2020 12 12
Wow this got to be a long story
I AM TOLD THAT “PAT” IS RETIRING.. WHY SHOUD THAT CONCERN ME/US??? THAT MEANS THERE ARE ?150 DONKEYS IN WESTERVILLE OHIo LOOKING FOR NEW HOMES... YOU SEE.......
PAT IS FRANKS SON AND FOR 50? YEARS FRANK RAN DONKEY BASEBALL--- FRANK ( AND APPARENTLY HIS BROTHER??) tOOK AN IDEA AND PERFECTED IT--- THAT WAS HAVING THE NATURAl antics of humans and donkeys entertain people by cross pollinating them on a basketball court.
At this point there will be a lot of you who say oh I saw a game like that once because it was around ......... the way I got involved was I was somewhat known for my 8 hitch of donkeys and Frank and heard about us so he gave my name to one of his drivers as a place to stop in and let the donkeys relax if they had a day off ... that driver was Ron who stopped in one Thanksgiving 25 years ago he never left marrying my daughter Gwen that lives in North Carolina
.but to go back to the donkeys the way Frank had it organized .. he had multible trucks all equipped the same way and these were basically the barn for 10 donkeys and whether they were rumbling down the highway or sitting somewhere these trucks were basically the barn for them----- they were spotless---- they were well equipped .the donkeys were perfectly cared for fat healthy happy . The trucks themselves and I think there were five or six of them roaming the East Coast . we're a miracle of modern engineering and planning so that their drivers could swap trucks and everything down to hoof pic was in a precise prescribed location ..
Speaking of their feet these donkeys had what do you call shoes in a horse that were made of Mens neolite heels .. With all the nail holes deeply embedded in the knee neolight-- to protect the basketball courts .. so when the donkeys we're unloaded and got to the door of the gymnasium their feet were all very carefully brushed off to make sure that there were no little the stones or whatever going to scratch the floor because that was one thing but Frank did carry a lot of insurance on was the scratching of the floor .. the many years I knew Frank and his crazy business the only injury I ever heard of was a man who had a heart attack in the stands laughing so hard he was carried out in an ambulance I never heard of anything else and I don't know why not because people fell off those donkeys . These donkeys all know what their job was and when they were done unaltered from the truck they would all follow each other into the gymnasium like they're going to church .
Eeach one of the 10 had a different personality on purpose so that at the lower end you had a couple donkeys that anyone could get on and they really wouldn't do very much and at the top end you had one that nobody could ride . it was all very carefully planned .. because Frank raised most of these donkeys .. and when Ron and pat were younger .. it was a job 2 get on these donkeys and teach them to throw people off which is pretty easilly done ..
you get on you throw a carrot on the ground the donkey ducks his head , and their physique is such that you have nothing in front of you to hang on to so you fall off so donkeys learned this very quickly ----not a problem .. when Ron came here that Thanksgiving with his truck I thought the funniest one he had was called Excedrin who was technically a mule .. and that Excedrin would let somebody get on the basketball court and then in the midst of a what they call the game it would throw his rider off and then chase him up into the stands nipping at his hind end as he went .. the general reputation of donkeys but being stubborn etc played right into the competitive aspect of humans trying to play basketball and it was pretty funny ---- schools would have fundraisers where the students would play the teachers or the fire Department would play the Police Department or you just get two different groups to try and play basketball ..
In the summer months they played baseball /softball where when you hit the ball you jumped on the donkey that was standing there and he was supposed to run to first base and there were ones who did pretty much run the first base but there were ones who ran past first base and kept going out into the field as people tried to steer them they didn't have bridles and they had halters so Steering any donkey was just a figment of your imagination . in softball you couldn't throw the ball unless you were sitting on a donkey .. so the summer donkeys would differently trained then the basketball donkeys other than the donkey that is supposed to run the bases the rest just kind of stood around and watched or if they were in a nice grassy field they ate grass ..
The rules were simple you couldn't throw the ball unless you were sitting on a donkey ..I think they were only four or five on a team . The driver became the referee -....It was very funny -- and those animals were so well cared for --however somewhere along the line --the animal rights people -- who sometimes do very good things ----decided that these donkeys were abused --- well for a while there I was considered a national expert and donkeys because of this eight that I drove when nobody else could drive 8 . They had the best of care... they like their job .. when you unsnap them turn them loose they turned around and went into the truck which was their barn .. but people who did not know donkeys decided they were abused -this became a chore for Frank to deal with ---And when Frank died they were down to two or three trucks which Pat was running.. and now pat's giving it up which means in Westerville OH there are some beautifully trained donkeys .. Along with Some pets And breeding animals .. Who will be looking for a home ..I told Janine that I would take 10 of the ones he used in the games because they would be ones that I could just plain turn loose in the yard here and they would be fine with people .. especially if you didn't try and ride them .
Somewhere there I said the Frank and I were considered two national experts on having donkeys loose in public .. because there was a legal situation oh in Washington state where someone had routinely let their donkey loose 2 Graise and a child was watching them .. and the mother came out and gave the child along clothesline type rope and tide one end of it tio the donkeys halter then backed off to take a picture of her son holding the donkey and told him to wind the the rope around his hand so it didn't drag on the ground .. at which point the donkey just walked off the kid fell down and hit his head on the ground and it's very unfortunate .. and of course there was a suit involved .. so the lawyers in the case contacted both Frank and I .. and he didn't want to go .. but they offered me all my expenses of course plus $1500 for the few days in Bennington ? Washington . I not only drove those eight donkeys but in the process most of the time they were just plain loose standing around waiting to get a harness on or off Anne the general public could just mingle with them and I really had no concerns .. I'll talk about the frying pan bit later but I did this for years and we never had a problem .. that made me an expert ..
the other side of this court case had as their major witness the blacksmith who had trimmed the feet of this donkey and had a terrible time within rearing and kicking and biting and things like that and so he was saying that that donkey was known to be being ..so I took the people out to the pasture where this donkey was to try and assess the situation it was a nice donkey I could see .. but blacksmith don't get along with donkeys because they try and twist the front legs in between their knees so they can trim their feet because that's what you do with a horse and horses don't mind .. but I knew the donkeys could not stand having their shoulder twisted like that
and most of them will rear and bite so with a donkey loose in the pasture I picked up all four feet and banged on him with a rock as if it was a hammer... I had no trouble ... then I tried to put the front foot between my knees like blacksmiths do with horses.... and the donkey immediately reared .. thus ended their argument ..... and apparently ended the $2,000,000 whatever .
and I cashed my $1500 check.
