Please welcome the newest addition to Giant Cricket Farm!
This dashing gent is West Wind's Hercules, a 4 year old pure black gelding llama.
In the animal world, "you get what you pay for" is very, very true. We didn't just throw down a couple of bucks for something cute and fuzzy. "Herc" is trained in all the llama skills needed for an astute llama to climb the social ladder these days. He can pull a cart, carry a pack load, and walk an obstacle course on a loose lead. He understands plenty of English that is useful for us, including "Stand" "Foot" "Teeth" "Walk" "Trot" "Left" "Right" and the all-important "Stop."
I'm excited as both a fiber artist and a farmer to see how I get along with llamas. Llamas are big, strong, stand-offish*, and graceful in an alien way. I expect we will be purchasing some equipment to go with him (especially the saddlebags for packing). We very well might end up commuting back to his old house so that the humans can get lessons in the various show types.
But the most important thing to me is: I am not allergic to llamas.
*Stand-offish is probably not the right word. He is very dignified without being obviously recalcetrant. And he also gracefully put up with being dragged repeatedly through an obsticle course by the various passers-by at the fiber festival yesterday.
ETA: here are the new photos of him.
1st Adult Non-Breeder Albemarle County Fair 2007
Reserve Champion Non-Breeder Albemarle County Fair 2007
2nd Advanced Public Relations Eastern Regionals 2007
3rd Advanced Pack Eastern Regionals 2007
2nd Advanced Obstacles Eastern Regionals 2007
2nd Performance Reserve Champion Eastern Regionals 2007
1st Pleasure Driving Eastern Regionals 2007
1st Obstacle Driving Eastern Regionals 2007
1st Driving Grand Champion Eastern Regionals 2007
3rd Adult Non-Breeder Eastern Regionals 2007
5th Non-Breeder, Top Five Eastern Regionals 2007
3rd Open Obstacle Old Dominion Gold Cup 2007
6th Open Public Relations Old Dominion Gold Cup 2007
4th Open Pack Old Dominion Gold Cup 2007
1st Pleasure Driving Old Dominion Gold Cup 2007
1st Obstacle Driving Old Dominion Gold Cup 2007
1st 2-yr-old Non-breeder Old Dominion Gold Cup 2007
1st Non-Breeder Grand Champion Old Dominion Gold Cup 2007
2nd Model Driving Virginia Classic 2007
2nd Pleasure Driving Virginia Classic 2007
2nd Obstacle Driving Virginia Classic 2007
Driving Reserve Champion Virginia Classic 2007
1st Non-Breeder, 2-yr-old Virginia Classic 2007
4th Non-Breeder, Top-Five Virginia Classic 2007
4th Novice Pack Virginia Classic 2007
3rd Novice Obstacles Virginia Classic 2007
3rd Novice Public Relations Virginia Classic 2007
2nd Novice Performance Reserve ChampionVirginia Classic 2007
1st Two-Year-Old Non-Breeder LAMAS Schooling Show 2006
Champion Non-Breeder LAMAS Schooling Show 2006
6th Warm-Up Obstacles LAMAS Schooling Show 2006
5th ALSA Open Obstacles LAMAS Schooling Show 2006
6th Open Obstacle Old Dominion Gold Cup 2006
3rd Open Public Relations Old Dominion Gold Cup 2006
5th Open Pack Old Dominion Gold Cup 2006
2nd Open Obstacle Albemarle County Fair 2005
4th Open Public Relations Albemarle County Fair 2005
3rd Open Pack Albemarle County Fair 2005
4th Open Obstacle Shenandoah Showcase of Stars 2005
6th Open Public Relations Shenandoah Showcase of Stars 2005
5th Novice Obstacle Virginia Classic 2005
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