[AlpacaTalk] RE: halter training cria
<<<<My 2 boys probably have never had halters. I hate chasing them into
the stall and locking them
in and then trying to get halters on as I figure the act of getting
them locked in the stall is
trauma enough, yet I really need to get them friendly.
Currently they are free to roam day and night in barn and around
pasture.
They eat well and are stand offish but not too frightened.
>>>>>
Hi Lysa,
My handsome studboy, Charlie Brown, since passed on to better pastures,
was similar when I got him, well actually much worse than what you are
describing. He wasn't a "rescue" as I paid for him, but I truly rescued
him. When I got him home and started to take off his halter, omg, he
had clearly worn that halter his entire life (he was 4). His nose
tissue had grown around it. It was the same col;or as he was so not
terribly noticeable at first. And it was a badly fitting halter to
boot. He was nasty and mean, hated humans. Close examination of his
papers showed he had never really had a home, just been shuffled around
the country from one auction to another. He was a very handsome boy.
But he kept his ears back constantly. Even if I wasn't out there and he
was alone, with the other pacas, in the pasture, his ears were always
back. My sweet girl Allie, who he was a present for :-), kept trying to
make friends and he would just spit her off! I began to hand feed him;
slowly slowly slowly. I never grabbed at him or tried to catch him. I
just stood very still in the pasture and waited for him to come. He had
to come to me to eat. Eventually he would let me touch him while he was
eating, but once the food was gone, so was he. I was so sad for him and
everytime I saw that halter I just wanted to grab him and remove it
asap. But I waited. One day, with some help feeding, I was able to
reach up and unbuckle. With it flapping loose like that, it took the
rest of the day for it to come off on its own.
His ears began to come up. Allie finally made friends with him. But he
was always difficult to handle. I took him to a Marty seminar and she
worked her magic on him. Showed me how to catch him with the long rope
and that worked like a charm for the rest of his life. I use that
technique now for all mine. Just start by draping the long rope across
the back of his neck, and sometimes you don't even need a halter. Marty
showed me how to make a quick halter out of the rope and often that will
suffice for a quick look see or treatment. He turned out to be the
easiest of all my alpacas to handle. Once he was haltered he was putty
in my hands :-) and I could do absolutely anything to him (and I had to
do a lot over the years as he always seemed to have some sort of issue
going on needing attention). He was so good and so easy. Funny thing,
my sweet girl Allie that gives kisses and comes easily up to you and
even will allow herself to be petted is just the opposite, once the
halter goes on she fights any treatment tooth and nail. I have seen her
climb a fence sideways with those feet whenever we were trying to give
her her monthly Decto injection. Each and every time it was the same
battle; took both me and the vet to hold her and give her the shot. But
Charlie Brown was easy as pie.
I will be interested to see what Heather and the others have to say, as
I have 2 that were brought in together about 3 yrs ago. they had
clearly never been handled, were skittish as all get out and very
standoffish. Circumstances prevented me from being able to spend the
time with them that was needed and they continue to this day to be very
standoffish and difficult to deal with.....but they are the 2 that made
me this wonderful baby :-). Luckily neither of them have had any health
problems that required a lot of interaction. I have always trained mine
to come to a small catch pen to eat (separate) so that when I need to do
something I can get them easily in a small space where it is easy to
drape that rope across the back of their neck and put their halters on
for whatever reason.
Warmly, Janice
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posted by Chaddo at 12:01 PM
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