Maysilee & Merrilee - 2026 Dakota Showdown

07/11/2026

Maysilee & Merrilee, our adorable donkey pair, are really starting to come along. Maysilee is the more curious of the two, and is now leading nicely, accepting grooming and fly spray, learning to pick and hold her feet up, and now fly boots! We currently use a light sedation to trim both girls and they are very good with that, but obviously the goal is to trim without it. Her next big goal is to be catchable in open spaces and she's making big progress on that!

Merrilee is more cautious and has taken longer to enjoy human attention, but she's also coming along. She is finally starting to relax into grooming, accepting fly spray, and has started making decent progress at leading. Her big goal right now is to continue building her comfort with us and her leading progress.

These two girls are very kind and smart, and pretty donkeys as a bonus. Like many other trainers have said - it's going to be hard to see them go to a new home but that's always been the goal. They are not suitable as livestock donkeys and Maysie's front feet do tend to curl if not trimmed regularly, so we are absolutely looking for a "pet" home over a working home, who will handle them regularly, keep their feet trimmed, and continue to teach them new things. Our dream is to see them as a driving pair!

If that sounds intriguing to you, be sure and check out http://dakotashowdown.com for details on how to get pre-approved to bid and adopt the girls! We will not separate them.

And if you LOVE donkeys and in particular, Maysie & Merri, consider making them your Fan Favorite by donating to vote! You can do that here: https://givebutter.com/2026fanfavorite/teamdonkeys (and each $1 donated is an entry into our fun white elephant raffle!)

Are you ?

07/08/2026

Buddy was such a good boy and will always be missed it was hard to see him go but now he will be in greener pastures with Nelly though this page is for Forrest in memory I will be sharing this post on my showdown pages in his memory.

Today we will say one of the hardest goodbyes we've had to say in a long, long time. After a decade of retirement and steady presence on our farm, 38-year-old Buddy will be sent to join his many friends, including long time love Nelly, to the greener pastures we like to imagine all our horse friends enjoy after death. This isn't a crisis, but a kindness, as Buddy's age and decline are becoming unbearable and we want to make sure his last day is a good, normal day, and not a hard day. After a long, long life of being the bestest boy ever, he deserves no less.

All goodbyes are hard for our team, but this one is particularly difficult, so please keep Buddy and the team in your thoughts today.

As always, when we can, we'll tell you all about him in the next couple of days.

07/08/2026

if you are interested in maysilee and Merrilee please consider voting them as your fan favorite! maysilee and merrilee have progressed so much from where they first came from, from not wanting to be touched at all to leading now! they plan on being a driving team and can't wait to show off and are the only donkeys in the showdown! they are such a great pair and are super smart everyone loves working with them so much and you will to! voting fan favorite will not only support our donkeys team but also help Dakota Showdown Horse Trainer Challenge which is gentle spirits! all of the proceedings donated go to paying for the showdown and other rescue horses! so not only are you helping the rescue but you also enter the raffle meaning you could win something!

so please vote maysilee and merrilee the best donkey team in the showdown!❤️

so please vote maysilee and merrilee as your fan favorite!

https://givebutter.com/2026fanfavorite/teamdonkeys

07/08/2026

a year ago when we first got Merrilee and maysilee they escaped and got 4 miles away and gave us a run for our money 😂 but they have come so far from where they started and are even leading now! it has gotten to the point where we trust them enough to wander the farm and still come back! they have grown so much and we are all so proud of them and love watching them grow. we can not wait to see these amazing donkey sisters find their forever home!

06/21/2026

Haily and Aspen worked with Merrilee and we got a halter on her! This was a very big thing for her so we cut the session pretty short after the halter and gave her some grain for being a good girl

The donkey sisters have a goal of becoming a driving pair. Follow along with their journey if your interested in them!

06/21/2026

Haily and Aspen worked with Maysilee again. We worked on more leading and she got out into a bigger area, she was doing really well! She is working on accepting touch all over as well.

The donkey sisters have a goal of becoming a driving pair. Follow along with their journey if your interested in them!

05/29/2026

day 2 of working with maysilee ✨

Haley and Aspen worked with maysilee working on more gentling petting her and grooming her affirming it with grain and words of affirmation. after doing that for a while they decided to work on leading working on teaching her to give to pressure allowing her, herself to control the release. after she gave a good amount to the lead rope they decided to end it on a good note before letting her go with her sister back to the open pen!

our goal with these donkey sisters is to make them into a great driving pair! if you are interested in marry and maysilee's journey and are interested in a pair of driving donkey please follow along on their journey?

05/29/2026

Day 2 of working with marry✨

Aspen and haley worked with marry today working on gentling as while her sister might be more ahead she still is working on the basics. she did so good today that Aspen and Haley decided to no longer use the gate to try to help allowing her to have a choice to leave. In the end they left off with grooming her and having her come to them before letting her go ending on a good note!

our goal with these donkey sisters is to make a great droving team! so if you are interested in marry and maysilee please follow along on our journey!

05/16/2026

Day one of working with Merrilee!✨

Today I got to work with Merrilee as a part of the showdown! she is one of the donkeys that is included in the Dakota showdown that me and Haley are going to be working with.

Like maysilee we worked together today after maysilee, I did it that way for a reason hoping that merrilee would watch what we did and be more willing to do it. As I stepped into her pen she was of course nervous but listened great I started brushing her just assuring her that everything was alright and she was doing good. after that I sat down having her come to me and sniff my hand only working on touch as to not overload her senses❤️.

If you are interested in this journey of merrilee and maysilee (2 package deal🩷) please follow us and our journey!merrilee