Montana State Fair 2007

Team Donk Featured at Montana’s State Fair
By Kristi Kingma
www.teamdonk.org

As in David Letterman’s top ten: You know you have just spent the past ten days at the fair when you arrive home and have to borrow a pair of your husband’s underwear as yours are… whell you know! You know you have just spent ten busy days at the fair when you arrive home with nothing but fond memories of wonderful folks, good times and some dang sore muscles!

Montana certainly knows how to put together a memorable State Fair. The attendance was shall we say….. Humongous, that should about cover it! It was a great adventure for me and the three donkey boys that make up Team Donk.

Our four hundred mile journey to Great Falls started off with Liberty catching a hind leg on a strap of his new travel blanket and falling in the open stock type trailer. That meant finding a spot to unload everyone. The area I choose was open and off the highway but soon was overflowing with approximately 200 motorcycles returning from Sturgis. Of course they had to come see the donkeys on their bikes revving the engines as bikers tend to do. One even drove within inches of Dev’s belly. It’s a good thing the boys are donkeys, acting like it was an everyday occurrence with no major repercussions.

First thing I did was to cut all straps off the blanket, so much for protecting Liberty’s butt from rubbing. Liberty then tried his best to get up for me. At one time he was up in front but could not get his hind legs underneath himself to finish standing. By now I knew I needed serious help. The locals were able to contact an outfitter and recruit a gentleman from the Wilderness Inn Cafe to assist me. Both guys pushed the 63 ½” tall Liberty across the trailer until he could get his front feet on the ground at which time he was able to stand and finish unloading. I walked him around the parking area and thru the motorcycles until I was sure he was going to be fine. Once the donks were reloaded we spent the next 12 hours on stretches of narrow twisting highways that took us across three major mountain passes and close to two out of control wildfires.

Featured at the Fair’s Draft Barn were two large teams of Percheron mules, Norwegian Fjord horses, the beautiful Shires plus the Mammoth Donkeys. At the very end of our barn were the Texas Longhorns brought in from Wyoming which helped to draw more people to see the sights at our location.

Housed separate from us were the Priefert’s Texas Thunder Percherons that travel nationwide. Headlining at the rodeo was Jason riding roman style atop a Percheron six-up one night and roman riding while barrel racing a four-up the next night. At noon everyday you could see them parading these handsomely groomed, magnificently embellished black horses through the streets of the fair and of course they always came to visit us at the draft horse barn.

The Mules and Shire hitches drove nightly at the rodeo in 4 abreast, 6 and 8 up hitches. As far as I know this is the only fair in the Pacific Northwest that continues to feature the large drafts. Putting the teams together always drew a crowd, what an amazing opportunity for bystanders to watch and learn how it all comes together.

This was truly a grand occasion to showcase the big donkeys. They were admired, petted and had their pictures taken for long hours every day. No matter what the size the largest majority of youngsters knew they were donkeys. Adults had lots of questions. Seeing the donkeys often invoked memories and stories of "When I was a kid we had a burro we use to ride.”

Liberty never once backed away from any child who wanted to touch his face or feel his long ears. He was truly a gentleman's gentleman. I asked a blind lady if she would like to touch a donkey. With both of her hands she gently caressed Liberty’s neck, face, long ears and touched his soft velvety nose. Liberty did not move a fraction of an inch and with tears rolling down her face she thanked me over and over. I have never been so moved.

We weren’t featured at the fair just for pretty. Every morning Team Donk was hitched for tours of the grounds. In the afternoons pulling carts the guys were out and about again. First go was RMS Lippyluver Luc and Mas Ass Acres Liberty who were put together for their first time at the fair and drove very well daily. Luc did not like stepping into the early morning puddles left in the streets from the water trucks, but he didn't mind pushing Liberty into them. It soon became a new game for Luc that he thoroughly enjoyed.

Liberty loves his newest team partner and both seemed happy to escape their stalls to venture out into the world of the midway, food courts, carnival rides, venders, past the musical acts, pig racing, the camel, the white Bengal Tigers, picking their way around wheelchairs, baby carriages, the very young and our older generation. Past the paint ball inflatable court with it's noisy ping ping ping of the guns and sounds of running feet, past loose dogs and dogs on leases, past the mini horse show and the petting zoo with one little mini donk that looked longingly at us each time we drove past him.

Blue Mountain Endeavor took his team driving turn daily with one of Eden’s Draft Mules. Not only did Dev spend time where the others had gone but he took tours thru the antique tractors, the rodeo grounds and out to the horse racing track and barns. Dev even had an opportunity to showcase his gliding gait under saddle around the fair grounds.

It was fun, exhausting, exhilarating and a huge learning experience for me! I was taught the finer art of hitching the big teams. Helping with the four abreast, the six and eight up draft mules was truly a hands-on experience. It was wonderful to share some of my knowledge with a couple just getting into single driving with a Norwegian Fjord light draft horse and their new to them harness and cart. Fortunately their Pacific Gig was similar to mine so we could concentrate on the correct line of draft and cart balance.

Our days started early and ended late. The weather was hot, dry, smoky and sometimes windy from all the forest fires but no one complained. The other exhibitors were right there to help each other any way they could. One morning I arrived at the barn to find all the stalls perfectly cleaned, another morning there was a cup of peppermints sitting atop the harness. When it came time to load for the journey home I had so much help I had to go back later to dig my purse out of the back of the trailer where it was buried in my tack box!

We were blessed with an assortment of wonderful young ladies who attached themselves to our barn and especially the donkeys. This was truly a pleasure to see these girls pitching in to help with harnessing, hitching and caring for the boys. Heck they even cleaned stalls, filled water buckets, fed hay and loved every minute of it. For all their ambition they received driving lessons and the pleasure of driving Luc around the grounds.

A large box of The Brayer and assorted magazines were available to anyone who wanted more information on the wonderful world of longears. As it turns out the magazines were indeed popular and are out there now helping to educate the masses. Should I be invited back, I’ll have to work up some photo displays and ways to promote the performance aspects of these donkeys, maybe I'll even be asked to drive Team Donk at the rodeo ... ahhhh how entertaining it is to dream of the next Montana’s State Fair.

For on line information go to http://www.montanastatefair.com.