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Shadows Ranch
Miniature Donkeys
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We started with donkeys in 1995. My two youngest sons were off to the Marine Corp and I needed something to mother. I read in the newspaper about adopting a burro from the BLM and shortly thereafter, Spanky entered our lives. A few months later, we purchased Sophie, a large standard, and her 4 month old foal, Sandy, who had never been touched by human hands.I quickly learned that with patience and graham crackers, these critters would learn to trust me. I was amazed how smart and affectionate they were. I read everything I could find about donkeys and spent countless hours in the pasture, studying them. I couldn't learn enough about them.
I took a trip to California to visit my Marines just before Christmas, 1996. While I was gone, Harv, not knowing what to get me for Christmas, started looking through my donkey books and found, in the Brayer, Jerry and Eileen Cosgray of J&E Farms. Christmas morning, sourrounded by my family, I opened a letter that said, "While you were gone, I went looking for a "little ass", please welcome Simon to the family"and a picture of the most adorable, fuzzy little critter I had ever seen. Thank you Jerry and Eileen.
With Simon, we began breeding, raising, training and what we enjoy most, driving donkeys. At Shadows Ranch, we don't go out to see movies, the donkeys give us a new show everyday. We don't call it "cleaning the barn", it's called "our quality time". We don't take vacations on some tropical island, we go to donkeys shows where we have met the greatest people in the world.
We started our gelding/ drivers herd with what we now call "The Good Ol' Boys, Pretzel and Dundee and I remember Harv saying to me, "but I don't know how to drive".Well, it didn't take long for them boys to teach him and what a monster we created. Harv now drives a 6-hitch and our drivers are the largest part of anything "donkey" that we do. Being a gelding at Shadows Ranch, means your a driver or in training to be a driver. From a leisurely drive at the park to the Thanksgiving Day Parade on State Street in Chicago, from story time at the library to vacation Bible school at the church, even the chariot races, our boys have stepped into the tiny hoofprints of what the geldings are now called "the ambASSadors" of the breed and have done it faithfully and without hesitation. Well, maybe a little hesitation.
Driving a donkey or two is for the person who wants to take a slower pace through a fast paced world, someone who wants to see what you can't from a fast car, someone who enjoys spending the afternoon with your donkey and your donkey driving friends. It's a great medication for relieving stress, high blood pressure, a bad heart, heck, just owning a donkey can cure all that.
Thank you for visiting our website. I hope you enjoy our pictures.
Visitors are always welcome and questions are always encouraged, anytime.
Shadows Ranch Miniature Donkeys
Lake Village, Indiana
Harv & Norma Kamminga
219-345-5959
shadowsranch@netnitco.net
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