SubscribeGift a Sub
Enable cache 100

Featured Video: Running with Donkeys

 



Dogs may be the four-legged companions of choice for many runners, but we’d like to offer an equine alternative. Donkeys, it turns out, can make pretty good running partners, especially when you’re hitting the mountain trails of the American West, according to a unique running club known as Rosco’s Runners.

In Colorado Springs, Colorado, a group of runners specializes in introducing humans to the wide world of running with the burros. Rosco’s Runners, a club named for one of the its three equine regulars, was recently featured on the podcast Human Race for being one of the most unique running clubs in the country.

Rosco is a mammoth burro, weighing in at about 850 pounds. He’s the largest and also the most easy-going of the club’s burros and the one who is typically assigned to newcomers. Cash and Mordy are the two other donkeys that make up the club’s equine contingent, smaller but a bit more independent-minded than Rosco. In training runs, the donkeys are outfitted with plain halters and leadropes. Their human companions hold on to the rope and run beside them when the trail allows, or behind them (going uphill), or in front of them (on the downhills—somewhat counterintuitively—to keep the donkeys from picking up too much speed.)

In the video above, Rosco’s Runners founder Kevin Shaw shares footage from the WPBA Idaho Springs Pack Burro Race where the donkeys wear traditional packing gear on a race through town and on the trails. According to Human Race, the sport of pack burro racing (sometimes simply called “donkin’”) traces its origins back to the early mining days of the West. When a prospector discovered gold or silver up in the hills, he’d have to pack up his gear and get back to town as quickly as possible to officially stake his claim. That meant loading up the burro and hoofing it, so to speak.

Although that story may simply be a legend, pack burro racing is now an official summer heritage sport in Colorado, and races of various distances are held in old mining towns around the state.

You can find out more about Rosco and his runners on the Rosco’s Coffee House Facebook page (yes, Rosco the burro is also the namesake and face of a local cafe.) Learn more about Pack Burro Racing from the Western Pack Burro Ass-ociation (emphasis theirs) at packburroracing.com. Listen to the Human Race podcast about Rosco’s Runners at runnersworld.com.

Leslie Potter

Leslie Potter is a graduate of William Woods University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Equestrian Science with a concentration in saddle seat riding and a minor in Journalism/Mass Communications. She is currently a writer and photographer in Lexington, Ky. Potter worked as a barn manager and riding instructor and was a freelance reporter and photographer for the Horsemen's Yankee Pedlar and Saddle Horse Report before moving to Lexington to join Horse Illustrated as Web Editor from 2008 to 2019. Her current equestrian pursuits include being a grown-up lesson kid at an eventing barn and trail riding with her senior Morgan gelding, Snoopy.

View Comments

  • OMG looks like fun! I have a standard size donkey and he's not as big as some of those! They look like some small mules in there too! I know Bullseye would run with me, he's a great donk!

  • This is hysterical and looks to be like a fun event! Loved the music too! Got a few big boys in there! Jacks!

  • Love this, love the music, it's a blast, would love to try it! Although jumping over downed trees is not my strong suit!

  • So my donkey of 17 years I've owned him, won't jog with me! Walks fine, leads fine, says we've never done this! Guess he's not gonna come be in the race next year! Hee Haw!

  • So I said I'd try to get my donkey jogging with me, nope ain't happening he says! He'll walk anywhere, but not jog! Always trained him to just walk like a gentlemen and that's how he is now at 17, calm and quiet!

Recent Posts

ASPCA Right Horse Adoptable Horse of the Week: Morena

Welcome to Horse Illustrated’s weekly installment of the Right Horse Adoptable Horse of the Week, offered in partnership with the…

1 day ago

Breed Portrait: The American Saddlebred

The American Saddlebred has an unmistakable presence wherever the breed goes, and these horses can be found just about everywhere…

2 days ago

Keep Loping: Prevent Breaking Gait at the Lope

It’s no fun to ride a horse that needs to be pushed constantly to stay in a lope. It feels…

3 days ago

Equine Affaire Event Preview

Knowledge is power, and nowhere is that more true than in the equine industry. Empower yourself this spring to become a more…

4 days ago

What is the Cause of Your Horse’s Behavior?

If asked what type of personality your horse has, you might say he’s an alpha, stubborn, people-pleasing, nervous, difficult, easy-going,…

1 week ago

ASPCA Right Horse Adoptable Horse of the Week: Divine Indy

Welcome to Horse Illustrated’s weekly installment of the Right Horse Adoptable Horse of the Week, offered in partnership with the…

1 week ago