EGREMONT — Billy Boy and Arlo love people.

So you can imagine how the two donkeys felt being penned up in quarantine for six months, only able to socialize with a few of their human friends at Blue Rider Stables.

Saturday, the pair made up for lost time, and received a warm welcome back.

Billy Boy and Arlo were the guests of honor at a “Donkey Freedom Party” on Saturday at the nonprofit therapeutic riding stable off Mount Washington Road.

Therapy donkeys Billy Boy, 38, left, and Arlo, 8, celebrate the end of their 181-day-quarantine with a "Donkey Freedom Party" at Blue Rider Stables in South Egremont.

Their human handlers were more than happy to re-introduce them to the company of families and children.

Billy Boy, Arlo and their fellow horses at Blue Rider were potentially exposed to rabies in October, when a rabid skunk bit one of the stable’s horses. The horses were quarantined for 45 days, and community financial support helped see the stables through more than a month of enforced inactivity.

The entire herd at Blue Rider had been vaccinated against rabies, and neither Billy Boy nor Arlo were bitten. But the vaccine they were all given doesn’t specifically say it’s for donkeys on the label. So the state considered them technically "unvaccinated" and mandated the 181-day quarantine.

Therapy donkeys Billy Boy and Arlo celebrate the end of their 181-day-quarantine with a "Donkey Freedom Party" at Blue Rider Stables in South Egremont.

That ended Thursday, and the stables’ monthly open house was a perfect opportunity to celebrate. There was a donkey drawing contest, pony rides and a bake sale to mark the happy occasion.

Eleanor Maple Freed, 3, during a "Donkey Freedom Party" at Blue Rider Stables in South Egremont.

It was also a chance for folks to get acquainted with Blue Rider Stables, which offers therapeutic experiences with horses and donkeys for children and adults alike. The nonprofit, founded in 1991, is celebrating its 35th anniversary in July.

Head instructor Becky Dadonna said the stable served 800 people last year, and welcomes about 120 people per week in the summer.

Saturday, after posing for their close-up with an Eagle photographer, the donkeys joined the party with their human handlers Maggie McRae of Monterey and Caitlyn Snyder of New Marlborough by their sides.

Three-year-old Eleanor Maple Freed was one of the first children to welcome the pair back. She could not have possibly been happier as she led Arlo on a halter rope, with Snyder walking along beside them.

“We’ve been talking about this for months,” said Eleanor’s mother, Emily Maple. “And as soon as it was April, she knew they were coming out of quarantine.”

Young Eleanor rides every Wednesday “and it’s the highlight of her week,” her mom said.

Dadonna said the enforced solitude was hard on the pair.

“Donkeys are really social creatures,” she explained. “Billy Boy’s favorite thing is to greet everyone who comes into the barn. For the last six months, this has been very hard for them.”

Therapy donkeys Billy Boy and Arlo celebrate the end of their 181-day-quarantine with a "Donkey Freedom Party" at Blue Rider Stables in South Egremont.

Donkeys have a reputation for being stubborn. Obstinate. Obstreperous, even. But Dadonna explained that’s the exception that proves the rule about donkey behavior.

“Donkeys are desert animals,” she said. “If you run away from a predator in the desert, you become more visible, so donkeys impersonate a rock when they’re in danger. And if they're really in danger, they lie down. That’s the stubbornness: ‘If I‘m not sure what you’re doing, I’m going to plant my feet.’”

Billy Boy — some just call him Billy, but “it says Billy Boy on his driver’s license,” Dadonna joked — is “very intelligent and very interested in what people are doing.”

A donkey drawing contest is part of the celebration during a "Donkey Freedom Party" at Blue Rider Stables in South Egremont.

While people are naturally drawn to horses, they can be intimidating when you get up close to one, given their size. Billy Boy has been the stable's antidote to that anxiety, Dadonna said.

“Billy Boy will find his way underneath your hand, and if your hand is by your side he’ll put himself in there,” she said. “And before you know it you’ll find yourself petting a donkey whether you meant to or not.”

Arlo is the taller of the two donkeys. He’s also smart, but not quite as accustomed to human interaction. He also likes to sing.

Therapy donkeys Arlo, left, and Billy Boy celebrate the end of their 181-day-quarantine with a "Donkey Freedom Party" at Blue Rider Stables in South Egremont.

“He's very playful because he’s young,” Snyder said while the two stars of the afternoon happily munched on pasture grass. “He's really good at getting all of our horses playing with him. He’ll donkey bray at everybody, to get them all excited."

“He likes attention, but he's kind of more energetic than Billy,” Snyder added. “Billy could sit and get cuddled for hours, and eventually Arlo is going to be like, ‘I need to do something more active.’

“They’re both really playful — they’re fun to watch with horses and each other,” Dadonna said.