Grand Champion-P.L.Democrat

FOUNDATION STOCK

A low-cost, sustainable power resource
FOR THE "FOUNDATION" OF THE WORLD
rope line

Essays for the Mule-inium
Foundation Stock for the Foundation of the World


Peckinpah L. Democrat
'97 National Pole Bending Champion
DONKEYS

For Sale, Lease, or Trade

Standard to Mammoth
Many Colors
$550 to $5,500
From Green to Trained to Ride,
Drive, Pack and Race
30-50 Long Ears From Which to Choose
Stud Service $500-Donkeys; $300-Horses
Purebred Standards, Crossbred Mammoths, and Purebred Mammoths
Small Agriculture: raising bigger, better donkeys for fun and profit


Since 1973 I have sought to produce the best pack burro racing stock for myself and saddle mule jackstock for others. What started out as a hobby became somewhat of a business as I took my experience and understanding of wild donkeys' gaminess, courage, character, nobility, generosity, fidelity and staying power and crossed it with the best even tempered mammoth stock I could find. What I breed for isn't necessarily what the shows and conventional breeders are after. I like to think I'm taking the donkey back to what nature intended ... a great saddle "mule" without the horse in it. A saddle and racing mule that can reproduce. Unheard of? Come see my stock.


Andersons, BlueNote & Masaai at Resurrection Mine, Leadville

For Sale
Jennies - Female Donkeys
Mules- Hybrid cross of a jack with a mare: soul of the donkey and size and power of the mare
Jacks - Male Donkeys

"There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless. Observe the ass for instance: his character is about perfect. He is the choicest spirit among all humble animals, yet see what ridicule has brought him to. Instead of feeling complimented when we are called an ass, we are left in doubt." Mark Twain

Wheels for Burros
Can Deliver


Seminars & Retrospectives of Donkudrama Film Work
(Have movies will travel)

Corporations
By the hour
Individuals or groups
Health clubs
Colorado county Democrats
Independent film crews and casts

American Donkey Association
Charter Member
Western Pack Burro Ass-ociation
Past President
"The Dean of Pack Burro Racing"
Racing with Distinction since 1973


Joe Glavnick
Joe Glavnick was the last actual miner to dominate pack burro racing. He had a career that extended from the 50s to the early 80s. He spoke with an accent, lived in Leadville and had all his family members "block be" to the second, at intervals around his predicted winning time. I think he actually made burro racing pay by winning the race and having one of his family members collect the winning bet on his time. I used to get a kick out of him showing up in a beat-up pickup truck with his Sports Illustrated lauded, shaggy burro named Ringo in a stock rack. The burro would jump out in a chain halter and be ready to run. Joe had stashed beers at intervals all over the course. And when I finally beat him he was past his prime. However, there was a day, when I was 30 and Joe was just beginning to slip, when I thought I could catch him. He, Ringo, Lee Courkamp and Bambi left Leadville at a ferocious pace during the 1976 Boom Days race. I shadowed the duo from about 200 yards back. I looked up from the tenuous footing for a second to see Joe bouncing along the road on his back, then his stomach, being dragged at the end of his rope by his rank burro like a hooked marlin. There was an eerie silence as Courkamp tried to keep up with him, and I whipped my burro into a faster pace. The three of us were "leading" the race now. Finally, Ringo ducked off into the underbrush. To my admiration Courkamp stopped and helped Joe get up. I paused and heard a guttural exchange about being all right. "Get goin' and save a beer for me." Lee and I took off and eventually I pulled ahead of Lee. As I neared the switchbacks going up to the top of Mosquito pass, 13,200 feet, I heard two beasts coming up behind me. It was Joe and Ringo. He looked like a load of strawberries. knees, elbows, all his joints barked up. Ringo wasn't even working hard. Joe gave me my last lesson in burro racing on the pass that day. He suggested we hook the burros up Ben Hur style and let them run in tandem to the top. That they did at a pace unheard of for ascents in burro racing. All the while, Joe and I were roped in. He had his seatbelt on … not for safety, I might add. He had a hook on his seatbelt that he'd attached to his lead rope. I used carabaniers. This was gonzo mountaineering, and Joe wasn't breathing hard. He was telling me how his daughter was sick and this was his last race. Yadda, yadda, yadda. He would not shut up for the next 10 miles. By the time we hit the power plant on the home stretch, he dropped it into some kind of overdrive and left me. I was happy enough for second place money, but I'll never count a Leadville champion down and out until I've driven a stake through his heart. In this lycra lemming, running nerd tourism filled eco-enduro sport challenges high-tech energy bars, $200 shoes and gear heads, fun hogs swarming all over my beloved Rockies, I'm more convinced than ever that Joe Glavnick was the greatest pack burro racer who ever lived. He did more than just enjoy the lifestyle. He knew mining, alcohol, boom and bust, family, dysfunction and, mostly, he had/has a profound relationship with his ass. He won more World Championships than anybody and was/is extremely generous with the lore, craft and tradition of the sport. Lee Courkamp, a great coach in his own right, looked like a surfer Aryan god and ran with a discipline of an Olympian. He solidified my run-back politics and notions about sportsmanship that afternoon. To this day it is still the GAME, not the gain, that matters. Hallelujah, hellfire anyway! Our task is still to rise, continue and RELOAD.

Contact Curtis Imrie
imrieindependent@sisna.com

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Last Update: Oct. 23, 2001

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