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December 19, 2023 12 mins

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.

Learn more at https://www.tonkatalk.com where we share more about our Lake Minnetonka community, including upcoming events and our take on local experiences.

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If you have feedback, questions, or suggestions of a future guests creating community and connection, email natalie@tonkatalk.com

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Natalie (00:00):
Hello, I'm Natalie Webster and this is Tonka Talk,
where we share the ways peoplecreate community and connection,
and we're in studio today andout in our office is an
emotional support donkey thatsome 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 tothe point where you have an

(00:22):
emotional support donkey?

Erin (00:23):
Well, I have a blind horse that I rescued about two and a
half years ago and he needed along-term buddy and his vet and
Tiptoe the donkey's nowhelicopter.
Auntie Tabea told me a donkeyis best because they're loyal
and they're really protectiveand the donkey can live to be up
to 60s, so he will be thereforever for Tai as long as he

(00:44):
needs him.
Wow.

Natalie (00:46):
so Tai is A blind horse, the blind horse, and so
Tiptoe has been the seeing eyedonkey for the horse.

Erin (00:54):
Yes, Tiptoe wears a little bell so that Tai can listen for
him and follow him around.
So Tiptoe will lead Tai intoand out of the shelter, will
bring him to the water, willbring him to the food.
Yeah, it's very special, yeah.

Natalie (01:07):
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 ofdonkeys in my time, but he
really is.
Exceptionally, he's got this.
He exudes this kind of kindnessand love and he's cuddling up

(01:31):
and snuggling up to people Rightnow who get close to him.
I know right now I can see himnuzzling my grandson.
It's so cute.
How did you find out that therewas that aspect to his
personality?

Erin (01:43):
So the day we took Tai's eye out, we saw a Facebook post
that Tiptoe was at the onlydonkey rescue in Minnesota and
he was losing his best friendwho was a blind donkey, and
Tiptoe had been a seeing eyedonkey for that donkey.
So we went and adopted himimmediately for that purpose.
And then the more we've hadTiptoe, he's so social and he

(02:03):
almost identifies as a human, Iwould say.
He was bottle fed and raised inthe rescuer's house, so we just
learned that he was reallysocial and we thought to
ourselves let's try him in anassisted living home.
And he loves it.
He rides the elevators, hesnuggles the residents, he's
very calm, he doesn't doanything crazy.
So we've been doing that forover a year now and it's very,

(02:27):
very popular and it's good forhis brain.
So we wouldn't do it if hedidn't want to, but because he
loves it we're happy to do it.
But yes, we have other donkeysand he's special.

Natalie (02:38):
He's special.
In fact, you were saying thatyou know when we share this and
when we share the video andimages.
Let people know this is notyour average donkey.
Don't think you're gonna runout and adopt or get a donkey.
No, it's going to behave in thesame way, right right.

Erin (02:54):
Yeah, he's very calm, especially when he was littler.
He's now bigger.
So one thing everyone shouldknow about a donkey is, if they
don't want to do it, you're notgonna make them do it.
It's not like a horse where youcan kind of cajole them into
doing something.
It's all what he wants to do.
And I've never met anotherdonkey who wants to be in a home
and social.
Actually, we were at a businesstwo weeks ago doing a visit and

(03:17):
all he did was stand at thedoor asking to go into the
building, which isn't normal foran equine, but he just
associates it with love andattention and cuddles, and so he
wants to go in and he wants tobe with people.

Natalie (03:27):
Yeah and he has a.
In case you're wondering, hedoes have a.
Is it called a diaper?

Erin (03:35):
It's called a.
What is it?
It's like a bum rug orsomething.
It's a certain brand and itworks great.
So, yes, we have the pottysituation managed.
We don't want to risk that.
And, like I said, he will go onelevators, he will go up and
down he, when we go to theassisted living homes, he goes
into the apartments and visitsin.
If they're bedridden he'll goin and visit bedside.

(03:57):
He's just, he's a cool animal.

Natalie (04:01):
What has the response been like when you take him into
an assisted living or a nursinghome?

Erin (04:06):
It's absolutely.
I spend the whole time in tears, honestly, today.
Our helper used to work inthose facilities, so she kind of
understands all of it.
But the coolest thing is, forexample I'll share a quick story
we went into one a few monthsago and there was a gentleman in
memory care who had been anequine vet his whole life and

(04:26):
the woman who was our contactthere said he hadn't gotten up
and spoken in months.
And Tiptoe walked in and he gotup and I'm gonna get Tierry
talking about it.
He got up and came over andstarted asking today a question
and doing a physical exam on thedonkey.
Oh my gosh, I didn't know youcould make me cry.
The staff, the staff all gotTierry, yeah, and they were like
we haven't seen him have a goodday in a really long time.

(04:48):
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 (04:56):
Definitely.
How did you?
No, you say it's a soft spotfor you.
Do you have an experience orfamily that were in memory care
that introduced you?
Open your eyes kind of to thatneed?

Erin (05:07):
Not in memory care.
Both of my grandmothers at theend were in facilities and so
I'm familiar, tobay obviouslyhas.
She worked in them for a longtime, so she's very familiar.
But my mom was in hospice atthe end and I brought all of our
animals in to see them and Ithink that opened my eyes to
that animal-human connection hassomething that even human-human

(05:29):
doesn't necessarily always have.

Natalie (05:30):
Yes.

Erin (05:31):
And to be able to just give people smiles when maybe
they haven't had something tosmile about in a while, it just
those are the best days of ourweeks.

Natalie (05:41):
No kidding, it's so impactful Now you'll visit
nursing homes, assisted livingif and you're in the Twin Cities
area.

Erin (05:50):
Yep Tiptone.

Natalie (05:51):
They're here in Minnesota.

Erin (05:52):
Yep Tiptone's in Corcoran.
I'm from Minnetonka, yeah.

Natalie (05:55):
Okay, how?
What are some of the other?
Well, pretty much.
If anybody reaches out, we'regonna share in the show
description how to get ahold ofErin and coordinate if you're
within the area and want toschedule a visit with Tiptone,
is it?
Pretty much could a businessbring them in.

Erin (06:13):
Yes, so Tobay and I work for a nonprofit in our day jobs
and so we brought him to afundraiser at a business too, on
behalf of our workplace being,because a lot of businesses, if
they're raising money forsomething, it's nice to have a
visual.
So, yeah, he'll go to abusiness.
I've had requests for kidsparties.
He's happy to do that.
No, he's.
We are gonna do pride this year.
We're gonna try to walk inpride, walk the parade.

(06:37):
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, sowe'll see how it goes, but we're
just happy to get him out andget him in front of people and
share his story, because he's aunique little donkey who's been
through a really rough two years.
So there's a lot of things tolearn from him in his journey.

Natalie (06:58):
yeah, Because you were saying, when you adopted him, I
mean they thought he was gonnadie.

Erin (07:04):
Yeah, so we adopted him when he was a baby.
He spent two months in the ICUbecause his mom tried to stomp
him to death.

Natalie (07:11):
Ooh.

Erin (07:12):
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'regonna have to put him down.
Instead of doing that, I flewin an expert farrier from
Florida who took off his hoofcapsule and saved his life, and

(07:35):
the hoof has now grown back.
A lot of people don't knowthat's possible.
It's kind of we call him ourmillion-dollar miracle.
The hoof has grown fully back.
He's never gonna be rideable oranything like that.
His purpose is gonna be being acompanion donkey for his blind
brother and doing stuff likethis, like what we're doing
today.

Natalie (07:53):
So how common is this?
I mean, I know this issomething that is, not the
visits or the hooflet, thedonkeys like him.

Erin (08:04):
He's my first donkey.
I'll be honest.
I haven't seen many donkeysthat do service visits like this
.

Natalie (08:09):
Yeah.

Erin (08:10):
You see many ponies that do it.
He's the first donkey and wherehave that touched us?
Wow?
And donkeys and ponies are verydifferent beings.
And so just the calm and social.
I liken donkeys more to dogs,like.
I consider him to be my greatname, essentially, sure, sure,
the snuggling, the cuddling, thecalmness, so he's actually the

(08:30):
perfect animal for it and weconsider ourselves to be really,
really lucky to have the rightpersonality.

Natalie (08:37):
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 theinteractions that are going on
right now with Tiptoe and there.
So donkeys live to be 60, sothey can add something that, as

(08:58):
long as he enjoys it, he cancontinue to do Absolutely, and
it seems to really be giving himpurpose.

Erin (09:05):
Yes, yes, because of what happened to Tiptoe a year ago,
he has to stay in his stall morethan you typically want an
equine to stay in their stall.
Stall rest isn't great fortheir brains.
So we started doing this inpart to get him out and to get
his brain working and to makehim happy, and we wouldn't have
him do this if it didn'tobviously make him happy yeah,
he definitely seems to be.

Natalie (09:27):
I mean, he is just chill.

Erin (09:28):
And he's with his little Christmas bonnet and his ears
are up and he's yeah, he's veryhappy.

Natalie (09:33):
Yeah, definitely.
Do you see in the futureadopting animals or doing
something similar where you wantto get more into therapy
animals?

Erin (09:45):
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 theother two are huge, so that
wouldn't work.
I can see finding othercreatures to be therapy animals,
but right now I've got my handsfull, yeah, yeah.
So the rescue is very near anddear to our hearts, but right

(10:05):
now, between him and him and theother 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 issomething that Tiptoe is getting
something out of, and enjoymentand purpose, like you said,
stimulating his brain, which isgoing to continue to help his
healing.
Yeah, and there's a phonenumber you can share for people
to go ahead and get ahold of youto schedule a what do you call
it?
Emotional support donkey visit.

(10:30):
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 everyonewas winning, we wouldn't spend
our time doing this.
Yes, I apologize, we don't havea website up yet, because we're
just.
He wasn't really healthy enoughto do this until just a couple
of months ago.
So you can reach me at612-963-1346.

(10:54):
And my name is Erin.
I am Tiptoe's mom we call it incrazy horse woman world and I
would be happy to talk to youabout anything.
I mean, we'll go anywhere.
He goes inside easily.
He can stay outside as long asit'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 himmore than about an hour each way
.
Just because we've been throughit with him and we've had a
long two years with him, welearn we're very protective.
So anywhere around the metrowe're happy to do.
But further than that it wouldhave 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 itnice, all photos and videos and
thought that is just so adorable.
But meeting him and seeing himinteract I'm just dying right
now looking at it.
I wish that anyone listening tothis well, you will see it,
because we'll have some videoand images that we'll share.
But thank you so much forcoming in and sharing this

(11:54):
experience, because it really isan eye opener and knowing that
he's getting something out of ittoo and he gets that love and
that admiration back in the waythat he's giving it, I just
think it's absolutely amazing,heartwarming, isn't it?
Completely, you're doing anamazing, amazing work.
Thank you, and I look forwardto seeing more of what you guys

(12:14):
are doing and connect with Erin.
If you're, whether you're in theTwin Cities area or not, maybe
you know how to make a websitereally well and you can help
them out.
Make them official, yeah, makethem official.
Volunteer to help Tiptoe'sefforts.
But, yeah, thank you for comingin and sharing Anybody else, I
will talk to you later.
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