The Gold Hill Triple
Challenge was a great success!!!!!
Participants came from New Mexico, British
Columbia, Canada, Idaho, Oregon, and
California. Cindy and Mitch Benson
generously opened up their home & ranch
in Gold Hill, Oregon to
approximately 40 visitors, allowing them to
park/camp in their scenic pasture. She & her
husband turned a very busy Miniature Donkey
breeding facility in to a cross country
driving and in-hand trail competition and
educational event for Miniature Donkeys, the
first ever of it’s kind held in the USA. All present participated,
whether they brought a donkey or not. Anyone
who has experienced a similar type event knows that
it takes LOTS of volunteers to put one of
these events on. Not only did the Bensons
host this event, they fed all in attendance
every night, morning, & lunch!!!!! This was
a huge under taking in addition to the
management of this event! Oh, Benson Ranch
also had to house the 27 visiting donkeys!
The driving events
offered were dressage, cones, & marathon. In
addition, Cindy offered In-Hand Stadium
Trail & Cross Country Trail classes. The
Cross Country Trail class was designed to be
a “reality” type trail experience during
which the competitors had to negotiate
streams, jump over logs, climb up & down
hills, and lead their donkeys by Fiona, the
miniature yak, all the while staying on
pattern. What a treat!
Competitors and
auditors all judged each other, which is a
great way to learn more about the event. Scores were totaled and awards
were given to competitors in each class, and
the three championships (thus the title The
Gold Hill Triple Challenge), Driving
Champion, In-Hand Trail Champion, and the
Versatility Champion (earning the highest
combined driving & trail scores). This was a
high honor indeed. Awards in the form of
vouchers for photographs taken by Dream
Riders Photography were a great new idea.
Dream Riders’ photographers stationed
themselves all around the event, offering
donkey owners packages of photographs &
videos for very reasonable rates. These
photos are special because they were taken
in the woods and meadow, rather than the
show ring.
The judge, MargoHepner-Hart was
busy not only with judging, but offering
information about how she arrived at her
scores and answering questions from
participants. This was an unusual
opportunity for competitors. Wayne Lyon, a
well known Miniature Donkey trainer from
Canada flew in just to help with the event.
He generously offered his knowledge to
competitors about driving challenges, while
helping to keep the event on schedule.
Maureen Harkom from Happ’s, Inc., a
facility in Washington that hosts combined
driving events, drove down on Sunday
to watch the Marathon phase. Maureen hosts
many events & has been interested in
adding Miniature Donkey only sections to her
events. She complimented Cindy on the
marathon course. She said it was a nicer
course than many professional marathon
courses.
The meals shared by all
provided an opportunity for people to meet &
make new friends and spend the weekend
talking donkeys!
The Gold Hill Triple
Challenge could only be successful because
of dedicated volunteers who also believed
that the event could work. It could have
been a logistics nightmare, but with Cindy’s
organizational skills, her husband Mitch’s
strong arm, and hard working volunteers, the
event was definitely a success and next
year's event is already in the planning
stage!
Written by Elizabeth Moore
Pictures by Dream Riders Photography,
Elizabeth Moore, & Cindy Benson
