| The Story Of Maggie and Sneaky and the BLM Demo |
| This was our first visit to a BLM adoption center. It was
held in a very beautiful part of Virginia - Lexington. The scenery of
rolling black mountian's etching across the horizon separated
the landscape from the deepening golds and reds of the sunset.
I was tired and the seat of the pickup truck actually felt good.
My good natured husband drove carefully as he always does when towing equines.
My two very excited boys chattered in the backseat. The day had
been spent scrubbing. Every inch of every piece of harness, cart and
halter was scrubbed and polished. Every inch and every hair on
the donkeys was polished. Even their hoofs were spotless. It
had been a unusually warm day for the middle of March and for that I
was grateful.
It was dark when we pulled into the Lexington Equestrian Center. We were instructed where to park and unload the donkeys. Bright airy stalls were provided. Neighing and Braying sounded off in the pens near our stalls. The boys wanted to see what a wild mustang looked like and took off in the dark to see them. My husband trailed behind them. The donkeys, Sneaky and Maggie, were unloaded, walked around and placed in the stalls. Sneaky was upset. I am sure he thought he was going to be auctioned off and no amount of petting, patting and reassuring would convince him otherwise. Maggie was upset because Sneaky was upset. Once they were bedded down for the night, the family and family friend MaryJo, went to a nearby motel. Now to tell this story from my young boy's perspective, all they really remember is the hotel visit and eating at McDonalds! Ask them about what we did with the donkeys and you will get a blank stare. The motel for them was the highlight of their 6 and 7 years! The following morning, everyone headed back to the stables. Maggie and Sneaky were rebrushed and rescrubbed! Then (according to Sneaky) I humilated them by decorating them all up in green shamrock garland and green St. Patrick's day carnations. Sneaky was still upset by the sights and sounds of the penned up wild animals. Sneaky's life has been a hard one. We are not absolutely sure that he was wild. He does possess a few white hairs on his neck - only visible in the hottest part of the summer after he has been clipped. Perhaps that had been a freeze brand at one time... Anyway, he was about 10 years old when he was rescued from the New Holland auction. Nearly bald, covered with raw angrey sores over every inch of his skinny neglected body, my vets wife melted when he brayed out to her. Thirty five dollars later, she wondered what she would do with him after she fixed him up. For a while, he was loaned out to be a companion animal, but he was always given back. When my horse died, I needed a companion animal desperatly to calm the ancient old poy that neighed day and night for the horse and friend that he had lived with for 22 years. My vet gave me Sneaky. That was four years ago. I was very busy raising my babies and really didn't spend much time training him until we moved to Virginia. That was 18 months ago. Now my son Jimmy shows him in showmanship and Western Pleasure - leadline division. I show him in driving classes. He is always in the ribbons. Not bad for a 19 year old donkey! eh? Maggie is a honest-to-God BLM donkey. She was about a year old when she was captured. Since she has never been abused, she is willing, smart, and very sweet. She just loves people and doesn't mind a bit the green shamrock garland and the pretty green carnations. Her only fault is that she is young. She just got out of the "terrible twos" and in shaping up into a very fine performance donkey. She loves my husband best. If she could craw into his lab and watch TV with him, she would. Once I saw that the donkeys were harnessed up and looked great, I gave a sign of relief. Donkeys need all the dignity they can get. They needed to look good, because people were there to adopt the wild burros and Sneaky and Maggie were going to show the people what donkeys can do. Into the indoor arena we went. Sneaky trotted like he had to show the world what a big strong boy he was. Maggie trotted behind him like the good girl she always is. Then after our driving demonstation, the announcer thrusted a microphone in my hand and I gave a "bio" on each donkey. Afterwards, we went outside and waited in the shade by the auction pens. A crowd of people came by and petted and patted the donkeys, asking bunches of questions, and a few even took pictures! It was a proud day for Sneaky and Maggie. I know for sure that a few people decided to adopt donkeys that day that hadn't really thought about it before. The best one was a family that adopted a donkey with a lop ear. This donkey had the rare poitou donkey ancestry. This endangered French donkey has very long and curly hair. The family that adopted him had very young children and I thought how lucky that guy was! We finally headed home late in the day. Sneaky was visibly relieved that he was going home in the same "equine" trailer he arrived in and Maggie still couldn't understand why Sneaky had been upset. After all, look at how much petting and patting they had gotten that day! Could any day have been better? |