Pasta Bowl – PRUNES

Musings on Burros

Pack Burro Racing had my heart the first time I saw a pack burro race. All I could see was a lone
runner with her burro loping down a county road in a drenching rain and I could tell they were
having fun. What is a pack-burro race? It’s a team sport where a team is one human and one
burro. You have to keep your burro under control at all times and you must keep hold of the
lead. You have to carry a shovel, pick, and a gold pain through the whole course. You cannot be
cruel to your burro and any mistreatment will disqualify you. My personal favorite is that a
runner can pull, push, drag, or carry the burro but the runner may not ride the burro. The world
championship pack burro race happens in Fairplay, CO every July and there are also races in
Leadville, Buena Vista. Pack burro racing is the official indigenous sport of Colorado and races
happen in other towns and even outside of Colorado. The Triple Crown of pack burro races
starts with Burro days in Fairplay, then heads to Buena Vista and Leadville in successive weeks.

So why on earth would I think this looks like fun? It’s all in the relationship the runners have
with their burros. You have to be a team because if your burro doesn’t trust you and you don’t
put in the work… you’ll never get there. Reminds me of parenting but you don’t have to pay for
braces or college. Burros are smart and they won’t do things that could hurt them, so you have
to trust them too. Did you know that they have long whiskers on their chins and they can feel if
a plant is poisonous and they won’t eat it?

I have a deep affection for burros. I don’t have the space to keep a band of burros but I am
determined to live with burros everywhere so I am entertaining myself by loving on every burro
I meet and making burro themed pottery. I’ve been taking photos of burros and picks and barb
wire and more and making silk screens. With the silk screens I can print right on to my pots and
I am having a blast doing it. Each design is unique and crafted from scratch. My burros are
available for adoption on mugs, tumblers, shot glasses, flasks, bowls, trays, and rocks or whisky
cups and more.