TWO BURRO RACES COMING UP IN APRIL............

 For those that are keeping track, Linda Suzanne and Lynn will be heading out to California the 2nd week of April for a race put on by Karin Usko and the California Breakfast Burritos.  They are a great group of donkey enthusiasts that work with the BLM to build and repair trails to be used by anyone wanting to get out and enjoy the great outdoors.   

Today Doug that lived out here for a few years helping with the donkeys, came out to get a couple of shirts for his sister and mother that live in California.  Come to find out his family lives in Ridgecrest where the race will be the 10th of April.  Doug said his mother who is 93 loves donkeys and wanted to know if when the donkeys are out there, if they could bring one to her house for a visit.  To make a long story short, Linda called Karin if she might be able to take a donkey out for a visit and the visit happened this afternoon.  Her and her husband took a mini out for the visit and Doug said his mother was thrilled, now she wants one.......!!! LOL 

This link wasn't working, hopefully I fixed it.

Mom and Rita the donkey

They also raise money for non-profit organizations like Forever Home Donkey Rescue.  Last year they donated $5000.00 to help us continue working with donkeys that need to be rehomed for any reason.  That will buy a lot of hay and we really appreciate their generosity...!!

As soon as they get back from California, they'll be getting ready for the 2nd annual burro races April 17th during Schieffelin Days 2021 Tombstone celebration.  Last year was the inaugural burro race and was a big success, both for amount of racers and lots of people that came to watch. 

 Not long after that Lynn and Linda will be heading to Colorado.  Last year all of the usual races were cancelled because of Covid.  Some of the donkey people that have large tracts of land, invited runners and their donkeys out to have fun and keep in shape.  This year the towns are opening up and having races, hopefully it will be the start of a new season with lots  of teams and lots of spectators.  This sport has really grown in the last few years and hopefully will continue to grow. 

 This morning Suzanne decided to take Buddy Brat out for a walk.  As usual things didn't go as planned.  She had planned on a mile or two, you know what they say about plans..........!!!  Buddy wasn't into it, he didn't like leaving home by himself and dragged his feet until Suzanne gave up.  Sometimes with donkeys you have to admit defeat and save your energy for another day.   Or haul them away from home with some buddies, then it's fun.......!!! LOL

 

WE HAD A MARE MOTEL RAISING.........!!

 

 TRAINING FOR CALIFORNIA & TOMBSTONE , THANKS LINDA

This week-end was really productive.  The mare motel went from a pile of metal and wood, to a finished product in 2 days.  Eero actually knows construction and also helped to take the mare motel down from where it had been for a few years up in the Phoenix, so he was job leader and must have done a good job, it looks square and nobody lost any body parts during the rebuilding....!!!    

 

Some of the building inspectors came by for a look see.  They had to stay in their pens while the sides were going up.  Once they were out, I think everyone of them came by to check it out.  If they had been out, it would have been a mess, they would stand in the way, carry off tools and in general, help as much as they could...!!! LOL 

Saturday they put up all the frame, Sunday morning the guys started putting on the metal roofing and the gals started putting up the wooden sides.  I hope the donkeys don't try to eat the wooden sides, if they do we'll have to put chicken wire up so they can't get their teeth into the wood.

 

This is the crew minus Russ, he had already gone home when this picture was taken. This was a big thank you to Sheryl Geis, who donated the mare motel to the rescue.   It's going to be so nice for whoever we decide goes in it. 

 

 

This is Russ with Kachina and Ana.  He and his wife Bobbi adopted the 2 girls from us a few months ago.  He said they are doing wonderful and are so friendly.  He said Kachina lays her head on his chest quite often.  She was a little standoffish when she got here, so I'm really glad they are enjoying their new home.

 

  Can't have all work and no play.  I think this is Arrow, one of the minis trying to get some frozen Slurpie, Kristen was passing out. 

                                    Leddy  & Muzzy checking out Matthew's sandwich.

  Looks like they might have some donkeys ready to run once they get the halters and leads sorted out.

Big Gus trying to get his head into someone's car.  He really loves to snot cars and if perchance the window is open he's thrilled. Sometimes it's quite a shock for people to have this big head inside the care.  I don't think his head can be removed from inside the car, it usually takes 2 of us to get it out.........!!! LOL

JUST ABOUT THE TIME THINGS SETTLE DOWN, EVERYTHING SPEEDS UP INTO HYPERMODE....!!!

 This week-end is going to be fun.  We're going to have people out to help with an old fashioned barn raising.  Well not quite.  It will be a mare motel raising.  We had some wonderful people donate an 8 stall mare motel to the rescue.  All we had to do was dismantle and haul it home.  Lynn and Linda and friends, did all that and now it's time to put all the pieces back together.  We've put out the word, I'm not sure how many are coming, but some will be camping, we're having a potluck and of course there will be a lot of donkey talk going on.  Should be a great week-end......!!!

 For those that didn't make it to Black Canyon last week end, here is another video of the start.      The start of the Black Canyon Race, last week-end.

I'm sorry, but watching these starts is funny to me.  First of all, I'm not running........ I'm also not trying to control an excited donkey and the weather inside my house is much nicer than the weather turned out to be up there.  Everyone has reported having so much fun and wanting to do it again, so I guess I'm just an old stick in the mud.........!!  LOL  I do enjoy all the videos people share and hearing all the stories.  

 Lots of people have shared pictures.......

                              Some of the trails were "challenging".......  LOL

 

                                                        Happy winner

 

                                       Cute piece of "bling" for the runners.

                                Linda and Loki Joe won the costume contest
 

                     The obstacle course wasn't everyone's idea of fun.....  LOL
 

                Don't know for sure, but think this is a group heading for the start
 

                    Looks like he hasn't changed his mind about the obstacle course

      Lynn and Muzzy doing their thing, they finished 3rd in the 9 mile long course.

                                           The trails went thru some pretty scenery.

                  

 A few weeks ago we had a young lady named Lily come out to do a science project for school.  She won state last year, so the benchmark was pretty high to repeat this year.  She wanted to do a study of who brayed the most males of females and how long the brays were. 

She and her sister Rosie with their Mother have been involved with the donkeys for quite sometime.  They come out and run when there is a training run and last year when we were raking mesquite beans so the donkeys could get out of their pens after 4 months they all came out and raked beans. 

 

 

This is part of her project.  They came out at least 3 times, I remember one day we were feeding, which is usually when they bray the most.  I was at one end of the pens and Lily was at the other, when Jackson brayed from my end.  Here she come running and asking who brayed. 

I'm happy to announce she won her school and also won state again this year.  She received a $75. prize for her project and donated the whole amount to the donkeys.  What a thoughtful young lady, wonder what her project will be next year?  I wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with donkeys........!!!

I also have to apologize, for not knowing what I'm talking about.  In the last blog update I said Tombstone was the next race.  It is the next race in Arizona on the 17th of April.  But the week before, 20 of Forever Home and Burro Buddies donkeys will be headed for California for the 2nd year in a row to run in a race put on by California Breakfast Burritos, a non-profit organization that raises money all year to donate to other non-profits.  They also work with the BLM to make and repair trails to be enjoyed by anyone and everyone.  Last year we were a recipient of their generosity for our donkey rescue.  They put on a good race in fact Lynn and Muzzy won the long race of 29 miles.  So everyone is looking forward to another great race.  

 

BLACK CANYON RACE OVER, ON TO TOMBSTONE..........!!

    

  Lynn and Linda and the 19 donkeys made it back from Black Canyon after a wet cool week-end.  Donkeys aren't real great fans of wet, they don't want it on their feet, or their bodies, so I was surprised that they went along with the crazy people wanting to run 3, 6 or 9 miles in questionable weather.  There were around 70 teams running which is amazing for a 1st time race, a lot of the human runners had never ran burros before, which adds a certain amount of excitement to the race.  

 

Before the race, they had a costume judging.  Loki and Linda won....!!  I wish you could see Linda's costume it's really cute.  It's pants with a leprechaun head, that looks like the leprechaun is carrying a person on his shoulders.  That's suppose to be Linda's legs hanging on both sides of his head.   

 

Everyone anxiously waiting for the start of the race

 
The races usually start with a gunshot.  Linda said if they had used a gun shot they would have probably had loose donkeys everywhere.  So they had a count from 10 down start. As it was there were quite a few freedom loving donkeys at the start, with people trying to catch them.  Once the donkeys that know what racing is about get going, the others usually stay with the herd, so they all settle down.  Well most of them do, Lynn said he caught the same donkey 2 or 3 times....!!! LOL  If a runner catches a loose donkey they hopefully can find something to tie them to, so the donkey's runner can find them.  Linda said she was involved in tying one to a very large heavy log, which the donkey preceded to drag around.  

 THE START OF THE RACE YOU'LL NOTICE A FREE SPIRIT DONKEY ABOUT 36 SECONDS IN DOING IT'S OWN THING, I'M SURE THERE IS A HUMAN SOMEWHERE TRYING TO CATCH UP...!  Probably that woman running by herself not far behind....!! LOL

 

That's Linda and Misty River, in the orange.  They finished 6th in the 9 mile race.  Lynn and Muzzy finished 3rd and Koshare and his runner finished 2nd, 5 seconds out of 1st.  Got beat by a "girl donkey" named Marshmallow....!!

THE BROWN DONKEY FINISHING 2ND BEHIND MARSHMALLOW IS SUZANNE'S KOSHARE

SOME OF THE TEAMS

Of course no trip to Black Canyon north of Phoenix on I-17 would be complete without stop at The Rock Cafe.  They are known worldwide for their pies, Lynn and Linda brought a cherry pie home with them.  Unfortunately it's all gone now....!! 😞

THE ROCK CAFE

All of our donkeys finished and their running partners all were excited and enjoyed the experience.  The 17th of April they'll do it again, in a different venue..... Tombstone.  This will be the 2nd year to have a race in the "town to tough to die" and everyone is really excited and looking forward to it.  If you are in the area, come on out and if you've never seen a burro race, it will be a great opportunity to see what all the fuss is about. 

IT'S BEEN CRAZY AROUND HERE THE LAST FEW DAYS.........

 Tours almost every day and Lynn and Linda getting ready for the race up at Black Canyon.  There are people flying in from other states, just to run with the donkeys.  Unfortunately by this morning the weather report for that area isn't very good, suppose to have rain, Saturday.  

A decision has to be made when there are so many moving parts and plans to be made.  I had to make a similar decision about 3 years ago when we had 19 donkeys and handlers planned for the Tucson Rodeo Parade in February.  It was suppose to rain and turn cold.  Our stock trailers are open, which means we could have been hauling wet donkeys in open trailers down the highway.  The forecast was for cold and wet that morning.  Had to make the decision the night before on the information we had and I cancelled our participation in the parade that year much to the disappointment to all the handlers.  The morning of the parade was chilly and overcast, and I don't think there was any rain after midnight, so we probably could have done it.  But I doubt that the donkeys would have been very happy to walk 3 miles in inclement weather anyway, they prefer to just hunker down and wait out the weather.  

The run Saturday is a "GO", I think almost 20 of our donkeys will be going.  One of the big problems is donkey feet on the trail if it is wet and muddy.  For one thing they don't like to have wet feet, for another there will be a lot of donkey feet, to stir up that mud.  Everyone is excited about the race, hopefully the weather people will be wrong, seems like they usually are......!!  I've always said, they aren't paid to be right, if they were they'd starve to death.....!!  LOL

 We've had a lot of tours so far this month which is really fun.  Lots of people learning about donkeys and getting to interact with them.  We usually have the donkeys out of their pens for tours, so the people can get up close and personal.  The donkeys are really good about presenting themselves for close inspection.  Some people have never been around large animals and sometimes are a little timid about being that close.  But usually by the time the tour is over they are very comfortable when they see how gentle the donkeys are.  

This morning we had a donkey breakout.  Linda and I both had large tours and a neighbor came in a said, "the donkeys are out on the road".  One of the tours hadn't latched the gate when they came in and the wind blew the gate open.  Misty took that opportunity to take about a dozen or more of her best friends on a walk-about.  The neighbor and Lynn took off up the road,  and I stood at the gate since the donkeys that hadn't participated were roaming around in the area.  Another neighbor drove in and helped with the round-up.  Once the guys got behind them, it was like they knew the fun was over, they trotted down the road and right thru the gate like it was their idea.  Wish I had a camera, they all looked like they were having fun.  Arrow, one of the minis was running and kicking up his heels on this side of the gate, I guess he wanted to join the runaways.  While I was guarding the gate BlackJack did take that opportunity to escape.  He moves so slow I didn't even bother trying to stop him, my primary objective was to get the others in the gate.  

Later Linda and I went out to the gate to let the people out and guess who was by the gate.  Little Misty River, saw us at the gate and here she came.  Linda had to hold her back, so the gate could be open for the people to leave.  We'll probably have to keep an eye on her when we leave, especially if there is only one of us and no one around to watch for her....!!  

I'm sure glad Linda takes videos when they are out with the donkeys, so I can share them on the blog.

Follow the leader 

Ruthie's first training run... 

More miles for Black Canyon 

JULIUS UPDATE........

 In one of the earlier updates I was moaning about Julius and his problem with diarrhea getting caught in his long hair.  Poor John caught the brunt of Julius' hind claw to keep his diarrhea on his long hair.  

The next plan of attack was to use a large fish net to throw over him.  Linda was also training Lynn how to hold an uncooperative cat. Just about the time we thought we were prepared, Julius comes in with a clean bottom, nothing stuck in his hair anywhere.  Whew!  don't think any of us were disappointed to not have to use our new found training, cats shoulders are pretty loose and can twist just about any direction complete with claws on all 4 corners.  He hasn't had any more diarrhea either, guess he got hold of a bad mouse or something.  

The donkeys are all doing good.  Cisco is getting over whatever was bothering him over the last few days.  He usually loves his mush and pumpkin, hay is OK but not a big favorite.  We don't worry if he doesn't eat hay, but he stopped eating anything including his beloved pumpkin.  So this is getting serious..........!!

Mixed up different feeds, tried this or that and he's act like he wanted to eat most of it, but really wasn't eating much.  The 1st thing that comes to mind is ulcers, but his life is rather low key.  Couldn't think of anything that would upset his life to cause ulcers, although they are a problem with horses that race, or show a lot of times.  Dr. Jeremy said to try him on Ulcergard and Cicso cleaned his plate the next feeding and has been eating good every since. 

Next week-end is the race at Black Canyon north of Phoenix.  

After that there will be the 2nd annual Tombstone Donkey Dash April 17, 2001.

Lots of fun and almost as much fun to watch.  If anyone is looking for something to do come on out and join in the fun, as a watcher or participate.

FUN SIZE DONKEYS DOING THEIR THING, Thanks, Linda

DONKEY DERBY TRAINING IN CATALINA STATE PARK, Thanks, Linda

Ruthie is settling in really good.  At first she stayed by herself when out of her pen, but lately she's been hanging around the other donkeys.  I don't think she's found her buddy or herd yet, today she is hanging with Siggy the micro mini.  Tomorrow it probably will be someone else.

I'm pretty sure she's been all over the property, we see her everywhere.  Her foster Mom is coming to see her this week-end.