Lynne and Bill Garrett’s 5,000 kilometre drive to the world miniature
donkey show at the Calgary Stampede was worth the journey when they won
the grand champion banners for best jack and jennet.
When the Texas couple is not tending their donkeys, mules and horses,
Bill is a firefighter in Dallas and Lynne works for Texas Instruments.
Their farm at Point is 105 km east of Dallas but they commute so they
can stay on the farm with their 80 animals.
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“We’re always looking to better the breed with constant improvements
consistently each year,” said Lynne, who has been in the equine
business all her life. She bought her first miniatures nine years ago.
Bill was raised in the city but has become as much of a donkey
enthusiast as Lynne.
“He knew when he married me, he married the donkeys,” she said.
Lynne has specific traits in mind when she selects and buys donkeys.
She doesn’t want highly refined, over bred animals that have sacrificed
their original structure and strength.
“I want sturdy, stout working animals that are well balanced all
around,” she said between events at the Stampede.
Their busy careers demand that they pick and choose their events. This
year they selected the national mule and donkey show in Tennessee,
where they won the champion yearling saddle mule competition as well as
the reserve junior champion jack over 36 inches tall and the champion
three-year-old jennet.
A partnership is growing with their friends Grant and Sharon Cooke of
Blackie, Alta. The Garretts were able to buy a full sister to the world
record price female sold at Cookes’ annual Circle C miniature donkey
sale July 6.
It sold for $34,500 to Cathy and Larry Van Epp of Madison, Wisconsin.
All but one of the Circle C donkeys were sold to American buyers. The
sale averaged $9,180.
This was the Garretts first time at Cookes’ sale and third time at the
Stampede. Lynne particularly likes the Calgary show because the quality
and level of competition is high.
“I did not see one bad donkey out there,” she said.
Miniature donkeys originate in Sicily and Sardinia. They weigh between
200 and 400 pounds and should not measure more than 36 inches at the
shoulder.
