A Donkey in a TuTu!

 

Oh my Goodness! I have been so busy the past couple of weeks, that I don’t think I will ever be able to update my blog to catch up with everything I’ve been up to…and it’s all just so incredibly awesome stuff, too!

So, for now I’ll pick up for now where I left off: The Donkey Costume Class at the New Mexico State Fair.

(My friend Connie and her mini-donkey)

My friend Shelley asked me to help her prepare for the costume class and to take lots of photos, of course.

I had braided Shelley’s hair earlier for the Halter Class. And Shelley and I had already washed, groomed, clipped, and painted hooves. So all that was left was donkey decorations!

 

 

The Tribble-like ear decor didn’t work out so well, because whenever she shook her head, they flew right off. So, the next idea was to place them above her eyes, like frou frou eyelashes.

There was also black stockings for both Shelley, and Pearl to wear..and pink vet wrap to represent ballet-style shoes for Pearl. The stockings were quite interesting to place on Miss Pearl. Thankfully she was a pretty good sport about it all.

Shelly had quite the costume organized. She and her donkey, Pearl were dressing up as CanCan Dancers, which can be traced back in history quite a long way.

This was a good thing since the costume class theme was based on historical costumes.

But Shelley doesn’t do anything average or half-way. She is a fun, colorful gal who loves to be silly and a little but crazy.

And her costumes surely reflected that.

It’s a good thing that her hubby doesn’t mind Shelly’s fun-loving personality.

But Shelley and Pearl looked awesome!

Following are some of the photos I took during the Donkey Costume Class.

 

 

 

 

This is the donkey and owner who ended up winning First Place (to the surprise of just about every one)

 

 

And many observers commented that this woman should not have been riding her 3 yr old donkey. And he was clearly having problems walking while carrying her. (lifting his legs, legs quivering, tripping, off-balance, swaying side to side, etc)  

And the poor little donkey seemed to agree, and actually gave up trying to carry her around on his back, and just laid down in the middle of the arena during the judge’s line-up.

But Shelley and Pearl did manage to win second place. And she even danced the CanCan to celebrate.

                               The End!!!

And now you can tell everyone you know that you’ve seen an Ass in a Tutu!

 

Showing Donkeys at the State Fair

 

 

A week after attending the Mule and Donkey Show Clinic, I was at the State Fair helping my friend Shelley show her two donkeys, Minnie and Pearl.

When I got to the State Fairgrounds, Shelley and I took the girls for a walk all around the livestock areas and then into the indoor arena to get them used to the new surroundings.  

And then we came back to the stall and had some fun! We groomed the donkeys, trimming tails and manes. Shelley had already given them baths before I arrived, so I just helped her with the detailing, while Shelley’s hubby took photos of his being silly.

In this photo, we have the Assistant Ass Handler smacking the ass of the Owner Ass Handler who is laying on an Ass.

After getting the donkeys all pretty-fied, we cooked up some dinner on the grill and ate it all up while sitting inside the roomy tack room. And then afterwards, we got everything locked up and headed to the motel for the night.

We awoke the next morning to rain and chilly weather with temps in the low 50’s. Everything was wet and muddy at the State Fairgrounds. 

But our Rio Grande Mule and Donkey Association friends were busy prepping their equines for the morning schedule of classes.

And I helped Shelley spiffy up her donkeys and add hoof polish to donkey feet.

And then Shelley and I donned our show clothes and posed for a photo in the tack room, before heading out to our first class: Halter Class.

Halter Class went well considering that Shelley has only owned these rescued donkeys for about 4 months and they didn’t have much handling experience. Miss Minnie, the mama of Pearl, did give me quite a work-out convincing her to walk and trot, and sometimes even stand still. She really didn’t like to be out of sight of her baby, Pearl so when we were in front, she would try to stop and pull me around to go back to Pearl. And when we were behind Pearl, she would try to pull me forward so she could stand beside her baby. 

Surprisingly enough both donkeys won ribbons. Pearl even got second place!

(Miss Minnie and me, Pearl and Shelley with RGMDA friend Kelli.)

Immediately after Halter Class, we had to head back out again for Color Class.

Color Class didn’t go so well for Miss Minnie. She was very grumpy and just wanted to leave the arena. At one point we were supposed to trot and we were following Shelley and Pearl and Miss Minnie just started bucking and kicking. I was able to get Minnie under control, but that behavior cost her a ribbon and almost got her disqualified for safety reasons. The judge told me that I had done a good job controlling Minnie, but said if Minnie hadn’t of went bronco donkey, she would have won the entire Color Class. ugh! Naughty donkey!

Pearl was much better behaved and won a ribbon for Color Class. I believe it was 3rd or 4th. 

After Halter and Color Class there were a few cart driving classes. This young lady, with Shelley, is homeschooled and in 4H. Her mentor brought her and another 4H homeschooler up from Southern New Mexico to show her mini-horses in the Cart Driving Classes. They won many ribbons that day!

The mini-donkeys had their own driving class, too.

My friend Kim from RGMDA posing with one of her adorable and handsome donkeys.

Up next was the Trail Class and Miss Minnie was still in a mood, not wanting to stand still for Shelley. This photo cracks me up. Shelley was giving Miss Minnie the what for. *grin*

Trail Class was hilarious. More so, probably because Shelley didn’t need me to show either of the donkeys, since they could go in separately and at different times. So I got to watch and take photos. Miss Minnie was not happy about leaving her baby behind.

And Minnie was less than cooperative in walking between or over any of the obstacle poles. She kept at least one eye on the arena gate at all times and gave poor Shelley a work-out. *grin*

But she wasn’t the only one with an uncooperative donkey. Quite of few of them refused to complete some or even all of the obstacles. Donkeys that happily walked over or trotted between poles at home decided that they weren’t going to do it inside the indoor arena at the State Fair.

 

After Miss Minnie was done with her Trail Class I took her back to the stall, and next up was Pearl.

Pearl was much more cooperative about trying some of the obstacles. And she wasn’t bothered that her Mama left her behind in the indoor arena.

But there were a few fumbles and out right refusals. Shelley hadn’t taught Pearl how to side-pass, so she had no idea what to do, so they passed on that obstacle before their time was up. Come to find out the judge would have given them a ribbon had they continued to try a little longer. Who knew?!

My friend Linda was there showing a friend’s donkey in several classes.

And I learned an important lesson about showing. If you stand around for any length of time behind the scenes, you have to expect that someone will hand you a lead rope and ask you to take care of their critter while they go to the bathroom, run back to their tack room for something they forgot, or do a walk-through of the trail obstacles with the judges and other competitors. Being an ass handler was one of my favorite parts of the day! 

After Trail Class there was a Donkey Under-Saddle Class.

 

And an Egg and Spoon Race Class.

And then it was time to break for lunch and get our donkeys ready for the Historical Costume Class, which was the largest class of the day…and which Shelley had grand plans to wow everyone with the costumes she had planned for her and Pearl to wear.

When we were back at the stables, my friend Connie showed the best side of an Ass Handler. *grin*

 

And then Connie, Anna and Kelli posed for a nice photo together.

While I was off wandering around the State Fair searching for some lunch, a herd of gorgeous equines-in-uniform walked in my direction.

And a beautiful Molly Mule loudly begged me to come over and give her some attention.

 

I was happy to see my friend Allen Sever and his two sons pulling in with a couple of their friendly mules for the Mule Show the next day.

I enjoyed my lunch while hanging out with the mules and then went back over to help Shelley get ready for the Donkey Costume Class……………..

You don’t want to miss my photos from the Costume Class!

Well, unless you’ve already seen an Ass in a Tutu!

Preparing Donkeys and Mules for State Fair

 

I recently volunteered to assist my friend Shelley in showing her two donkeys at the New Mexico State Fair.

Yes, that means that I’m officially an Ass Handler.

Believe it or not, you don’t just show up to handle an ass. You have to have some knowledge and/or experience first.

Thankfully, there is a terrific local organization called the Rio Grande Mule and Donkey Association (RGMDA) and one of it’s members offered up a free clinic to share information with attendees on how to show donkeys and mules at the State Fair. My friend Sandra (you might remember her as the owner of my favorite cart-driving donkey, Cisco) offered up her outdoor arena as the location for the clinic.

First we all gathered together for introductions. (Sandra is the gal in the over-alls and Shelley is wearing tan breeches)

My friend Shelley just acquired her two spotted donkeys a few months ago. They’ve never been shown at the State Fair…or County Fair for that matter. In fact, they’ve only had the most basic handling under halter. They are Mother and Daughter. Shelley named the Mother, Miss Minnie, and she named the daughter, Miss Pearl. I would be handling Miss Minnie, the Mother at the State Fair.

Here’s Shelley and Miss Minnie sharing a special moment together during the clinic. (Miss Minnie has the cross over her shoulders, while her daughter, Miss Pearl does not)

All the donkeys and mules waiting to get started. Miss Minnie and Miss Pearl standing together.

Shelley and I called this mini spotted donkey, “Mini Miss Minnie”.

Sandra has quite the menagerie of equines at her house. Like these two spectators.

Besides donkeys, mules and horses, Sandra also owns a Zedonk, or Zonkey, named “Zee”.

There weren’t only donkeys and mules at the clinic, but also a few horses, too. Like this PMU Draft cross filly, named Pippi, adopted by my friend Diana (you might remember her from my cart-driving posts. She’s also the owner of Miss Dixie, whom I had the pleasure of being carted around behind, while Diana drove her.) Diana brought two of her horses that day to give them some exposure to new stuff. I thought that was a terrific idea. More equine owners should do that with their young animals.

 

The clinic instruction started off with one of the most experienced showmanship ladies showing us different types of show halters and showing us proper handling and positioning while showing equines.

This is her gorgeous appy mule, whom she has shown often.

Sandra was given lots of pointers on showing her adorable cart-driving donkey, Cisco.

My friend Linda (whom also rides both side-saddle and astride, and drives mules, too) is also experienced in showing and shared some of her experiences, tips and knowledge with everyone.

And another lady, who is also experienced in showing donkeys in halter and driven shared some of her experiences and knowledge, too.

Shelley and Miss Minnie practicing.

 

Shelley and I switched donkeys so she could work with Miss Pearl, while I was supposed to focus on working with Miss Minnie. Here were were discussing our new working arrangement.

Miss Minnie wasn’t too crazy about the idea at first until she realized the only other option was staying tied to the railing. So she agreed to join me in some showmanship practice.

My donkey self-portrait

Shelley only planned to have me show Miss Minnie in Halter Class and Color Class. So Miss Minnie and I practiced our walking, trotting and stopping, as well as setting up and standing still while our ‘judge’ moved around us and I practiced the correct place to stand while she did that.

Then everyone broke for sack lunched in the barn and lots of conversation and laughter.

And after lunch we all went back out to the arena and set up obstacles for Trail Class practice.

Shelley was planning to show both donkeys in the Trail Class because donkeys are shown one at a time in that class. So, I became the photographer.

Miss Minnie was more than willing to cross the tarp. 

My friend Katy’s husband’s mule was so distracted by all the other donkeys, mules and horses that he didn’t even notice the tarp.

And Diana’s PMU Draft Cross filly, Pippi was a little worried at first about the tarp, but quickly got over it. The more praise she was given, the more willing she was to try.

You can’t have an obstacle course without a Carwash or Cowboy Curtain. Miss Minnie wasn’t very impressed.

But Zee was very impressed with Miss Minnie.

The next obstacle to play on was the bridge.

“Come on. You can do it!”

Up and Over! Easy Peasey!

Mules seem to take new things in stride.

And this little donkey has a close bond with his owner and would do just about anything asked of him.

This little donkey is just a yearling and being exposed to so many exciting and new things.

Of course, there’s always one in the bunch that refuses to cooperate at all. This is Gigi, Diana’s other filly, being handled by Diana’s friend Kelli. Gigi’s Mama is Diana’s cart pony, Miss Dixie, a Welsh Cob/Arab/Draft Cross. Gigi’s father is a Welsh Cob. 

Diana’s PMU Draft Cross filly took the bridge all in stride.

Miss Pearl trusted Shelley to lead her across the bridge.

And even though he was asked to cross the bridge in a rather unconventional way, this little donkey was happy to oblige.

Sandra’s sweet Cisco was also willing to try it, too.

And Miss Minnie had to think about it for a few moments.

And then Miss Minnie decided the bridge was the perfect place to stretch out her back and hind end, and she stood in that position for quite a while….making all of us laugh. Miss Minnie didn’t care. She just closed her eyes and stretched.

 

Then some of the mule owners decided to mount up and try some of the obstacles.

 

This mule is just so pretty and so very willing, too.

My friend Linda and her mule.

And although everyone tried to help, Gigi never did cross the bridge. Well, she did leap over it. Does that count?

Anna, Linda’s Mom decided to practice some side-passing on her lovely mule. And she had some very interested spectators, too.

I’m pretty sure they were giving pointers on how it should be done.

But mostly they were just an annoying distraction.

Anna is an inspiration to me. She is in her 70’s and still rides (both astride and side-saddle!) and drives a cart. And she’s super nice, too.

The apple doesn’t fall from the tree either. Anna’s daughter Linda is just as amazing. And just as nice, too.

 

But all good thing must come to an end. And soon it was time to go.

And even though Gigi never did walk across the bridge, it was still a successful day filled with lots of great exposure to new things.

Before we all left we cleaned up the arena. And of course, sweet, helpful Cisco was willing to lend a hoof……..er……back.

 

I’ve heard of Cone Heads, but this is a first: Cone Butt.

 

We all learned so much during the clinic and had a lot of fun in the process. But now it was time to put it to the test.

Would we be ready to show donkeys in the State Fair? Stay Tuned to find out!

“Hey, Haw! Did someone forget about me? I wanna go home, too”