by Theresa Puckett, Reporter
July started off with the 19th annual Celebration Mule and Donkey Show. If you haven’t been to this show, I urge you to come next year. Even if you are not a show person, witnessing the diversity of these long -ear equine is truly amazing.
My first Celebration was in 1999 and I can tell you I left in awe, and in search of a gaited riding mule. This show brings in people from all over the United States. While looking at the results, I saw people from New York, Oklahoma, Florida, Wyoming and Texas just to name a few. This show also hosts the ACOSA Nationals, the NASMA Nationals, the AGMA World Show, and is a NMDA sanctioned show. They are also on a rotation for the NMDA Nationals.
There were several TDA farms in attendance and I believe everyone left with ribbons. I’ll start with the TDA mammoths which did very well. J.B. Royal Alexandria, owned by Dennis Vonderfecht of Appalachian Farmstead took 2nd in mammoth jennets 3 yrs +. Then went on to take NASMA National Champion Jennet 3 yrs +. Another very impressive showing came from Joe Thomas, Thom-Ass-Acres’s High Noon won the ACOSA mammoth jack class and went on to win ACOSA Reserve Grand National Champion Jack, I know for sure that this makes at least 2 in a row for him. Joe’s jack Nonami took 3rd in the NASMA mammoth jacks 3 yrs +. Way to go guys!!!!
On the miniature front it is hard to know where to start. So I think I’ll start with our youth. Katie Randall and her donkey KKR High Roller took 3rd in youth costume, 4th in NMDA halter geldings 3yrs +, 1st in youth showmanship, 1st in youth lead race and 1st in youth in-hand trail. Katie also got 2nd in the youth lead race with Little Miracles Katie’s Prayer. Yea, Katie!!!
In the NMDA performance classes there were several TDA farms that stood out. Crooked Creek Ranch showed two performance donkeys. As many of you know this is Zach Puckett’s first year to show as an adult and with his donkey Beaujolais’s driving experience they had to step right into open, skipping the green level. I can tell you that he was a little nervous about this but without reason. He put many of us to shame including his mom (yea!!) and showed against at least 2 professional trainers. Performance driving is Zach’s first love but he decided not to drive in pleasure driving but did all the other driving classes. Zach and Beaujolais took 3rd in open pole bending, 5th in open obstacle driving, 5th in open reinsmanship (this was a wicked class), 4th in open snigging and in the open single stake race they took 2nd , less than half a second off the leader and beating the two professional trainers. I am so proud of you son! Crooked Creeks Bosco took 2nd in open lead race, 5th in open pole bending, 4th in open obstacle driving, 2nd in open in-hand jumping, 6th in open snigging, 4th in open single stake race and last but not least 1st in open coon jumping. Wee Ones Titan owners Deb and L.J. Mix took 5th in the green lead race. HHAA Valiant Diego owned by Lydia Spears and shown by Tiffany Pierce took 6th in open pleasure driving. CCC Triple C’s Love Bug owned by Laura George took 3rd in green pole bending, 3rd in green pleasure driving, 3rd in green obstacle driving, 3rd in green reinsmanship. CCC Triple C’s Hermes owned by Sandy Carroll took 5th in open snigging and 6th in open single stake race. Stock Market’s Cash Bonus owned by Susan Poole and shown by Sandi Costa took 6th in open pole bending, 5th in open pleasure driving, 1st in open obstacle driving, 4th in open reinsmanship, 5th in open in-hand trail, 5th in open in-hand jumping, 1st in open snigging and 5th in open coon jumping. That’s a pretty impressive list!
NMDA halter classes are always very competitive and this show was no exception. The show started off with foals to halter and again TDA members showed what we are made of. Wee Ones Farm dominated this class taking 1st with Wee Ones Ragin Cajun and 3rd with Wee Ones Apache Brave and followed that up with Wee Ones Titan taking 4th in the yearling jack class. East Tennessee member Dennis Vonderfecht showed quite an impressive group of donkeys starting with a 3rd in the yearling jack class with Farmstead’s William Blout. In the yearling jennet class he grabbed 3rd with Farmstead’s Chessie and 6th with Ma & Pa’s Antonia. Farmstead’s James Otis Watson took 1st in the yearling gelding class, Ma & Pa’s Red Dynamo took 2nd in the jacks 2 yrs+, Ma & Pa’s Willa Cather took 3rd in the jennet 2yrs+, Country Music’s Rusty Weir took 2nd in the jacks 3yrs+, Country Music’s Jean Shepherd took 6th in the jennets 3yrs+ and in the geldings 3yrs+ Wits End Tumbleweed took 2nd. Katrina Fleener showed her donkeys with great success placing 5th in the yearling jack class with KKR Stroke of Midnight and 1st in the jennet 2yrs + with Hills Co Mini’s Lexus. Lexus topped her 1st by taking NMDA Champion jennet, very nice Katrina! Alabama member Susan Poole had a good show taking 5th in the yearling jennet class with Magnolia’s Royal Star Gazer, Magnolia’s Royal Court Jester took 1st in the geldings 2 yrs+ and champion gelding, Stock Market’s Cash Bonus was 1st in the jacks 3yrs+ class and went on to win champion jack. Jester came back to win best of breed, congratulations Susan. Kay Allen and Lydia Spears showing Radar and Diego in best matched pair and took 2nd. Way to go members, this is an amazing list of wins!!!!
Last, but definitely not least, would be the color classes. ACOSA in case you are not sure stands for American Council of Spotted Asses and is a registry for spotted donkeys and mules. As I stated earlier, the Celebration hosts the ACOSA national every year, so let’s see how we did. Starting with the mini jennets under 2 yrs, you have 4th and 5th going to Dennis Vonderfecht and Ma & Pa’s Antonia and Ma & Pa’s Willa Cather. Sandy Carroll took 6th with CCC Triple C’s Hello Darlin’. Taking the 1st spot in mini jacks under 2 yrs and was KKR Merlin owned Theresa Puckett, the 2nd spot went to Wee Ones Titan owned by Deb and L.J. Mix, in 4th was KKR Stroke of Midnight owned by Katrina Fleener and 5th to Fisher’s Untouchable owned by Steve Hazlewood. Mini jacks over 3rd went to Crooked Creeks Bosco owned by Theresa Puckett. In the mini geldings class, Laura George and CCC Triple C’s Love Bug took 2nd . The Celebration also has a straight up color class, which is always a crowd pleaser. This is usually a large class of all size donkeys and colors ranging from solid, to donkeys with a vast array of spot patterns. KKR Merlin took 1st, owned by Theresa Puckett, 4th went to Ma & Pa’s Antonia owned by Dennis Vonderfecht, 5th went to Wee Ones Titan owned by Deb & L.J. Mix. All in all I think this was a great show and again congratulations to all the TDA members. I hope that I didn’t leave anyone out, but if I did, please let me know and we will correct it accordingly.
The Bedford County Fair show on July 24th had a good turnout for it to have been sooo hot. We started at 10am in an open arena and the temperatures hung around 100 degrees all day, which was hard on humans and donkeys alike. TDA was able to rent a misting fan which the members could use and we were asked to make a small donation to help offset the price to the club. I would like to suggest that next year, instead of rushing through the show as fast as possible, so we can get out of the heat, maybe we should take small breaks here and there, allowing the contestants and show staff to take a minute to sit down and cool off a little. This might be a better way to go. Kudos goes out to everyone who braved the heat and made this a successful show. Congratulations to the winners and a great big “way to go” to our youth exhibitors Shyanne Lopp and Katie Randall.
Results:
BEDFORD CO. FAIR DONKEY SHOW 7/24/10
ADULT DRIVING - DONKEYS
1ST CROOKED CREEK'S BEAUJOLAIS ZACH PUCKETT
1ST CROOKED CREEK'S BEAUJOLAIS ZACH PUCKETT
2ND TRIPLE C'S HERMES SANDY CARROLL
3RD CROOKED CREEK'S BOSCO THERESA PUCKETT4TH VALIANT DIEGO LYDIA SPEARS
5TH CIRCLE C RADAR TIFFANY PIERCE
YOUTH PLEASURE DRIVING - DONKEYS
1ST GOD'S LITTLE FARM'S DAN SHYANNE LOPP
ONE BARREL SPEED - MINI DONKEYS
1ST CROOKED CREEK'S BOSCO THERESA PUCKETT
2ND ENGMAN'S ROCKY ROCCOCO BILL POOLE
3RD TRIPLE C'S HERMES SANDY CARROLL
4TH CROOKED CREEK'S BEAUJOLAIS ZACH PUCKETT
5TH GOD'S LITTLE FARM'S DAN TRAVIS HENDERSON
POLE BENDING - MINI DONKEYS
1ST CROOKED CREEK'S BEAUJOLAIS ZACH PUCKETT
2ND CROOKED CREEK'S BOSCO THERESA PUCKETT
3RD VALIANT DIEGO LYDIA SPEARS
4TH GOD'S LITTLE FARM'S DAN TRAVIS HENDERSON
SNIGGING - MINI DONKEYS
1ST CROOKED CREEK'S BOSCO THERESA PUCKETT
2ND TRIPLE C'S HERMES SANDY CARROLL
3RD CROOKED CREEK'S BEAUJOLAIS ZACH PUCKETT
4TH VALIANT DIEGO LYDIA SPEARS
5TH GOD'S LITTLE FARM'S DAN TRAVIS HENDERSON
HALTER WEANLING/YEARLING
1ST HILL'S HAVEN TORRI KAYLA HAZLEWOOD
2ND WEE ONES RAGIN CAJUN L. J. MIX
3RD MJB DIP N DOTS SALLY DUNN
4TH HELLO DARLIN SANDY CARROLL
5TH WEE ONES TITAN DEB MIX
YOUTH IN HAND JUMPING - MINI DONKEYS
1ST GOD'S LITTLE FARM'S DAN SHAYANNE LOPP
2ND KKR HIGH ROLLER KATIE RANDALL
ADULT IN HAND JUMPING - MINI DONKEYS1ST WEE ONES WHITE FEATHER DEB MIX
2ND CIRCLE C RADAR TIFFANY PIERCE
3RD GOD'S LITTLE FARM'S DAN TRAVIS HENDERSON
4TH CROOKED CREEK'S BOSCO BRIAN PUCKETT
5TH WEE ONES MIDNIGHT DEB MIX
COON JUMPING - MINI DONKEYS
1ST CROOKED CREEK'S BOSCO BRIAN PUCKETT
2ND WEE ONES WHITE FEATHER L. J. MIX
3RD GOD'S LITTLE ACRES FARM DAN TRAVIS HENDERSON
4TH CIRCLE C RADAR TIFFANY PIERCE
5TH TRIPLE C'S HERMES SANDY CARROLL
YOUTH IN HAND TRAIL - DONKEYS
1ST KKR HIGH ROLLER KATIE RANDALL
2ND GOD'S LITTLE FARM'S DAN SHYANNE LOPP
3RD GOD'S LITTLE FARM'S STORMY SHYANNE LOPP
ADULT IN HAND TRAIL - DONKEYS 8 ENTRIES 1ST VALIANT DIEGO LYDIA SPEARS
2ND GOD'S LITTLE FARM'S DAN TRAVIS HENDERSON
3RD WEE ONES WHITE FEATHER L. J. MIX
4TH GOD'S LITTLE FARM'S STORMY TRAVIS HENDERSON
5TH CIRCLE C RADAR TIFFANY PIERCE
BEST MATCHED PAIR 3 PAIR ENTERED
1ST VALIANT DIEGO & CIRCLE C RADAR KAY ALLEN & LYDIA SPEARS
2ND ROCKY & DAN MELISSA ATYEO & TRAVIS HENDERSON
3RD CROOKED CREEK'S BOSCO & BEAUJOLAIS THERESA & ZACH PUCKETT
HALTER 2 YRS & OVER MINI DONKEYS JENNETS - 3 ENTRIES
1ST HILL COUNTRY'S LEXUS KATRINA FLEENER
2ND BIG RIVER VENUS 08 STEVE HAZLEWOOD
3RD TURNPIKE CREEK KATIE SKY O'BRIEN
HALTER 2 YRS & OVER MINI DONKEYS - Geldings
1ST GOOD TIPPER DIANA POOLE
2ND WEE ONES MIDNIGHT DEB MIX
3RD KKR HIGH ROLLER KATIE RANDALL
4TH GOD'S LITTLE FARM'S STORMY SHYANNE LOPP
5TH GOD'S LITTLE FARM'S DAN TRAVIS HENDERSON
HALTER 2 YRS & OVER MINI DONKEYS JACKS
1ST MJB FIDALGO SALLY DUNN
2ND FISHER'S UNTOUCHABLE STEVE HAZLEWOOD
3RD CROOKED CREEK'S BOSCO THERESA PUCKETT
TOTAL NUMBER OF ENTRIES: 75
