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Desert Delight (aka Lily) was a dappled black roan Mammoth Jackstock jennet. She was
56 1/2" tall, and was a heavy built jennet. We bought Lily in Oklahoma, and brought her
to Sagebrush Ranch in July 2001.
Lily was an excellent mother when she had her baby, Ellie,
soon after we bought her. She never minded us handling her baby even though she didn't
know us well yet. But she also kept a very close eye on that baby! If baby Ellie left
momma Lily's sight, she'd come running to get Ellie and bring her back, even if Lily was
in the middle of eating dinner and Ellie had just walked around the corner to come see me.
Lily also had a very strong mothering instinct for other foals who she thought were orphaned and in
need of a mother. In 2006 I got Star, an 8 month old jennet foal who had already been weaned from her
mother. Lily was my most laid back donkey so I put her with Star to begin with, since I figured she
wouldn't hurt little Star. Star started looking to Lily as her momma and nuzzling under Lily to see
if there might be dinner there. Of course it had been several years since Lily's last foal, and she
hadn't produced milk since then. But she happily let Star "nurse" anyway. After only 3 days together,
Lily was starting to come into milk. And when I put the two of them with the rest of the herd, quiet
Lily became very protective of her adopted baby, and would chase off any other donkey who even looked
funny at her "baby". I had other plans for Lily other than taking the year off to be "mother" to an
already weaned 8 month old foal. So after 3 days I separated them and put another donkey in with Star.
I think Lily pined more for Star when I separated them than Star did for Lily! And they had only been
together for 3 days! I gave Star 6 months to grow up a little, then re-introduced them successfully
without Lily trying to re-adopt Star as her baby.
Interestingly, if I put a foal with it's own mother in with Lily, then later removed the foal's
mother, Lily never tried to adopt and nurse those foals. She just acted as a caring companion to them
at weaning time. I guess she was smart enough to figure out that they had their own mommas already.
Lily was my donkey ambasador extrordinair. She loved getting to go places with us! And she was cool
as can be wherever you took her. If I ever wanted to take a donkey to a school show-and-tell
or church function, Lily was the donkey for the job! Her favorite place to be was getting "mobbed"
by all the children wanting to pet the donkey. She'd stand there soaking up the attention, then want
to follow the children when they left.
Nothing really ever scared Lily. She was one of the few donkeys I've owned who would happily, without
blinking an eye, just follow you through the people door right into the vet office, or wherever else
you pointed her.
Lily was the first donkey I ever showed. The summer after I bought her, I decided to take her to
Montana Mule Days (2002).
She hadn't been trained to ride yet, but would happily carry a rider if she had
someone to follow. So I entered my little brother in the Youth Barrel Racing and Youth Polebending
classes. Since he was under 8 years old at the time, I was allowed to lead Lily through the patterns
while he held on and rode. We had the greatest time! He sat up there and just laughed the whole ride,
and Lily did her job perfectly. We took first place in both classes and came home from our first show
with the Hi-Point Youth Riding Donkey award!
Later I trained Lily to ride and drive (single & team). I showed her again at Montana Mule Days and
Bishop Mule Days in 2006 and 2007, and also took her to compete in a local pony schooling show.
Lily was also a gaited jennet, and I successfully trained her to give me either a standard 2-beat
trot or her 4-beat foxtrot on command, in addition to the standard walk and canter gaits.
Once trained, she was one of the most honest, hard working donkeys I've had. She'd go right where I
asked, at the speed I asked, and I could always count on her to keep her head together in the show
ring. She never tried to make up her own gaming pattern, and I could always do well in the flag race on her
because she wasn't scared to just trot right up to a barrel with a funny waving flag sticking out
of it!
At Bishop Mule Days 2006, she placed in both Donkey Polebending and Donkey Trail. She also placed 3rd
with her teammate, Andy, in the 2-up Donkey Hitch class.
A few weeks later at Montana Mule Days 2006,
she placed 1st in Donkey Trail, 1st (out of 9 mules and donkeys) in Youth Costume Class,
2nd in Donkey Flag Race, 2nd in Donkey Barrel Racing, 2nd in Youth Lead Your Donkey to
Water, 3rd in Donkey Polebending, 3rd in Mammoth Jennet Halter, 4th in Single Donkey Log
Pulling, and 2nd (with her teammate, Andy) in Donkey Team Log Pulling. She also received
the Reserve Hi-Point Gaming Donkey award.
In April 2007, I showed Lily at a local pony schooling show.
She competed against horses and ponies in all of her classes, and still came home with three 2nd place ribbons and
a 3rd place. Not bad for a donkey competing against a bunch of horses and ponies!
I took her to Bishop Mule Days again in 2007.
There Lily placed 7th in Donkey Gamblers Choice Driving (out of 12 entries), 8th in Donkey Barrel Racing,
and 10th in Donkey Keyhole Race (out of 15-20 donkeys).
I also took her to Montana Mule Days 2007.
I was showing by myself this time, so didn't take on quite so many classes, but she still did well
for me in the ones I entered her in. She placed 1st in the Donkey Flag Race, and took 3rd place
(with Andy) in the Donkey Team Log Pulling.
It is with much sadness that we say goodbye to this sweet big girl. Lily coliced and had to be put
down on February 1, 2009. She will be dearly missed.
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Sharing dinner with her buddies
All dressed up and ready to show
Lily with her best buddy and teammate, Andy
Giving a young friend a ride along the trail
Playing "Kiss the Donkey" at an elementary school's spring party. See the red
lipstick kiss on her nose where the teacher kissed her? Looks like Lily is having as
much fun as we are!
Trail riding at Dimple Dell riding park
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