A TRIBUTE TO FRANK J.
BARTHEN
A
few dozen burros still graze the fields and live in a low-roof barn near the
family’s ranch house on a hill.
Barthen’s
son Pat, who lives across the street from the family homestead, operates
Donkeys Unlimited, a business that rents well-trained, gentle burros for
birthday parties, Nativity scenes and other events.
Frank
Barthen concedes that burros can be ornery, but he confesses that he was at the
root of much of their high jinx.
Barthen
recruited burros that buck, duck and otherwise jostle their riders -- much to
the cheers, jeers and laughs of donkey basketball crowds.
Bucker
burros were called that because, well, they bucked.
That’s
why riders wear helmets for protection.
Duckers
are burros known to stop in a heartbeat and drop their chins to the floor,
propelling shocked riders right over their big, silly burro ears.
Sometimes
the duckers ducked on their own, sometimes they did it on cue from Barthen, who
trained them to dip and duck.
TRIBUTE CONTINUES TOMORROW -- MAY 18
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