rescue in Minnesota and he was losing his best friend who was a blind donkey, and Tiptoe had been a seeing eye donkey for that donkey. So we went and adopted him immediately for that purpose. And then the more we've had Tiptoe, he's so social and he almost identifies as a human, I would say. He was bottle fed and raised in the rescuer's house, so we just learned that he was really social and we thought to ourselves let's try him in an assisted living home. And he loves it. He rides the elevators, he snuggles the residents, he's very calm, he doesn't do anything crazy. So we've been doing that for over a year now and it's very, very popular and it's good for his brain. So we wouldn't do it if he didn't want to, but because he loves it we're happy to do it. But yes, we have other donkeys and he's special.

Natalie : 2:38

He's special. In fact, you were saying that you know when we share this and when we share the video and images. Let people know this is not your average donkey. Don't think you're gonna run out and adopt or get a donkey. No, it's going to behave in the same way, right right.

Erin: 2:54

Yeah, he's very calm, especially when he was littler. He's now bigger. So one thing everyone should know about a donkey is, if they don't want to do it, you're not gonna make them do it. It's not like a horse where you can kind of cajole them into doing something. It's all what he wants to do. And I've never met another donkey who wants to be in a home and social. Actually, we were at a business two weeks ago doing a visit and all he did was stand at the door asking to go into the building, which isn't normal for an equine, but he just associates it with love and attention and cuddles, and so he wants to go in and he wants to be with people.

Natalie : 3:27

Yeah and he has a. In case you're wondering, he does have a. Is it called a diaper?

Erin: 3:35

It's called a. What is it? It's like a bum rug or something. It's a certain brand and it works great. So, yes, we have the potty situation managed. We don't want to risk that. And, like I said, he will go on elevators, he will go up and down he, when we go to the assisted living homes, he goes into the apartments and visits in. If they're bedridden he'll go in and visit bedside. He's just, he's a cool animal.

Natalie : 4:01

What has the response been like when you take him into an assisted living or a nursing home?

Erin: 4:06

It's absolutely. I spend the whole time in tears, honestly, today. Our helper used to work in those facilities, so she kind of understands all of it. But the coolest thing is, for example I'll share a quick story we went into one a few months ago and there was a gentleman in memory care who had been an equine vet his whole life and the woman who was our contact there said he hadn't gotten up and spoken in months.

Erin: 4:31

And Tiptoe walked in and he got up and I'm gonna get Tierry talking about it. He got up and came over and started asking today a question and doing a physical exam on the donkey. Oh my gosh, I didn't know you could make me cry. The staff, the staff all got Tierry, yeah, and they were like we haven't seen him have a good day in a really long time. So everyone typically loves him, but stories like that are the ones that we love. Memory care. It's kind of a soft spot for us.

Natalie : 4:56

Definitely. How did you? No, you say it's a soft spot for you. Do you have an experience or family that were in memory care that introduced you? Open your eyes kind of to that need?

Erin: 5:07

Not in memory care. Both of my grandmothers at the end were in facilities and so I'm familiar, tobay obviously has. She worked in them for a long time, so she's very familiar. But my mom was in hospice at the end and I brought all of our animals in to see them and I think that opened my eyes to that animal-human connection has something that even human-human doesn't necessarily always have.

Natalie : 5:30

Yes.

Erin: 5:31

And to be able to just give people smiles when maybe they haven't had something to smile about in a while, it just those are the best days of our weeks.

Natalie : 5:41

No kidding, it's so impactful Now you'll visit nursing homes, assisted living if and you're in the Twin Cities area.

Erin: 5:50

Yep Tiptone.

Natalie : 5:51

They're here in Minnesota.

Erin: 5:52

Yep Tiptone's in Corcoran. I'm from Minnetonka, yeah.

Natalie : 5:55

Okay, how? What are some of the other? Well, pretty much. If anybody reaches out, we're gonna share in the show description how to get ahold of Erin and coordinate if you're within the area and want to schedule a visit with Tiptone, is it? Pretty much could a business bring them in.

Erin: 6:13

Yes, so Tobay and I work for a nonprofit in our day jobs and so we brought him to a fundraiser at a business too, on behalf of our workplace being, because a lot of businesses, if they're raising money for something, it's nice to have a visual. So, yeah, he'll go to a business. I've had requests for kids parties. He's happy to do that. No, he's. We are gonna do pride this year. We're gonna try to walk in pride, walk the parade. Well, we're gonna try. We're gonna try. He's so. As you can see, he's so social. He doesn't move very fast, so we'll see how it goes, but we're just happy to get him out and get him in front of people and share his story, because he's a unique little donkey who's been through a really rough two years. So there's a lot of things to learn from him in his journey.

Natalie : 6:58

yeah, Because you were saying, when you adopted him, I mean they thought he was gonna die.

Erin: 7:04

Yeah, so we adopted him when he was a baby. He spent two months in the ICU because his mom tried to stomp him to death.

Natalie : 7:11

Ooh.

Erin: 7:12

So that's why he was an orphan and then I adopted him and he had a hypothermic episode. So we spent another two months, almost a year ago exactly in the ICU at the university Wow, and they ended up telling me you can bring him home, but you're gonna have to put him down. Instead of doing that, I flew in an expert farrier from Florida who took off his hoof capsule and saved his life, and the hoof has now grown back. A lot of people don't know that's possible. It's kind of we call him our million-dollar miracle. The hoof has grown fully back. He's never gonna be rideable or anything like that. His purpose is gonna be being a companion donkey for his blind brother and doing stuff like this, like what we're doing today.

Natalie : 7:53

So how common is this? I mean, I know this is something that is, not the visits or the hooflet, the donkeys like him.

Erin: 8:04

He's my first donkey. I'll be honest. I haven't seen many donkeys that do service visits like this.

Natalie : 8:09

Yeah.

Erin: 8:10

You see many ponies that do it. He's the first donkey and where have that touched us? Wow? And donkeys and ponies are very different beings. And so just the calm and social. I liken donkeys more to dogs, like. I consider him to be my great name, essentially, sure, sure, the snuggling, the cuddling, the calmness, so he's actually the perfect animal for it and we consider ourselves to be really, really lucky to have the right personality.

Natalie : 8:37

It's amazing to watch him and we're actually, like I said, we're recording in studio, but our Tonga Talk studio looks out into shortlist properties, which is our real estate brokerage, so we can see the interactions that are going on right now with Tiptoe and there. So donkeys live to be 60, so they can add something that, as long as he enjoys it, he can continue to do Absolutely, and it seems to really be giving him purpose.

Erin: 9:05

Yes, yes, because of what happened to Tiptoe a year ago, he has to stay in his stall more than you typically want an equine to stay in their stall. Stall rest isn't great for their brains. So we started doing this in part to get him out and to get his brain working and to make him happy, and we wouldn't have him do this if it didn't obviously make him happy yeah, he definitely seems to be.

Natalie : 9:27

I mean, he is just chill.

Erin: 9:28

And he's with his little Christmas bonnet and his ears are up and he's yeah, he's very happy.

Natalie : 9:33

Yeah, definitely. Do you see in the future adopting animals or doing something similar where you want to get more into therapy animals?

Erin: 9:45

Well, my other three horses all of mine are rescues, all of my animals are rescues, and the horses one is blind, so that wouldn't work, and the other two are huge, so that wouldn't work. I can see finding other creatures to be therapy animals, but right now I've got my hands full, yeah, yeah. So the rescue is very near and dear to our hearts, but right now, between him and him and the other equines, I'm probably full.

Natalie : 10:09

Yeah, yeah, it's just such a joy to be able to see them and know that this is something that Tiptoe is getting something out of, and enjoyment and purpose, like you said, stimulating his brain, which is going to continue to help his healing. Yeah, and there's a phone number you can share for people to go ahead and get ahold of you to schedule a what do you call it? Emotional support donkey visit. Yeah.

Erin: 10:31

Yeah, a donkey visit? Yeah, and he really is. He brings smile. It is, people receive something. If we didn't feel like everyone was winning, we wouldn't spend our time doing this. Yes, I apologize, we don't have a website up yet, because we're just. He wasn't really healthy enough to do this until just a couple of months ago. So you can reach me at 612-963-1346. And my name is Erin. I am Tiptoe's mom we call it in crazy horse woman world and I would be happy to talk to you about anything. I mean, we'll go anywhere. He goes inside easily. He can stay outside as long as it's a certain temperature. So we'll go anywhere. Is there?

Natalie : 11:10

a distance concern from where he lives to how far you would go?

Erin: 11:14

Great question. I don't like to trailer him more than about an hour each way. Just because we've been through it with him and we've had a long two years with him, we learn we're very protective. So anywhere around the metro we're happy to do. But further than that it would have to be a kind of a special circumstance.

Natalie : 11:33

Well, we are enjoying having him here in the office. It's, when you hear about it nice, all photos and videos and thought that is just so adorable. But meeting him and seeing him interact I'm just dying right now looking at it. I wish that anyone listening to this well, you will see it, because we'll have some video and images that we'll share. But thank you so much for coming in and sharing this experience, because it really is an eye opener and knowing that he's getting something out of it too and he gets that love and that admiration back in the way that he's giving it, I just think it's absolutely amazing, heartwarming, isn't it? Completely, you're doing an amazing, amazing work. Thank you, and I look forward to seeing more of what you guys are doing and connect with Erin.

Natalie : 12:16

If you're, whether you're in the Twin Cities area or not, maybe you know how to make a website really well and you can help them out. Make them official, yeah, make them official. Volunteer to help Tiptoe's efforts. But, yeah, thank you for coming in and sharing Anybody else, I will talk to you later.