Picture
in your mind how dogs are put through agility drills on nationally televised
dog show competitions, then replace the dogs with miniature mules and donkeys
and you’ll have a good idea what’s going to happen in the Mini Mule and Donkey
Show at the Westmoreland Mule Day activities set for Sept. 24-30.
Over 100
entries are expected to compete in a variety of categories beginning at 9 a.m.
on Saturday, Sept. 29 at the Westmoreland Expo Center. Mini Mules cannot measure more than 40 inches
from the base of the neck to the ground and Mini Donkeys cannot measure more
than 36 inches.
“This is
an entertaining show; much different from a mule pull or other mule shows,”
said longtime area resident Theresa Puckett of Crooked Creek Ranch in
Gallatin. “The donkeys will go through
an obstacle course and they go through a jumping course; they do halter, pole
bending, pleasure driving and snigging, where the donkeys walk through a course
while dragging a small log.
“One of
the more popular classes is coon jumping.
People would buy mules to coon hunt because they are more sure-footed
and they would have to jump a fence when they came to one. With the minis, they have to come to a
complete stop and then jump. The Tennessee Donkey ASSociations record
jump is 39 and one-half inches.
Puckett’s
obsession with Minis started in 1996 while visiting Kentucky. “We passed a farm and I saw one spotted
miniature donkey and I fell in love,” she said.
“He was for sale and I bought him.
His name was Patches and he was my best friend.”
Puckett
began appearing in parades with shows with Patches and began competing around
1998. “There was a national association
show in Shelbyville and that was going to be my first show,” she said. After taking a crash course to learn how to
properly show Patches, she ended up with a second place finish. She was hooked. Next, she traveled to a show on the
Kentucky-Ohio border where Patches took first place in her class. “My husband said I squealed and jumped two
feet off the ground. We’ve been going to
shows ever since.”
Her herd
of minis continued to grow and today she has 16 mini donkeys and one mini mule,
as well as three riding mules, one of which is a four-time Grand National Champion. Two of her
mules were pictured with an article in Horse Illustrated magazine.
In fact,
Puckett has been a chief advocate for inclusion of minis and is a founding
member of the Tennessee Donkey ASSociation she helped form in 2002. She has been an officer of the organization
since its inception.
Shows
are held throughout the year and scores compiled over each donkey’s four best shows to determine High Point Show awards. “My donkey, Crooked Creek’s Bosco, has been
Grand Champion donkey every year since 2004,” Puckett said. “Since 2008, the Reserved Grand Champions has
been my son’s donkey Crooked Creek’s
Beaujolais.”
