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Happy Holidays and a Llama Update!
11 years ago
Happy Holidays all~! As always, anyone is welcome to party with us tonight and crash here when you pass out drunk. lol We just prefer to know you're coming so we can plan accordingly.
I spent last weekend out at the farm with my llamas, and they all did SO well! Lucy got a blue kid saddle for Christmas, and she wore it just fine. Fits like a glove, and she hardly put up any fuss at all about putting it on. The "twins" (Winter and Dolly) did a lot of work too. They both wore their halter for the first time. As with teaching any large animal to use a halter, they put up quite the fight at first. Dolly eventually realized she couldn't run away from me and just plopped herself in place and said "screw this, I'm staying here." Winter is smaller, so I could move him. He didn't fight as much, and he ended up getting to go on a walk around the farm on his lead with Ragnar while I walked Lucy beside him. I'm sure Dolly will walk with us next time. I decided she probably put up more of a fight because she had more burs in her fluff, so I spent hours preening giant cockle burs out of her. My hands look like I stuck them in a cat fight, but her lead should be much more comfortable for her next time. I got roughly a quart-worth of burs off her, mainly from her neck above the level of her chin. Yes, that's how thick they are with burs... EVERYWHERE.
Although Dolly wasn't fond of my pecking at her and yanking burs off her, she did a LOT better than last time. She didn't jump or buck or fuss. She hummed a few times and eventually just stood there and let me work. Then, the most adorable thing EVER happened. She went to put her head down while I was working under her chin and ended up sitting her head in my hand. Apparently she found it as nice as I did and just left it there. I held her head in my hand and gently petted under her chin, and she closed her eyes and stayed still and calm for me to work on her with the other hand. She even stopped humming. She seemed to be enjoying me holding her face next to me and petting her. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen a llama do.
The llamas don't seem to like the cold much. I didn't either. They kept laying down when the wind would blow and make their bare legs cold. We were going to work with them more on Sunday, but when we found out it was going to be below freezing and supposed to rain, we knew that wasn't going to happen. We went back out in the dark to try to catch them and get their leads off, but we couldn't see and they weren't cooperating. So we ended up getting up before 7am to chase down the llamas before breakfast, get them all back in their catch pen, and take all their gear off before it got wet and froze to them. Then, after we did all that work, we found out it wasn't going to rain after all. It was just bitter cold and damp out with high winds. We took our tent down and decided to go home early. They all did a lot this weekend regardless. I just wish I had more time to spend with them. Even Chism was better. He didn't scream, spit, or chase after us once, even when we were out in his field chasing down the other llamas. The only time he even postured at me was when I got about five feet from him. He even came up and ate out of my hand a few times - and not even over the fence. In theory, he'll be leaving this coming weekend in trade for "Lewis," a younger, much nicer male who is colored like a red fox. Gonna miss that butt head of a llama. I'm proud to have brought him as far as he's come.
I forgot to take the camera with us this weekend. I was hoping to take some pictures of them learning and working. Next time, I guess. Although Lucy did fine in her new saddle, she kept kicking when I'd touch her back left strap. I think she has a sore there, so we decided to not put any weight on the saddle until after she's shaved down in spring and we can be sure she doesn't have any sores or burs hurting her. She's clean on the outside, but she still has a lot of burs packed underneath her fluff. So no pictures of princess Eevee riding her magical steed until spring. lol
The llamas will keep working on the same things, but the next thing I want to get and work on is nail clipping. I know Lucy's nails are overgrown, but she still hates me touching her legs. This one's going to take a while, but it's got to be done. Sometime before spring, Lucy's getting her nails trimmed, whether she likes it or not. >.=.>
Anyway, if anyone wants to meet my llamas, they're welcome to come with us some weekend. Just let me know.
TL;DR: I LOVE LLAMAS! Happy Holidays. Visit me. lol
I spent last weekend out at the farm with my llamas, and they all did SO well! Lucy got a blue kid saddle for Christmas, and she wore it just fine. Fits like a glove, and she hardly put up any fuss at all about putting it on. The "twins" (Winter and Dolly) did a lot of work too. They both wore their halter for the first time. As with teaching any large animal to use a halter, they put up quite the fight at first. Dolly eventually realized she couldn't run away from me and just plopped herself in place and said "screw this, I'm staying here." Winter is smaller, so I could move him. He didn't fight as much, and he ended up getting to go on a walk around the farm on his lead with Ragnar while I walked Lucy beside him. I'm sure Dolly will walk with us next time. I decided she probably put up more of a fight because she had more burs in her fluff, so I spent hours preening giant cockle burs out of her. My hands look like I stuck them in a cat fight, but her lead should be much more comfortable for her next time. I got roughly a quart-worth of burs off her, mainly from her neck above the level of her chin. Yes, that's how thick they are with burs... EVERYWHERE.
Although Dolly wasn't fond of my pecking at her and yanking burs off her, she did a LOT better than last time. She didn't jump or buck or fuss. She hummed a few times and eventually just stood there and let me work. Then, the most adorable thing EVER happened. She went to put her head down while I was working under her chin and ended up sitting her head in my hand. Apparently she found it as nice as I did and just left it there. I held her head in my hand and gently petted under her chin, and she closed her eyes and stayed still and calm for me to work on her with the other hand. She even stopped humming. She seemed to be enjoying me holding her face next to me and petting her. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen a llama do.
The llamas don't seem to like the cold much. I didn't either. They kept laying down when the wind would blow and make their bare legs cold. We were going to work with them more on Sunday, but when we found out it was going to be below freezing and supposed to rain, we knew that wasn't going to happen. We went back out in the dark to try to catch them and get their leads off, but we couldn't see and they weren't cooperating. So we ended up getting up before 7am to chase down the llamas before breakfast, get them all back in their catch pen, and take all their gear off before it got wet and froze to them. Then, after we did all that work, we found out it wasn't going to rain after all. It was just bitter cold and damp out with high winds. We took our tent down and decided to go home early. They all did a lot this weekend regardless. I just wish I had more time to spend with them. Even Chism was better. He didn't scream, spit, or chase after us once, even when we were out in his field chasing down the other llamas. The only time he even postured at me was when I got about five feet from him. He even came up and ate out of my hand a few times - and not even over the fence. In theory, he'll be leaving this coming weekend in trade for "Lewis," a younger, much nicer male who is colored like a red fox. Gonna miss that butt head of a llama. I'm proud to have brought him as far as he's come.
I forgot to take the camera with us this weekend. I was hoping to take some pictures of them learning and working. Next time, I guess. Although Lucy did fine in her new saddle, she kept kicking when I'd touch her back left strap. I think she has a sore there, so we decided to not put any weight on the saddle until after she's shaved down in spring and we can be sure she doesn't have any sores or burs hurting her. She's clean on the outside, but she still has a lot of burs packed underneath her fluff. So no pictures of princess Eevee riding her magical steed until spring. lol
The llamas will keep working on the same things, but the next thing I want to get and work on is nail clipping. I know Lucy's nails are overgrown, but she still hates me touching her legs. This one's going to take a while, but it's got to be done. Sometime before spring, Lucy's getting her nails trimmed, whether she likes it or not. >.=.>
Anyway, if anyone wants to meet my llamas, they're welcome to come with us some weekend. Just let me know.
TL;DR: I LOVE LLAMAS! Happy Holidays. Visit me. lol
