Because Don(you have to be comfortable with your manliness to be able to wear a costume like this) lived in Calif. where it was warm, these zebra's probably never "haired up" or got a heavy winter coat and he had no idea they were actually one of the rarest animals in the world, the Siberian Zebra, discovered, captured, and named by the famed explorer/zoologist/Oxford fellow Prof. Dr. Robert Gibbs. Does anyone know if these animals were part of the original group that the Gibbs expedition captured and imported, or were they later captive born offspring? FYI A little know fact is the viable reproductive ability of a gelded Siberian stallion. One of many mysteries of this remarkable species. A few weeks ago, Jim Alexander mentioned CITIES and their listing of animals. I question the validity and completeness of CITIES and their "experts" because if you look at their list, as well as IUCN RED LISTED and EXTINCT animals, no place will you find either Unicorn's or Siberian Zebra's listed or even refereed to!!!!!! Those folks need to get their act together.
Jenson Bros. Circus 1960 At the moment, I can't recall Mrs. McLennan's first name. Can anybody remind me what this beautiful lady's name was? She was riding a stunning black Morgan high school horse that she and Don trained when I first met her on Vargas in 1974-75.
FYI What was going on in the circus world almost 33 years ago the end of this month:
Circus Report, April 31, 1978, Vol. 7, No. 18
Note Don's ad for Lipizzaner's for sale.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Don McLennan--Available for Purchase
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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4 comments:
Don was a circus wild west cowboy appearing in aftershow concerts western themed with roping, trick riding, etc. With his wife, Hope. He was on Clyde Beatty and other western circuses over the years and became pretty handy at training liberty, trick horses, etc. A great flair for costuming andnovelty liberty presentations. He trained, showed and sold a number of horse, pony, mule acts over the years. I believe he was last with Vargas and in fact replaced me and my family when we blowed in Chico, calif. Don was also a first rate harness maker and made for me some really fine liberty horse and pony harness. Red patent leather,german silver hardware, etc. As good as anyEuropean. Family still have some now practice harness from Don. He was a nice fellow of high integrity and very modest but extremely capable. He sold acts to Atayde, Fuentes, etc. Nice to see your blog about him. A real showguy. With due rtespect John Herriott
Johnny,
Lou always spoke highly of Don and Hope(thank's for reminding me)and when I finally met them on Vargas, I understood why. You also jarred my memory about his incredible harness making talents. At that time he was the "go to guy" for beautiful craftsmanship, before the cheaper Mexican product became the rage. I have a hip drop he made in my collection of treasures, and have often wished there was an exhibit someplace of historic liberty harness used by various greats,(although the nylon surcingles with the cloth's line check reins that you used to train Ian's Welsh ponies, which I later used after being schooled by you, to train the Lake Geneva National Show Horses, shouldn't be included. LOL) I believe, in addition to Hope riding high school on the mentioned black Morgan dressed in a fabulous Indian war bonnet, Don was there building harness for the newly purchased Hoffmeister Appaloosa's, as they had become difficult to work "free" as Joe had trained them.(later they lost their boy's, in a effort to keep them from acting like "Indian renegades. LOL) I had great times listening to he and Wally Ross cutting up jackpots and telling tales in the evening after the shows(you there would have made it even better). Pretty heady time's for a young towner starting out, to be around folks of that caliber and skill.
Wade
Hey Don and Hope are my grand parents and I was interested if you had any more info/pictures i might be able to get to give to my dad (their son). I would love to get in touch with someone that knew them. let me know
Thanks
Jared McLennan
jaredmclennan@gmail.com
Hey, Don and Hope are my grandparents. I was looking into my grandpa when I came across this post. Was just wondering how you had these photos, my dad (their son) would love to see these things and was wondering if you could get in touch with me if you had any more.
Thanks
Jared McLennan
Jaredmclennan@gmail.com
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