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Shadows Ranch Miniature Donkeys
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We started with donkeys in 1995. My two youngest were off to the Marine Corp and I needed something to mother. I read in the newspaper about adopting a burro and shortly thereafter, Spanky entered our lives. A few months later, we purchased a Jenny, Sophie, and foal, Sandy, that had never been touched by human hands. I quickly learned that with patience and graham crackers, these critters could learn to trust me. I was amazed at how smart and loving they were. I read every book I could find about donkeys; I couldn’t learn enough about them.I took a trip to visit my Marines just before Christmas, 1996. While I was gone, Harv, not knowing what to get me for Christmas, started looking through my donkey books, and found Jerry and Eileen Cosgray of J&E Farms.Christmas morning, surrounded by my family, I opened a letter that read, “While you were gone to California, I went looking for a little “ass”, please welcome Simon to the family” and a picture of the most adorable, fuzzy little creature I had ever seen.With Simon, we began breeding, raising, training and what we enjoy most, driving donkeys.At Shadows Ranch, we don’t go out to see movies; our donkeys provide us a new show every day. We don’t call it “cleaning the barn”, it’s called “our quality time together”. And we don’t take vacations; we go to donkey shows, where we meet the greatest people in the world.I couldn't write a page about us without including our wonderful geldings because they are the largest part of anything "donkey" that we do. Being a gelding at Shadows Ranch means you are a driver or in training to be a driver and that's what Harv and I love to do. From driving at the park, to story time at the library, to State Street in Chicago, our boys have stepped in to the tiny hoofprints of what the geldings are now called "the ambASSadors" of the breed and have done it without hesitation. Well, maybe with a little hesitation.
We started our gelding herd with "the good ol boys", Pretzel and Dundee, and I remember Harv saying to me "I don't know how to drive." Well, it didn't take long for the boys to teach him how and what a monster we created. With the help of "the ol boys", Harv now drives a 4-hitch and soon to be a 6-hitch. The only problem is that it takes ten years for those babies to be three years old, or so it seems to Harv.
Driving a donkey or two is for the person who wants to take a slower pace through a fast paced world, someone who wants to see what you can't while riding in a fast car, someone who enjoys spending the afternoon with your donkey and your donkey driving friends. It's a great medication for relieving stress, high blood pressure, bad heart, heck, just owning a donkey can cure all that.
Thanks for visiting our website. Visitors are always welcome and questions are always encouraged.
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