Training Session

Pressley came out Sunday afternoon for another training session with the alpaca girls. Because of my foot surgery and sickness, Pressley's and mine, it had been a month since we haltered up Leeza and Mango to walk them around the pasture. Rich and Pressley had to capture and halter the little ones since I am still not ambulating freely with my sore foot. Leeza got haltered first and as I held her she slipped partially out of the halter because it was a bit loose. After they finished Mango, Pressley readjusted Leeza's halter.

Mango, once again, surprised us at how easily she adapted to the halter and lead. She always fights a bit more than the others when we try to corner and catch her. But once the halter is firmly in place she willingly walks along side whoever is leading her. Rich and Pressley harnessed Mango and handed her to me while they readjusted Leeza's halter.  Baby Mango is very curious about people and as I was holding the lead she walked right up to me and sniffed at my hand.

Rich and Pressley led the girls around the muddy pasture and Mango followed beautifully. This is only the second time she has been in a halter and she walks on the lead as if she were a seasoned show animal. I am resisting the urge to boast too much about her accomplishment. She is still growing and maturing and like human children, you never know what they will do next.


Leeza resisted walking even more than the last training session in January. At one point she just kushed down in the mud and refused to walk. Pressley managed to get her to stand up again and traded animals with Rich. He was able to get Leeza to walk along behind him for a few minutes before he called a halt to the training session. We wanted to make sure that she had walked on the lead before we turned her loose so that she wouldn't get the idea that she could kush and that would be the end of it. She needs to be gently taught that the humans are ultimately in charge and she must cooperate.

Muddy, Freezing, Cold

Pressley was out on Saturday afternoon to work with the alpaca girls. It was muddy and so dreary. It seems that she never comes out on a sunny, warm day like yesterday. But then we haven't had many sunny, warm weekend days this winter.  Pressley is a real trooper and not a bit afraid of getting dirty. She is much better than I am at capturing and holding the animals. I just jump in when she has them steadied and put on the halter. My part is really easy. I must admit that I am a little hesitant to charge in and capture Mango since that incident a couple of weeks ago when Rich and I were trying to halter her and she stood (not stepped quickly on and off) on my recently operated on right foot. It didn't really hurt since Mango is under 100 pounds. But I squealed loudly, "She's on my foot! She's on my foot!" because I am still a bit nervous about undoing the mending that the doctor performed. I do not want to go through that again anytime soon.

Once again, Mango performed like a seasoned pro. Originally we thought that Pressley might be showing Leezza at the fair this summer. It's a decision that we may probably reconsider since Mango seems to really like Pressley and being led around by her. Leeza did ever so much better this week, though. We purchased a much longer lead and Leezza does better when she is some distance behind us. I walked her and gradually shortened the lead until she was a bit closer to me. When she realized how near she was she began to hesitate. I let the lead out a bit and she walked again. I think eventually she will cooperate on a reliable basis.

Freezing Our Knees Off!

Rich reminded me this afternoon that when we signed the check to buy the girls  we also committed to care for them "for better or worse." I understood that, but what I'm having trouble with, is this halter training routine when it's 19 degrees fahrenheit with light winds outside. It's so much easier to imagine doing all of the assorted tasks that go along with caring for animals when it's a sunny 75 degree day in October! Our granddaughter, Olivia, is staying with us tonight so she bundled up and joined Rich and I in the pasture.

Olivia walks Mango

 





We haltered Mango and handed her over to Olivia to walk. Then we put the halter on Leezza and Rich took her. Leezza did much better today and followed Rich around the entire pasture without balking at all. This was Olivia's first time handling the alpacas and she is a natural. Mango sweetly followed Olivia as they did two laps around the pasture. Olivia is a real trooper for a city girl who is not used to dealing with animals who are as big as she is.

Rich and Leezza



Olivia and I made a batch of blueberry jam this afternoon out of berries that I had in the freezer from last summer. In June the two of us made two batches of strawberry jam, and one batch of raspberry all in the same day. We split those jars and she took half of them home.  I made a batch of blueberry later in the summer. All of it is almost gone! Admittedly we did not eat all of it. Some was given as gifts. Rich loves our homemade jam on his morning toast or waffles so I pulled out the berries that I froze for emergencies. This classifies as an emergency I guess. Now he should have enough to last until spring.

Olivia and Mango

The "Girls" of Buckeye Star Alpaca Farm

 

Rich fixed our Sunday dinner and it's in the oven now. We are all settling in for a cozy evening with our reading, knitting, texting, listening to Bieber songs and T.V. watching. Just guess which of us is engaged in which activity. I'm a very lucky woman.

Pressley came out Sunday afternoon for another training session with the alpaca girls. Because of my foot surgery and sickness, Pressley's and mine, it had been a month since we haltered up Leeza and Mango to walk them around the pasture. Rich and Pressley had to capture and halter the little ones since I am still not ambulating freely with my sore foot. Leeza got haltered first and as I held her she slipped partially out of the halter because it was a bit loose. After they finished Mango, Pressley readjusted Leeza's halter.

Mango, once again, surprised us at how easily she adapted to the halter and lead. She always fights a bit more than the others when we try to corner and catch her. But once the halter is firmly in place she willingly walks along side whoever is leading her. Rich and Pressley harnessed Mango and handed her to me while they readjusted Leeza's halter.  Baby Mango is very curious about people and as I was holding the lead she walked right up to me and sniffed at my hand.

Rich and Pressley led the girls around the muddy pasture and Mango followed beautifully. This is only the second time she has been in a halter and she walks on the lead as if she were a seasoned show animal. I am resisting the urge to boast too much about her accomplishment. She is still growing and maturing and like human children, you never know what they will do next.


Leeza resisted walking even more than the last training session in January. At one point she just kushed down in the mud and refused to walk. Pressley managed to get her to stand up again and traded animals with Rich. He was able to get Leeza to walk along behind him for a few minutes before he called a halt to the training session. We wanted to make sure that she had walked on the lead right before we turned her loose so that she wouldn't get the idea that she could kush and that would be the end of it. She needs to be gently taught that the humans are ultimately in charge and she must cooperate.

Leeza is a beautiful animal, perfectly proportioned with fine, soft, true brown fleece. We call her our little ballet dancer since she fairly dances across the pasture on tiptoe. She used to be the most timid of the animals but as she grows more familiar with us she is proving to be the most stubborn. She is also very partial to sweet feed and when we offer the treat from our hand she tries to push in front of the others and be the first to eat. Firenze doesn't let her get away with it and nudges her out of the way with a soft warning noise. Took and Mango don't mind sharing with her.

Before I close for the evening I can't resist posting this action shot of my favorite grandson, Max, playing in a basketball tournament on Sunday morning. He is a scrappy little player and I am very proud.

Firenze's New Coat

It's been a while, hasn't it? I had foot surgery last Friday and have not been able to go out to the barn or pasture to visit with the 'paca girls. I have had to be content to view them from the back door or one of the back windows. Not exactly the same as hand feeding them and listening to their calming hum. If the temperature had not dropped from the 40s when I last ventured outside to the current high today of 18 degrees I might be tempted to bundle up and hobble outside on crutches. But last night about 1/2 inch of dry snow fell and Rich has forbidden me to go out.

Two nights ago, when the winds were gusting at 40 mph, Rich locked the herd up inside the barn for the night. Our black beauty, Firenze, does not like to be locked inside and is constantly checking the window in the barn door and making distressing, whiny, little noises. She clearly likes to be free even in the worst weather. Last night she got wise to Rich's strategy of closing the door as they were busily feeding  and she refused to come inside until he had left the pasture. Smart. So he left the door open a crack all night. In the morning he usually finds them all sleeping close to the door in the "barn yard." I guess they are smart enough to know when to come inside.

A couple of weeks ago we purchased a coat for Firenze since she is older and her fleece doesn't get as full as the younger girls. When the weather forecast predicted high winds and low temperatures Rich got his brother, Danny, to help him put the coat on Firenze. Another thing she barely tolerates, but it reassures us that she has an extra measure of protection against the elements. The coat is a bright red and stands out against her true black fleece. If she only realized how attractive she looks I am sure that she would strut her stuff like a model on the catwalk!

Mango Makes Progress!

Pressley came out this afternoon to work with the girls again. It was unusually warm for January; 54 degrees. Unfortunately, because it was misty and very wet in the pasture, we had to work in the little barn. Pressley and I grabbed Mango first and haltered her. With very little initial resistance, Mango walked around the barn on the lead with Pressley in control. Mango is only eight months old and is progressing very quickly in her training. Pressley is also moving forward in her training. She is becoming very adept at grabbing and subduing the animals and they are responding positively to her.

Leeza, on the other hand, was being extremely stubborn today. While I held Leeza, Pressley put her halter on and took over from there. A few weeks ago, Leeza, walked around the pasture for Pressley like a champ. Today, not so much. First she put her head down, dug her heels in and would not even take the first step. No amount of coaxing could get Leeza to take a step forward and at one point she even kushed down in the straw and refused to budge. Pressley patiently kept trying to get her to move. No way. I tried to get her to take a step or two just to let her know that we weren't going to let her off the hook that easily. She needs to know that the people who feed and house her are the ones in charge. After one small step we let her go. The next nice day we will try again outside in the pasture. Maybe she feels more secure walking outside.

We also held both Firenze and mama Took to do a body score on each of them. They have both been getting an extra pound of sweet feed hand fed to them each day that it is 40 degrees or less outside to help them keep up their weight during gestation. Took is staying steady at a healthy weight and Firenze has finally put on some weight and feels much less bony. It seems that Firenze's intestinal problems have finally gone away, too.

Tonight I close by wishing my patient, thoughtful and handsome husband a happy anniversary!

Lead Training Mango

Yesterday was sunny and calm outside if a bit cold. The alpaca girls just love being outside in the sunshine and were positively basking in it.

This morning Rich decided was going to be a work day. It was, in fact, time to put baby Mango in a halter and hook up a lead and walk her like a big girl! We anticipated some resistance from mama Took because she is still somewhat protective of her baby. The plan was to corral both of them, hook up Took first and then Mango in the hope that Mango would follow her more experienced mama around on the lead. As luck would have it, Mango was the first one in our path when we backed them into the corner. Rich grabbed her around the neck and I snapped on the halter and the lead. After snugging up the halter a bit I took over the lead and held fast. Mango bucked a bit and then just stood there facing me, the lead taut between us. 

As we faced off, the other three ladies just stood by the door and watched. Took was not distressed in any way and they all were more curious than anything else. It was almost like they were wondering how Mango would tolerate being haltered and led. They seemed to stand by humming their encouragement to her. Mango pulled back and resisted a bit at first. I kept telling her what a good girl she was and encouraging her and she took a hesitating step forward. The two of us did the "resist-step" dance around the barn a bit. When Rich opened the barn door, the other three rushed out and Mango started to rush with them until she realized that I was still attached to her at the other end of the lead. We continued our dance, one step at a time, out into the door yard of the barn and a few feet out into the pasture. This continued for about 15 minutes with Mango becoming more cooperative as time went on until she had finally reached the end of her tolerance. She bucked a couple of times and I ended the lesson. It was a very satisfactory lesson and we will continue to practice with her each week until she is walking the show ring like a champion!