Once again we had a great time at Bishop Mule Days. This year we took 5 donkeys and showed 3 of them - Sagebrush Oklahoma Andy, Sagebrush Desert Delight (aka Lily) and Sagebrush Desert Desire (aka Smokey).

We started off the week with two of my donkeys, Andy and Lily, competed in the Donkey Gamblers Choice Driving. Andy placed 4th and Lily placed 7th out of 12 entries. They did a great job!

On Wednesday I competed in the Donkey Pleasure Driving with my gelding, Andy. That event was divided into two sections and a finals. Andy & I were in section 2. Andy drove very well for me. But just as we were coming in to line up, there was a run-away (another jack in the class), and that kind of shook up the other animals a bit, so Andy didn't want to settle and stand still in line up.

Later in the afternoon Andy was driven by a 12 yr old boy in the Youth Pleasure Driving class where they received the "First place big donkey youth pleasure driving" award and trophy. I just started teaching this young boy to drive my donkeys this spring, and he was very excited that they did so well!

On Friday morning we competed in Donkey Barrel Racing. My jennet, Lily, placed 8th in the Donkey Barrel Racing. Unfortunately my gelding, Andy, was having a naughty day, and DQed by running back through the electric eye before finishing the barrel pattern. I still made him go back through and finish it correctly so he wouldn't think that he could just be done by running back to the finish line early.

Then in the afternoon we had Polebending and Keyhole events. Andy and Lily both competed in the donkey polebending and keyhole. Smokey also competed in keyhole. In donkey keyhole, Andy took 8th place and Lily placed 10th out of probably 15-20 entries. Smokey bumped across the white line and DQed, but she's still fairly green in training, and I was happy to just have her out getting the experience and exposure.

Polebending was the last class of the day for my donkeys. Andy (still having a naughty day) decided to take off and make up his own pattern again, and DQed. But again, I made him go back through the pattern correctly at my chosen (much slower) speed. I'm beginning to see a naughty pattern after those two classes, and we'll be doing some work on correcting that! Lily started off well on the polebending, but tripped over her toes coming around one of the tight end turns too fast so I led her out and let her be done for the day. She recovered fine from her bruises, and I'll just have to make sure she slows down a bit more next time so she doesn't try to make the turn so fast.

Here are a few photos from the show:

Lily weaving between the pylons in Donkey Gamblers Choice Driving (photography by PhotoFast).

Andy in Youth Pleasure Driving (photography by PhotoFast).

First Place award in Youth Pleasure Driving (photography by PhotoFast).

Andy Barrel Racing (photography by Patti Kyle).

Andy Barrel Racing (photography by Patti Kyle).

Andy Barrel Racing (photography by Patti Kyle).