Equine Acupressure: Being a donkey then...and now...

Life for burros has changed!  And if you read my last blog, you learned a little about how burros were used in the mining communities of Colorado.  While burros were loved as great companions and friends, they also had very hard lives, carrying heavy loads and doing the work of many men.

Daisy meets Jan for the first time.

In comparison, my donkey, Daisy, lives a lackadaisical life. My dad always asks me why in the world do I want with a donkey if I’m not going to ride her. But that’s another subject. On the subject of Daisy, a neighbor of mine recently earned all of her credentials in equine acupressure.  She’s building her business and offered to give Daisy a treatment. It was hard to say no.  Not only was I interested in finding out more about it, but I was pretty sure Daisy wouldn't mind. 

Getting a check-over

I already had Daisy in the corral when Jan arrived and she set to work giving Daisy a thorough once over…checking head, spine, shoulders, legs…  Daisy was cooperative and inquisitive and seemed to enjoy the attention.  With no specific health problems to focus on, Jan worked with general pressure points that are helpful to all equines—an overall balancing and unblocking—much the way an acupuncturist might work to increase energy flow and promote healing in humans.

The session took about 20 minutes with a walk break in the middle when Daisy got tired of standing in one place.  After that, Jan took on the challenge of working with one of our ranch horses with a stifle.  The horse, like Daisy, was calm throughout. This time, however, Jan focused her attention on the area of the stifle.  As an onlooker, the hand motions and pressure points Jan used were difficult to detect, but could be observed by subtle movements or as Jan pointed out a change in the animal’s breathing. I’ll be anxious to see how this horse improves.   

Working with Lucky's stifle

It’s my understanding from Jan, that equine acupressure can accomplish many things such as: improved blood and lymph circulation, pain relief, increase in trust, shortened recovery time from injuries or illness, and it can be emotionally calming and mood elevation.  Jan describes herself as someone who facilitates and assists animals in maintaining a naturally healthy state.  It was great having an opportunity to learn about this art.  And I’m sure Daisy agrees.

How come that horse is getting all the attention?

You can link to Jan via :

www.facebook.com/ColoradoAnimalAcupressure

You can visit Maude alias Daisy on FB:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Maude-Oliver/264720393591461?ref=hl

Burros, Donkeys, Whatever...

I just finished reading an excellent book subtitled, “Bringing Civilization to Colorado”.  The book is entitled On the Backs of Burros by P. David Smith and Lyn Bezak.  It’s really interesting with great photos throughout and with the extra bonus of learning some Colorado history and how burros/donkeys contributed to the growth of my native state.

Before I share some highlights from the book, I want to put to rest the difference between a burro and a donkey.  None.  They are the same animal.  A burro is any kind of donkey—Equis asinu—the same animal that has gotten a poor “rap” and sometimes called by a more insulting name.  Or at least it has become insulting because of the way humans like to find ways to equate their fellow beings to some type of animal.

So why the difference in names?   Geography is the answer given in this book.  In most of Colorado this small beast of burden was called a burro.  But in Cripple Creek they are and always have been known as donkeys even to present day where the resident herd of Cripple Creek donkeys is well loved and protected by the community there.

As a writer, these two names for the same animal conjure up different images.  On the one hand, the word burro brings to mind the image of a teddy bear—lovable huggable, cute and cuddly.  The word donkey brings a whole different set of imaginings.  I think, ornery, mischievous, contrary, single-minded...anything but docile.  If I were to think of these critters as two different animals, I’d far prefer the donkey because of its capriciousness.

This bias of mine might explain why I was drawn to some of the anecdotes from the book that told of burros that ate laundry (including the negligees of women), opened latches to sheds, entered houses, and finagled food treats in a myriad of creative ways.

The intelligence of a donkey is often underestimated.  Historically the number of different jobs a burro did such as powering machinery, working in the mines, pulling carts, and carrying ladies side-saddle on outings is a testament to their abilities.  Many stories tell of burros warning their masters of danger, saving lives, delivering messages, and waking up their owners every morning for breakfast.  It's not known whose breakfast the early rising was for as burros became fond of “people” food. Pancakes appeared to be a favorite.

Loyalty is another quality that has been demonstrated by these sure-footed creatures.  Typically burros did not wander far from camp, but stayed nearby without the use of hobbles.  They also could be trained to follow along without the use of a lead.  This faithfulness was reciprocated by prospectors who invited their four-legged friends inside during a winter storm to share the warmth of a cabin. And according to one story the book, a donkey stood by Augustus Tabor's fire and was said to have come into her tent to lay down.

Donkeys were sometimes taken into bars, and according to the authors of the book, were reported to stand at “doors and windows of saloons and dance halls, listening to the music, intently watching the commotion inside, and obviously having a good time themselves.”

The use of burros for transporting supplies across the state of Colorado diminished as trains and other forms of transportation replaced the need for an animal that could successfully negotiate narrow mountain trails and access remote areas.  During the peak of the mining days, burros were an indispensable and vital part of the settlement of the west. 

During World War I, the use of burros experienced a short revival, but after that many burros were abandoned.  They reproduced in the wild, creating the modern day challenge of how to manage feral herds and find enough adoptive homes for them.  In Colorado organizations such as the Longhopes Donkey Shelter:  www.longhopes.org, and the BLM facility east of Canon City are working to find homes for them.

Donkeys have been described as mystical and wise as well as many other expletive-deletives by people with less aptitude.  Donkeys can indeed be lovable and endearing in spite of my earlier comment and have a range talents and abilities, quirks and personalities.  The book “On the Backs of Burros” elaborates, with delightful anecdotes on the lives of burros and their historical contributions to the settlement of Colorado.  A great research resource!

To read more about how I came to have an interest in donkeys and came to be a donkey owner, visit my related web page: http://www.nancyoswald.com/ask-maude.html

Slurp and Lick: Ice Cream Cones and Donkeys

Ice cream should be added to the list of great American pastimes if it isn't already on it.  When I first decided Maude Oliver, donkey extraordinaire, from the book, Rescue in Poverty Gulch, loved ice cream, I had to decide how she ate it.  My own donkey, Daisy, I'm sure wouldn't put much thought into it. If she couldn't get it into her mouth in one large bite, she'd figure out something else. And watch out for your fingers if you're the benefactor of the treat!

I did a lot of reading about donkeys before Maude made her way to the written page. The real life donkey that gave me the idea for Maude loving ice cream was a modern day donkey.  The donkey's owner didn't go into much detail, but I imagined the donkey ate ice cream from a cone. Maude, however, being a fictional donkey, had to eat ice cream the way they did it in 1896. 

While ice cream was served many different way during the 1800's, the ice cream cone as we know it, was first sold in a push cart on the streets of New York City by a man named Italo Marchiony who is credited with the invention and production of the cone as early as 1896. 

However, the ice cream cone did not gain nationwide popularity until 1904 at the St. Louis World's Fair.  As the story goes, Ernest Hamwi, a waffle vendor had a booth next to an ice cream salesman that ran out of dishes.  Hamwi, solved the ice cream vendor's problem by rolling a waffle into a cone shape that served as an ice cream dish. The cone has undergone changes and modifications throughout the years, but still maintains is "waffly" look.

So, what would have been realistic to assume about how ice cream was served in the gold boom town of Cripple Creek in 1896?  Not ice cream cones as we know them today.  This led me to the discovery of Penny Licks.  A Penny Lick was an ice cream container used primarily by street vendors in the late 1800's.  It was a shallow stemmed glass that came in various sizes: half-penny, penny, and a two penny size.  The customer would place his order, stand near the cart, lick out the ice cream, and return the container to the vendor.  After swishing the container in water, the vendor would collect money from the next customer, scoop a new serving in, and hand the "new" dish to the streetside ice cream lover.  Sometimes the container wasn't even washed in between. It's no wonder that in London, in 1899, a law was passed to ban the use of Penny Licks as they were believed to contribute to the spread of Tuberculosis.

Luckily, donkeys don't get Tuberculosis. Or, not that we know of anyway.  Maude and Ruby shared many a Penny Lick purchased at the Palace Drug near 2nd Street and Bennett Avenue in Cripple Creek in 1896.  One would hope the containers were well washed inside the store before ice cream was served to the next customer.

As I've mentioned often, one of the things I love about writing historical fiction is the discovery of factoids about the past. It's always fun to reflect on how things were and the changes that have happened over time.  So, think about how far we've come from the pushcart days the next time you have a treat at the Cold Stone Creamery or Baskin Robins.  Slurp, lick, and enjoy.

Mind Sparks: Lighting the way into the New Year

OR

Ideas that stick like strands of gray hair to a black sweater.

When I think back to the moments book writing topics come alive for me, I can usually pin point them pretty closely.   For instance, I remember the photo of my nephew and stepson in their baseball t-shirts, holding equipment and smiling into the camera in my brother-in-laws, back yard.  A whole story came from that one photo and the ideas it generated and eventually led to my first published book: The Insect Zoo and the Wildcat Hero…later published as Bees, Bugs, and Baseball Bats.

Another example is seeing the original Dog Soldier Ledger book art in the Denver History Museum for the first time.  It’s true I was actively in search of information for a new book, but this particular museum display and one nearby showing a Cheyenne Dog Rope led me down the trail of the Cheyenne culture and eventually to the events of the Sand Creek Massacre.

More recently, a mine tour down the Molly Kathleen Mine in Cripple Creek, spurred my interest in donkeys and their importance to Cripple Creek miners.  Maude Oliver, a fine specimen of a donkey, and her eleven year owner, are currently living a life of their own on the pages of Rescue in Poverty Gulch.  (LIKE Maude Oliver on FB)  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Maude-Oliver/264720393591461?ref=hl

 

 

     

The exact moment of the spark is hard to describe, but I recognize when my mind smiles; it feels like the figurative moment when you reach for the golden ring and wrap your fingers around it…just before the pull.

Of course, there is that “pull” to deal with afterwards. A book can’t be produced from a single “ah-ha” moment.  The fictional path is filled with research, combinations of ideas, twists, turns, ruminations, false starts, stall outs, and sometimes the  magical days of wind surfing.  All of the above and more, but without that first flicker, the fire never kindles. Hold the match and reach out.  You’ll know when the flame starts dancing in your mind.