WITH MY HEART pounding and panic flashing across my face, I barely register the crowds lining Silver City’s Broadway Avenue for the inaugural Silver Lode Scramble pack burro race last October. Clutching the rope, I sprint to keep up with the animal on my right.
Honkey Donkey and I form one of 50 cross-species teams competing on the three-mile course. Despite wearing a pack saddle clanging with a gold pan and pickax, the 25-year-old burro I borrowed from Arizona rancher Carolyn Lee is dragging me.
“Some burros, like us, are fun runners,” race director Shane Weigand tells me later. “Others want to be ahead of whatever animal is in front of them.”
My peripheral vision shows Honkey Donkey charging into the lead on our way to the historic mining area called Boston Hill Open Space. “Easy,” I offer to my four-legged partner. But Lee’s advice comes to my mind: “Get what you can out of him while you can.”
The result of a pack burro race, which Weigand’s New Mexico Pack Burros launched in Cerrillos in 2019 and has grown into the four-event Strike It Rich race series, depends on the relationship between human and animal. If you don’t have a donkey but want to compete in this month’s Turquoise Trail Pack Burro Race (May 2) or Magdalena Burro Stampede (May 17), Weigand will connect you with someone who has offered one.
Now on the trail, Honkey Donkey slows to a walk. But rather than tighten the slack and pull, I bribe him with baby carrots and offer encouraging words. He steadily moves on.
Silver City was added to the four-event Strike It Rich race series last year.
Photograph courtesy of Jim Schoedler.
Despite their reputations for being stubborn, burros have played a critical role in building New Mexico since the 16th century. “You see photos of them hauling firewood and supplies for miners,” Weigand says. Competing gives donkeys new purpose.
The challenge with racing is accepting that you and the jackass are in it together. “Sometimes my butt’s dragging. Sometimes my burro’s butt is dragging,” Weigand says. “Sometimes we’re both on.”
Dragging ass takes on new meaning as I jog and Honkey Donkey plods along the trail. But spectators gather on switchbacks, and when my daughter and husband cheer us on in the third mile, Honkey Donkey feels my confidence swell.
Back on pavement, he gallops as gravity assists our descent. Earlier, I’d led him down this street with its terrifying manhole covers, crosswalks, and shadows. Now, he trusts me. He runs! I laugh delightedly as we cross together. I reward my teammate with a granola bar. “Good donkey!”
Basking in our accomplishment, Honkey Donkey and I wait for Lee in front of the Silver City Museum. Bystanders want a photo with him. “Burros are very social,” Weigand says. “They get along well at these big events.”
2026 STRIKE IT RICH RACE SERIES
Turquoise Trail Pack Burro Race, Cerrillos, May 2
Magdalena Burro Stampede, Magdalena, May 17
Ruidoso Burro Bonanza, Ruidoso, August 22
Silver Lode Scramble, Silver City, September 12.
nmpackburros.com
