The Carrot and the Donkey
(Internet Published) May 2002
We all know about the trick, which is supposed to keep a donkey moving
along. By dangling a carrot, suspended by a stick and a length of string
just out of reach of the donkey a man may hope to keep the poor animal
moving along all day. Well, I have never owned a donkey but I suspect that
even the most stupid donkey would soon realise the hopelessness, hunch it's
back and refuse to move.
This syndrome has a parallel within the pigeon fraternity. Men write to me
asking for Tipplers of very high flying quality and of an 18 hour strain, or
Rollers that spin like a flicked coin in a roll fall of many feet; Two juicy
carrots but always out of reach and in time any donkey would realise that.
It would be easy to contact a man who has done 18 hours occasionally in
Europe but there are no guarantees that a purchase from him will produce 18
hours or anything like that. Very few men realise the expertise, the
restriction and the dedication that is required to get anything like 18
hours from a kit of Tipplers. Some men did 18 hours just once in their
lifetime. No man has done anything like
18 hours on a regular basis over a period of several years. Some men have
had very poor results after one or tow excellent results. Therefore there
are no high flying 18 hours strains that have any kind of guarantee.
With Rollers these deep tight and perfect spinners are extremely rare. A man
may never see one in his life. It's a highly dangerous action anyway. Such
perfect spinners soon end up hitting the ground and end up becoming very
dead. Therefore, that particular carrot isn't so juicy and frankly no donkey
would try to reach it.
To recapitulate, may I remind my readers that Tipplers are not always high
flyers. Their contests are all about time on the wing at any kind of
altitude. To expect extremely high flying combined with extremely long times
is rather like asking for the bun and the penny also! All too often such
optimism results in getting neither the bun nor the penny.