Stories from the Amazon - Donkey Adventures

I met my best friend when we were 6 years old and my mom told me there was a new missionary family who had moved onto the mission base with a girl my age and I should go meet her. I was shy but curious about a new potential friend so I went over there. Her mom had to wake her from a nap, but when she came out and we sat on the steps and have been best friends ever since.
We both loved horses and every day was spent imagining up adventures with our toy horses and dreaming of real horses. One day when we were around 11 or so her dad decided to give her a donkey. We both were thrilled about having something almost like a horse. She named her Spunky and the little donkey definitely fit her name. We didn't have a saddle or bridle but I think we did have a halter and we would take turns riding Spunky. We had a little stick and we would tap the side of her neck to get her to turn one direction or the other. The halter worked only to stop. We decided that it would be nice to have some stirrups so we got a rope and tied a foot loop in each end and laid it across Spunky's back. Of course if we fell off the stirrup rope would be of no help and would just come with us. 
One day we decided that Spunky was strong enough to carry both of us together and why should one of us walk when we could ride double on her. There was a building just down the hill from my house and it had a big porch. We took Spunky to the porch and I got on her first. Best Friend was going to use the porch to get on behind me. Next thing I knew I was lying on my back and gasping for air and my best friend was doubled over laughing her head off at me and Spunky was nervously grazing nearby! When I finally got air back in my lungs I was laughing too. Poor Spunky did not think that was a good idea and like a donkey lightening bolt she catapulted us off whenever my friend started to sit on her. Needless to say we never tried that again!
Not too long after that attempt, my best friend's dad got another donkey, this time a male. We named him Brutus and he was a much gentler, or maybe just lazier, donkey. Any time we could we rode those two little donkeys around. One day we were riding along the river road. Normally there wasn't too much traffic on that road. I was riding Brutus and she was riding Spunky. All of a sudden there was a very large truck driving pretty fast towards us. She and Spunky got up the embankment to the side out of the road. But just then Brutus decided to show the stubbornness of donkeys and balk in the middle of the road. I was tapping him and kicking him and he refused to move. Right when the truck was almost to us and I was about to jump off and run for it, Brutus lazily moseyed off the road. My heart beat faster for quite a while after that. My friend of course just laughed her head off at me again.  
Those were the biggest of our little donkey adventures, although we enjoyed them for several months before my family moved back to the USA for a year of furlough and not too long after that my friend's family also left. I'm not sure what happened to the donkeys after that.

Comments

  1. Melodieann WhiteleyJuly 10, 2019 at 8:18 AM

    I have always wanted a donkey. Now more than ever! 😊😊

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amanda Marie - 4 Leaf LifeJuly 21, 2019 at 6:19 PM

    What fun to ride around with a best friend on a donkey!!

    ReplyDelete

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