In September, I was really looking forward to a new baby foal. The mother, Cobra’s Windy (Sire: Cobra’s Windancer and Dam: Cobra’s Ginger) is a dark brown (NLP) 32-1/2″ very stocky jennet. The only red in Windy’s background is her grandfather, Cobra’s Red Man. The father of this September foal is Springlake Razmataz, who is light sorrel. I told everyone that I expected a dark brown foal and though it would be really neat to have a NLP (no light point). Well, “mother nature” had different ideas and we had a bright red jennet with a small star on her forehead. What in the world!!!!!! I never expected this baby from this combination. Not complaining, she is beautiful!

Below is a photo of Legendary’s Southern Belle at one month of age.

We had a hectic summer and I cannot believe it is now fall. Our final show for the year, which happens to be an NMDA show is the Tennessee State Fair. After this show,  I scheduled surgery on my hip with a recovery period of approximately 6 weeks, therefore, this show meant a lot to me.

In the Weanling/Yearling Halter – Geldings and Jacks class, we showed Li’l Angels Playitagain Sam. He’s a beautiful boy and I feel he will have his day but I really had not worked with him and he is such a “baby”. I was tickled, despite wiggling and constant squirming, Sam received a 5th Place ribbon in a very large class.

I then showed our spectacular jack, Short Assets Firetruck. The first time I showed Truck, I was so nervous I felt that I hampered his chances by in-turn making him nervous. Today, I was much calmer. Firetuck walked away with Reserve Grand Champion – Jack for the 2012 Tennessee State Fair. What a thrill!

Firetruck

In early 2012, I decided to show a beautiful Cobra jennet that has an exquisite head, beautiful top line, perfect legs and lovely feminine outline. One problem, she was terribly shy. When we first acquired the Cobra herd from Texas, Cobra’s Windy Lue (“Lue Lue”) was definitely afraid of people and had a constant look of terror in her eyes. I really don’t think she was mistreated, but she had not received much attention from humans and just could not trust anyone. I spent countless hours (over a 2-1/2 year period) sitting in the pasture, talking to Lue Lue and trying to get her to understand that I would not harm her. Initially, the only way I could touch Lue Lue was to isolate her in a smaller area and basically trap her in a corner. She trembled and looked up at me with HUGE eyes, petrified. Wherever I touched Lue Lue, she would cringe and move away. If I touched her legs or hindquarters, she collapsed to the ground. After 2-1/2 years of talking to Lue Lue, feeding her treats, multiple attempts of massaging Lue Lue and telling her how beautiful she was, one day she walked up to me and bravely was seeking attention.

From that day forward, I have told Lue Lue every day how pretty she is and thank her for trusting me.

Never being halter trained, I got Lue Lue to understand walking and trotting on a halter. In the Spring of 2012, I bathed her and show shaved her, evaluating whether she could be shown this year. I knew I was asking a lot, but even if she showed terribly, I really think she is so pretty and deserved to get out and trust people. Our local donkey club, Tennessee Donkey Association holds a novice day each year. I loaded Lue Lue in the trailer and took her approximately one hour from home to experience being in a public setting. It was overwhelming and all Lue Lue could do was stand at our trailer, trembling. Did I push her too hard and make a mistake trying to show her?

I decided to not show Lue Lue at the larger shows and only take her to two local “fun shows”. At her first show, the Bedford County Fair, Lue Lue had a melt-down. She would not trot past the judge, trembled, moved away from the judge whenever she got near Lue Lue and was obviously terrified. However, something interesting happened. When she exited her halter class, she realized that she survived this activity and no one harmed her. I then took her back into the Solid Color class and she received a 5th Place ribbon and actually showed well.

At her 2nd Fun Show (Wilson County Fair), Lue Lue was frightened (however less so) and would not trot past the judge in the jennet halter class. However, she stood well and did not shy away from the judge. The judge even commented on how well trained she was, I giggled, if he only knew.

The show season was winding down and the last show I would be attending was the Tennessee State Fair. This is a highly competitive event with large entries and NMDA (National Miniature Donkey Association) sanctioned. I had no intention of showing Lue Lue, but at the last minute decided, the worst that could happen is Lue Lue might not trot and would move away from the judge.

The big day was here. Oh no, in the arena were “dark wood chips”. My husband, Richard, advised me to walk the Donkeys in the arena and get them used to the difference in color and texture. Everyone did fine, except Lue Lue initially refused to step onto the chips. As I walked her around on the wood chips, the strange surface became more familiar.

Our judge, Ron Thompson was a very kind man that made the Donkeys and exhibitors feel at ease. When her class came up Lue Lue entered the arena, walked towards the judge, trotted away perfectly and stood squared off with her head up and ears up looking at me. When Mr. Thompson approached her and gave her a good look over, she stood still and did not move away. Thank you Mr. Thompson for being kind and making our animals feel comfortable.

Lue Lue was awarded Reserve Grand Champion Halter Jennet!!! Lue Lue is very, very special and worked so hard to trust me. I could not be more thrilled!

Lue Lue

Technorati Tags: Lue Lue, miniature donkey show, NMDA, Tennessee State Fair

Let me introduce Legendary’s I Love Lucy. Lucy , a stunning red jennet (birth height of 21″) was born August 23, 2012. Her father is a beautiful red Cobra jack (Cobra’s Haileigh’s Comet). Comet is a medium red, with a white blaze,  31-1/2″ jack that is out of Cobra’s Red Man (dark red, 30-1/2″) and Sunset Acres Red Ruby (medium red 32″). Lucy’s mother is an older Cobra jennet, Cobra’s Natalie Cole; who is a direct daughter of Cobra’s Arthur (30″ gray dun).

I suspect that Lucy will remain small and has the sweetest personality and looks forward every day to her hugs.

Also born in August (8/29/12) was a red jennet with a large white star, Legendary’s Reba whose father is Cobra’s Haileigh’s Comet and mother is Designer Donkey’s Macy Lee. Macy Lee is an NMDA champion jennet who is out of Circle C Corona and Big Woods LN Miss Berri. This little baby was 22″ at birth and already is very out going like her mother.

Technorati Tags: baby miniature donkey, Baby Miniature Donkeys

Second Show; Second Top Overall Halter Donkey!

Although there was a miniature donkey show only 30 miles from our home in TN we decided it would be fun to pack up the motor home and go to a show out of our normal area. One of the best parts of showing these terrific little animals is the opportunity it provides to meet new Miniature Donkey enthusiasts. We love to see Donkeys in person that we have only seen in photos. Meeting their owners, trainers and breeders is also a joy…most of the time!

Although a long drive we headed north to the 2012 Wisconsin State Fair. This was their very first Miniature Donkey Show at the Wisconsin Fair and they did a terrific job. The biggest difference we found with this fair from others we have attended was the requirement to have your donkeys in the Fair Horse Barns for an extended time prior to and after the actual show. We were scheduled to arrive on Sunday after noon and depart on Wednesday. However, our plans changed.

In route on Saturday we received a phone call on our cell phone regarding a small scare in the new horse barn that the day; a Clydesdale in the horse barn was showing signs of a respiratory ailment. The fair quarantined horses on site (we were not yet on the grounds, or permitted to enter); had veterinarians quickly examine the subject horse as well as all others in the immediate area. Within 24 hours it was determined that the horse had influenza and after suitable observation, all horses were allowed to leave.

This unfortunate delay provided us with the opportunity to spend an extra day with Jenny and Ben Eastep on the Lil Angels Farm. Their hospitality was outstanding and they treated us to some wonderful food. We especially enjoyed the time we had to be entertained by their terrific 3 year old son, Waylon. We tried to trade a couple of donkeys for him but there was no way they were going to let that happen. Instead they convinced us to bring one of their baby donkeys home and we did. We will tell you about that later.

Once the horse barn was cleared we received a second call with instructions on when and how to bring our donkeys to the Fair. We were also assured that every thing possible had been done to ensure our animals would not encounter any possible exposure to the “flu”. As an extra precaution, we were moved to a completely different building and the horse barn remained closed for an additional 24 hours.

We really appreciate and applaud how the fair handled this episode. All was well for our show and it was wonderful. This was the inaugural Miniature Donkey show for Wisconsin State Fair. It is a tremendous honor that our Donkey, Legendary Top Hat (Topper) will go down in the record books of the Wisconsin State Fair as the Grand Champion Halter Miniature Donkey for the very first show in 2012. We should tell you that although this was the inaugural Miniature Donkey Show the competition was fierce and the entry contained spectacular animals.

We are also very humbled by our special little gelding who has now been shown in only two show, The Celebration and the Wisconsin State Fair and came home Best of Breed in both shows!

Oh, one more thing. If you have never been to a State Fair in the agricultural parts of Country you don’t know what you are missing. Although our free time was short you do have to eat….so….we ate our way though the Fair. We had melt in your mouth wonderful rib eye steak sandwiches, but these were out done by the Wisconsin breakfast pastries and deserts. Then there were the Wisconsin Cheeses, deep-fried anything and the list goes on and on. Just writing this makes me want to make reservations for next year!

Technorati Tags: Best of Breed, Grand Champion, Legendary Top Hat, miniature donkey show, Toppera, Wisconsin State Fair

WOW! WOW! WOW!

The Celebration 2012

Grand Champion – Geldings

Best of Breed

Legendary’s Top Hat

Technorati Tags: animals, miniature donkey show, The Mule & Donkey Celebration; NMDA Show; The Celebration; Showing Miniature Donkeys; Winners at NMDA shows

Found this sweet photo of “New Friends”, our young Miniature Donkey gelding Legendary’s Top Hat (Itsy Bitsy Front and Center X Perfection’s All Jetted Up) and Dolly, the dog (parents unknwon). I thought it was so adorable!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Cobra’s Natalie Cole and her precious baby, Legendary’s Buster Brown.

I truly believe to appreciate and understand the Miniature Donkey of today, you need to look at the roots. Let me introduce Cobra’s Golden Anne. Annie was born on 8/21/91, therfore, she turned 20 years old last August. She came from JT Smith’s Cobra herd in Oklahoma and was used in his breeding program. JT Smith stopped selling Miniature Donkeys to outside parties over 10 years ago. Therefore, offspring from his core breeding program have not been available for years. I have been able to trace 8 foals produced by Annie. Likely there are more. I own one of her foals, Cobra’s Anastasia, who is gorgeous and produced one jack foal for me (Legendary’s Tom Dooley) who was 100% herdsire quality, but sold as a gelding to a fabulous home. One daughter, Cobra’s Margarita (Cobra’s Red Man X Annie) resides at Lil Graceland Miniatures Donkey in Texas and has produced exceptional offspring. Her grandson is a herdsire at Lil Graceland. When Annie was bred to Cobra’s Arthur II, she produced a jack seen in many pedigrees, Lil’ Half Pints Lil’ Abner. I sold one really beautiful Annie daughter, Cobra’s Tracy to a farm in Tennessee (not active in showing).

Despite being a brood jennet, Annie is stunning today at 20 years of age. Last year, I halter broke her (yes, she was not halter broke) and she won Reserve Grand Champion in Halter at The Celebration, Shelbyville, TN. She won and placed in several other halter classes at shows in 2011. She initially enjoyed her show experience, but prefers staying at home. Therfore, I don’t have plans to continue showing her unless there is an exhibition event. Her father is Cobra’s Arthur (30″ graydun) who was the primary herdsire at Cobras for years. Her accomplishments have been amazing and she sure looks great!

This is a special time of year for family and friends. Every family has its traditions. As the families grow and age the traditions are sometimes handed down from generation to generation but other times new traditions develop. Katrina has started a new family tradition; it has been going on for several years now (unfortunately). My idea of a tradition is a roaring fire in the fireplace with a hot apple cider by my side, my cat in my lap and Christmas Carols playing softly in the background.

Katrina, on the other hand, would rather bundle us up like Eskimos, hang Christmas Stockings on poor defenseless little donkeys like they were some portable fireplace mantle and then head out to some little Tennessee town and walk for miles in a Christmas Parade. Most participants in such parades are in trucks pulling floats. Some of the more adventuresome of the participants will ride in convertibles with the tops down and the heaters turned on high.  There are usually other animals in the parades, big animals, horses; animals that people ride! Now our little critters have short legs and donkeys tend to want to move rather slowly. These are deliberate animals who like to think things through and not be rushed. A strange place with weird people lined up on both sides of the street, horses all around, bands playing and candy being tossed to screaming little kids dashing about does little to encourage the average donkey to keep on keeping on.

Our slow pace usually means trying to start in the middle of the parade and hope we don’t end up at the end of the parade before the parade ends! The last thing I want to do is be walking donkeys down main street watching the parade pull out of site with an angry 18 wheeler truck driver who has been sitting in stopped traffic for some parade on my ass’s ass!

We have lots of donkeys and it is a great new tradition, come visit us next year and we will put you in the parade!

Technorati Tags: Christmas Donkeys, Christmas Parades, Donkeys with Santa Hats

We are very excited with the arrival of our new Herdsire, Short Assets Fire Truck.

The first time I saw “Truck” was at The Celebration NMDA show in July, 2011. He was shown by Donnie Kellett for Myers Meadows, Bodie and Kerrie Myers. Well, he did outstanding that day winning First in a very competitive Jack – 2 Year & Older class and Grand Champion Jack. I noticed he was “For Sale” and pondered for awhile. I really wanted a short-backed, stocky, beautiful red jack with excellent legs and confirmation, to match-up with many beautiful jennets at our farm. I also had the task of convincing my husband that I was not crazy for adding another jack. But, he did know for some time that I desired a red jack so when I asked, it was not completely a surprise.

He also remembered Truck from The Celebration and thought he was really a beautiful boy. Well, it was decided that we would purchase Truck and bring him out of the warm, arid climate of Florida to an area with a colder winter. Poor Truck, if he only knew, he would have never stepped into our trailer. Well, he now resides in Tennessee and I JUST LOVE his temperament. He is so sweet, gets kissed and scratched every day and is such a gentleman. Thank you very much to Bodie and Kerrie Myers for allowing this lovely boy to be part of our family. He is a gem!

Technorati Tags: Fire Truck, Heard Sir