Some of my earliest memories were of riding in the saddle with my Dad on our ranch in Rocksprings, Texas.  As a youngster I spent many delightful hours in the livestock pens with him, sorting goats and cattle and working with the horses. I was a very serious barrel racer for many years, and started the  Lamar High School Rodeo Club, here in Houston. Later I was one of the group that started The Intercollegiate Rodeo Association, at the University of Texas, where I was on the rodeo team. 

After college I trained Quarter Horses for Dee Gibson in Hawaii. After returning to Texas, I married Jim McAlister, we had our two children, Jim 1V and Hydie. We raised and showed World Championship Quarter Horses for over 30 years.  (Jim is still reining…currently qualified with both of his horses for the 2009 AQHA  World Finals and Hydie is competing with her cutting horses.)  

                It was at these shows that I first saw and fell in love with Miniature Donkeys. I eventually purchased several really nice jennets, just to have and to enjoy at our ranch in Spicewood, Texas, 35  miles west of Austin. I had them bred and loved the foals they produced. Imprinting the foals, teaching them to tie, lead, cross obstacles and to be trusting and well mannered was a joy for me and a real challenge.  It had not entered my mind to have a business with the donkeys.  The business "just happened” as people saw our foals and wanted to buy them.

                In 1990 we had seven jennets; I decided that it was time to  get our own jack. There were only a few breeders in Texas at that time; most seemed to be scatted up the Eastern coast and in New England.  From many years of showing World Champion Quarter Horses, I knew what I wanted in  excellent conformation, a well balanced, athletic body, a lovely head and soft eye, vigor and outgoing personality. I was also looking for a proven pedigree, to assure the passing on of good genes, to get predictably high quality foals.

                We believe that there are many benefits to purchasing a future herd sire as a weanling.  The breeder can work with the jack from a very young age to teach him good manners, discipline and respect. You will have the opportunity to bond strongly with the young jack and you will know that he has been loved and disciplined from the start. (This rules out the possible mishandling of a young jack , or early health issues which can cause serious behavior problems in the future.)  We knew that our jack would be the most important and valuable investment in our breeding program, as he would be  half of EVERY foal that we would raise.

                Jim and I made many, many trips looking at foals and weanlings from Texas to New England. We saw many fine little jacks, but none measured up to what I was looking for. After two years of looking, in 1992, I finally saw the four week old son of National Champion Halter Jack, Foust’s Spunky, and I knew right away our search was over! That little boy that we purchased and named Country Music’s George Jones,  had it all…..very small size, stout, strong legs, wonderful hip, outstanding intelligent head and eye, and dark, rich brown color.  He was an energetic, enthusiastic, fun loving foal.  I was not able to fault him in even one single way; he was the finest foal I had ever seen.

                George Jones was very easy to train, as most foals are, if you work with them consistently from the time they are born.  We started showing him at two years of age, in 1994. He won every show he was in…The Houston Livestock Show, Dallas State Fair,  Ft. Worth Livestock Show , the  NMDA National Championship Show and the ADMS National Championship. After this very successful show career, unbeaten, we brought him home to our ranch in the Texas hill country and concentrated on our breeding program.

                George Jones proved to be a strong pre-potent herd sire. His foals looked much like him with excellent conformation and exquisite heads, the “trademark George Jones head.”  Like George Jones, his foals have lovely dispositions and are delightful to work with.  Early on George Jones qualified for the Merit of Breeding Award, when his offspring won over 100 points in the show ring.

                George Jones is a very important and valued part of our lives.  He truly adores people and attention.  He is gentle with children and all small animals. One of his best friends is Priscilla Presley, a gorgeous Siamese cat that follows him around and sleeps close to him. We put our Boer Goat does in his pasture to kid.  He watches over them protectively! George Jones has tremendous vitality and stamina.  He constantly patrols his pasture and is always alert, on the move and interested in his surroundings . He  comes when called and rushes to greet visitors.  

                We  never planned to have two jacks. The George Jones bloodline had proven to be so tremendously successful that we would never have considered introducing another blood line.  Then along came his outstanding son, Country Music’s Garth Brooks, who looked like a clone of his sire, George Jones. We never offered him for sale, but kept him as our junior herd sire. Now that they are both mature, both 30”/dark rich brown, same conformation and gorgeous head, not many people can tell them apart.  George Jones and Garth Brooks have sired over 25 National Champions at Halter and Performance in the U.S, Canada, Europe and New Zealand.  The list of George Jones and Garth Brooks offspring’s  wins is far too extensive to list, but can be found on Eeebray's Herdsire Jacks and Country Music's website: www.minidonk.com  

                George Jones and Garth Brooks have never been confined to a stall or a jack run.  They each have a 12 acre, hilly pasture, often shared with our horses, goats and llama, and always with a bred jennet or two. They get lots and lots of exercise; they are busy, happy, content and in excellent physical condition. George Jones and Garth Brooks have made our miniature donkeys program a fun and pleasure filled experience. Jim and I know that we have been blessed with these two, strongly pre-potent herd sires, father and son with outstanding physical qualities, keen intelligence and loving dispositions.               

                In order to have a breeding program produce outstanding foals, we felt it was necessary to select jennets that met strict conformation and size requirements, with proven pedigrees. The jennets we have selected have been the same “type” as George Jones and Garth Brooks. They are small, sturdy boned, compact well balanced bodies with lovely heads. We did not compromise in our selection of jennets.  Our brood jennets are so uniform in appearance that it is hard to tell them apart. They and their foals are free to roam and graze in a 150 acre pasture of hills and valleys. They stay in excellent physical condition, hearty and healthy.

We raise our foals with great care and are very disciplined with our training program.  We carefully imprint our foals starting the day they are born, continuing with imprinting until they have bonded completely with us,  usually taking from 4-7 days.  The foals are then haltered and we start leading them, picking up their feet, handling their ears and mouth, and desensitizing them to electric clippers.   

                The jennets and foals come up from the pasture each morning, into the feeding pen. We separate the foals into an adjoining pen, tie them, and continue with grooming, picking up their feet, handling them all over, working with the clippers and leading them through our obstacle course.  BY THE TIME ONE OF OUR FOALS IS FOUR MONTHS OLD, THEY HAVE RECEIVED APPROXIMATELY 30 HOURS OF INDIVIDUAL TRAINING…..THEY ARE TRUSTING, AFFECTIONATE , AND WELL MANNERED.

Eeebray thanks Rhetta for allowing Eeebray viewers inside the Country Music story.

Country Music is truly one of the pioneers of the breeding of Miniature Donkeys in America. Rhetta began George Jones' show career when the showing of Miniature Donkeys was new and almost unheard of. Many of the Country Music donkeys are making history overseas with 25+ National and World Champions in Europe, New Zealand, and in Canada. For over 18 years, Country Music has been refining their miniature donkey program.

Country Music Miniature Donkeys is truly an icon in the Miniature Donkey world.
 

Country Music's two herdsire jacks are on Eeebray along with a number of wonderful sale donkeys with videos! Country Music's mission to produce the finest quality Miniature Donkey stock available is "mission accomplished!"
 

April-June 2009