Donkey Pals

December 2007 Christmas party meeting

Originally uploaded by cabinwoodfarm

The men cleaned up at the December holiday DonkeyPals meeting held tonight in the Gallery at Kent State Geauga Campus in Burton, Oh. Pictured are Doug Schwetz and Jason Bennett, both big winners in the gift exchange. Jason picked the winning number for the grand prize talking and honking stuffed donkey and Doug ended up with the Wolf family Christmas PIG all dressed up in her finest!!!

Good food, good conversation and the holiday spirit was plentiful tonight. Maybe donkey people are just usually very jovial or maybe it was Dad Herrick’s Christmas punch that Wendy brought in a GIANT jug that made us all so tipsy!!

Tonight we welcomed new member Susan Brochak of Unionville, Ohio in Lake County. Susan has a riding horse and also cares for an elderly gray mini as her horse’s companion.

Thanks to all who attended tonight and happy holidays to all DonkeyPals who have supported us this year!

HEEHAW to a great donkey year in 2008!!!!!

A small crowd was at Cogan’s last night for the November meeting but there was lively talk and much donkey discussion going on despite the small crowd! Around the donkey table were Lori, Carol, Cindy, Bev, Doug, Mindi and Janice. We talked about the trouble Doug and Mindi were having with their two little jacks fighting and we all gave suggestions as to what they could do to help them get along better…the concensus was definitely GELDING! Other discussions were about riding donks, unethical breeding practices, safe grain feeding and many other informative subjects.

Carol brought a suprise wrapped gift that we all drew numbers out of a hat to see who got to take it home! Janice was the big winner and found a cute wooden hoilday scarecrow figure. Congrats Janice!

 Next months meeting will be held at the Gallery room off the main lobby at the Kent State regional campus in Burton, next to the Geauga County Fairgrounds. A little holiday spirit with bring a small holiday yummy and a funny gag gift for exchange…also, we will be showing an educational foaling video, too!

Thanks to all who attended last night and we look forward to seeing more of you next month!

For all those interested in caring for miniature donkeys and other equine friends…Beware…there are dangerous edibles lurking in your woods and pastures! To become more aware check out this website

http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/projects/poison/index.html

Then….. take a walk where your donkeys walk today! It could save their life and a lot of hearthache down the road!

WACHOVIA SECURITIES AMERICAN GOLD CUP
October 12, 2007
Lori Wargo
Donkey Pals
P0 Box 343
Middlefield, OH 44062
Dear Lori. -
This year’s Wachovia Securities American Gold Cup was a terrific success and I’d like to thank you for your support. Without our valued partners we could never put on a show of this caliber—the donkeys were a big hit! In just two years, since moving the Gold Cup home to Cleveland, we have established a strong base of support here in Northeast Ohio. I look forward to continuing to build and improve upon what we have started with your ongoing support.
Our growth over the prior year was particularly evident when you walked through the stable area— the number of riders competing this year doubled over the prior year! We were proud to host the nation’s most talented equestrians and we introduced many newcomers to Northeast Ohio and the wonderful Cleveland Metroparks Polo Field show grounds with all of its improvements.
If you missed the $100,000 Wachovia Securities American Gold Cup finale on Sunday, Canadian Olympic veteran Mario Deslauriers and Paradigm were the victors in the only clear round and Anne Kursinski and Lorenzo were second with one time fault. It was a great World Cup qualifying event and video of the winning round will be on our web site, www.AmericanGoldCup.net, as well as event updates.
I am proud that through the American Gold Cup efforts we could also promote a number of local organizations and charities, and assist their goals. Mark your calendars now for next year— September 17 to 21, 2008!
Sincerely,

Michael Morrissey

DonkeyPals Oct 2007 Meeting at Carol Cooper’s Windview Farm

Originally uploaded by cabinwoodfarm

Despite an onset of COLD and wet weather the October DonkeyPals meeting was held at Carol Cooper’s Windview Farm! Great FOOD, great COMPANY, and Great DONKEY CONVERSATION was had!!!!

A hearty buffet meal was served and since it was too wet and cold to do the farm tour we all stayed in where it was warm and watched a two hour donkey training video by Chrystal Ward. Alot of information was absorbed…some good, some questionable but all of it stimulated great discussion and laughter, too! It was suggested that DonkeyPals make their own training video next summer as a fundraising venture….The REAL Training story of Donkeys! Out-takes, included! Now there is food for thought!

We ended up the evening with Carol’s version of a “re-gifting” door prize giveaway! Great idea, Carol! Scented candles, very interesting T-shirts, socks and various other unique treasures were unwrapped. As “they” say…one man’s trash is another man’s treasure! HA!

Next month our meeting will be a week later since Thanksgiving will be more than enough to do on our regular week. Mark your calendar for November 28 and as soon as we know WHERE we will have it, I’ll let you know!

Donkey Days at Tractor Supply Co. Oct. 20, 2007Originally uploaded by cabinwoodfarm

Thanks to Tractor Supply Co. of Chardon, OH for inviting us to “Donkey Days!” The weather was beautiful for this time of year and everyone seemed to have a good time petting the donkeys. Carol, Wendy, Cindy, Marie and Lori all brought donkeys to the event and other DPal members showed up for assistance and moral support. Thanks to Janice and Bev, Jason and Alexandria and to the helpful husbands who came along to lend a hand. Check out the pictures of this event on the link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cabinwoodfarm/sets/72157602623984266/ Thanks to Marie for getting this altogether!

Attention all DonkeyPals and Donkey Enthusiasts!

OCTOBER 24th  6PM

This month’s DonkeyPals meeting will be hosted by Carol Cooper of Windview Farm at 10130 Plank Rd. Montville, OH 44064  (phone # (440) 968-3196

This will be a casual meeting to see Carol’s donkeys and farm, to recap all this summer’s events, look forward to what we’d like to do for the future, meet new people and just TALK DONKEY! New members are encouraged to come and meet old members…Don’t be shy!! Bring pictures of your donkeys!

Sub Sandwiches and soft drinks will be provided and then everyone who attends is asked to bring a either dessert or a bag of chips or a dish that will be complimentary to sub sandwiches! Also please bring donkey questions, questions, questions!!

Please RSVP to this email if you will or will not be able to attend so we can have some idea on how many to plan for.

Hope to hear back from you and then see you at the meeting!

Amer. Gold Cup donkey displayOriginally uploaded by cabinwoodfarm

What a beautiful weather weekend for a horse show…and it wasn’t bad for donkeys, either! Donkeypals came out in force to attend the American Gold Cup Jumping Classic and showed those horse folks that donkeys are talented equines, too!

Many thanks to the Gold Cup staff for inviting DonkeyPals to attend this event. EVEN MORE thanks go to all the DonkeyPals who made this event possible! Thanks to Carol Cooper and her husband John for hauling donks and setting up and tearing down and all that comes in between! Also to Marie Umholtz and her husband Bob for the same things along with Cindy and Roger Wolf, Wendy Nye, Bob Fraier, Janice Heller, Jason Bennett, me, myself and I and all the other members who stopped by the tent and gave us moral and physical support to get through this event. Pictures of the event can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cabinwoodfarm/sets/72157602116282362/

http://americangoldcup.net/

The DonkeyPals of NEOhio will travel to Moreland Hills, Ohio on September 22-23 where their display tent will be featured at the Wachovia Securities American Gold Cup Jumper Classic horse event! Thanks to an invitation from Betty Weibel the DonkeyPals will be taking between 8-10 donkeys to this event along with their breed and care educational displays. We will have our own tent and display area!

This is a big event for us and we thank Betty and the Gold Cup for this exciting opportunity to help give many new people the chance to meet a donkey up close and personal and learn more about them. Come to The Clevelnad Metroparks Polo Field next Saturday and Sunday, pet a donkey and say HELLO!

Fri Sep 14, 9:36 PM ET

A donkey is happily eating grass again after falling down a dry, abandoned well and being freed in an intensive rescue effort. It appeared that the animal wandered away from its farm and onto some boards covering the well, which broke, said Bruce Huseth, fire chief in this western Minnesota town.

Firefighters quickly realized that the animal, which belongs to farmer Warren Gundberg, couldn’t just be pulled from the abandoned well on Bryan Nelson’s land.

So they started pulling away earth with a tractor and dismantling the well block by block Thursday. Once one wall had been taken apart, firefighters put a harness around the donkey and guided it out with a rope.

“Whatever it takes,” Nelson said as he watched his well come down. “I love animals, and I’m just glad it’s OK.”

Gundberg admonished the animal after the rescue: “I bet you’ll think twice about doing that again. If you would have stayed home you wouldn’t be in this trouble.”

Huseth said that he has rescued cows that have fallen through ice, but that the donkey was a first.