Margaret Winslow - Smart Ass: How a Donkey Challenged Me to Accept His True Nature & Rediscover My Own

Praise for Smart Ass

Adoption be it of a cat, a child, or in Margaret Winslows case, a donkey demands time, trust, and the flexibility to alter ones expectations. This tender story of a frustrated academic and an indomitable beast delivers the drama of this struggle and, ultimately, the gift of love.

Tina Traster, author of Rescuing Julia Twice and director/producer of the documentary Catnip Nation

Laugh and cry as Margaret Winslow parks her ego to accept the honest reflection a donkey provides endearing comedy and blatant humiliation.

Karlene Stange, DVM, author of The Spiritual Nature of Animals

Donkeys are amazing animal beings. Twice my life was changed by an up-close-and-personal meeting with a donkey who seemed to know precisely what I was thinking and feeling. So I fully understand Margaret Winslows being rescued by Calebs charm, presence, and sense of humor, along with his ability to trust and to forgive. I hope Smart Ass enjoys a broad global audience because there are so many life lessons to be learned from the nonhuman animals who bless our lives if we allow them in.

Marc Bekoff, PhD, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals

I love Margaret Winslows book and all it teaches us about the true nature of life, from the power of love to the reality of animal communication. More than anything, Smart Ass teaches us about reverence for life.

Dr. Bernie S. Siegel, author of Love, Animals & Miracles and 365 Prescriptions for the Soul

No creatures are more misunderstood than donkeys. They challenge us to look inside ourselves for the answers to their problems, and in doing so they help us grow as humans. Every donkey will take you on a journey of self-discovery if you let them, and Caleb is no different. He has a message for you about the way we treat and respect animals, each other, and ourselves. Heartbreaking, funny, encouraging, and enlightening, Smart Ass is a beautifully written story that questions our own stubbornness as a species and asks us to learn how to trust ourselves.

Ben Hart, animal behaviorist and trainer at Harts Horsemanship and the Donkey Sanctuary

Smart Ass inspires us with a delightful odd-couple relationship between a white donkey and a middle-aged college professor, a grand story of humorous, wise insights into the challenges and rewards of following ones unlikely hopes and dreams. Margaret Winslows story of Caleb the donkey unfolds as a mythic tale wild, tender, and at times dangerous of a woman who faces midlife issues by purchasing a stubborn, willful, and affectionate long-eared member of the equine family. Readers travel the rocky trail of their mutual life journeys, hammering out hard-won accomplishments of cross-species communication and finally arriving at a new and better way of living through loyalty to ones true self.

Trish Broersma, author of Riding into Your Mythic Life

Smart Ass is a remarkable, finely written memoir with both an engaging story and a surprising lesson. As author Margaret Winslow pursues her dream and learns to listen to her seven-hundred-pound donkey, she learns to listen to her true self. The chapters flow forward with skillfully crafted scenes, leading the reader to root for both Margaret and Caleb and finally to share in their lifelong lesson of trust and forgiveness.

Susan M. Tiberghien, author of One Year to a Writing Life

Also by Margaret Winslow

Over My Head: Journeys in Leaky Boats from the Strait of Magellan to Cape Horn and Beyond

The Cusp of Dreadfulness: Fifteen Seasons in Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia

Copyright 2018 by Margaret Winslow

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Text design by Tracy Cunningham. Typography by Tona Pearce Myers.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Winslow, Margaret (Geologist), author.

Title: Smart ass : how a donkey challenged me to accept his true nature and rediscover my own / Margaret Winslow.

Description: Novato, California : New World Library, [2018].

Identifiers: LCCN 2018020619 (print) | LCCN 2018033116 (ebook) | ISBN 9781608685912 (ebook) | ISBN 9781608685905 | ISBN 9781608685905 (alk. paper) | ISBN 9781608685912 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Winslow, Margaret (Geologist) | Donkeys--Training. Donkeys--Anecdotes. | LCGFT: Autobiographies.

Classification: LCC SF361 (ebook) | LCC SF361 .W56 2018 (print) | DDC 636.1/82--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018020619

First printing, November 2018

ISBN 978-1-60868-590-5

Ebook ISBN 978-1-60868-591-2

Printed in Canada on 100% postconsumer-waste recycled paper

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Yo me contento...de haber cado de mi burra, y de que me haya mostrado la experiencia la verdad.

(I am glad... to have fallen from my donkey, as that experience has shown me the truth.)

Corchuelo in Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes

CONTENTS

I COULD BE ASTRIDE A RHINO or giraffe for all the baffled stares I receive as I ride my donkey down the busy road in the suburbs of Rockland County, New York. Commuters wrench around in their seats and slam on their brakes; teenagers honk and holler.

Few in the lower Hudson valley have ever seen a donkey, outside of Shreks sidekick and miniatures at the local petting zoo. And Caleb is no ordinary specimen. Pure white, he stands over a foot taller than the average donkey; even his ears are exceptionally long for his species. His shaggy coat completes the picture. According to small children we meet at horse shows and religious pageants, he looks like a giant Easter Bunny.

The question I invariably get from young and old alike is What kind of horse is that? Followed by a confused expression when I reply, Hes not a horse; hes a donkey.

The further question Why would you ever get one of those? is loud and clear, if often unspoken.

Good question.

As a geologist and a professor at an urban university, I found myself at a crossroads at the start of the new millennium. After thirty years of fieldwork in South America, Alaska, and the Caribbean, numerous back injuries had taken their toll. A heavy teaching schedule and administrative duties had all but doomed any opportunities to pursue new challenges in faraway places. With my oceanographer husband away at sea for months at a time and the prospect of starting a family no longer an option, I was looking for the perfect animal companion to help navigate the next phase of my life. Most people would choose a cat or dog. I chose a donkey.