Summer - Classical MileEnd Alpacas

overview camelidynamics
overview camelidynamics
This is my fair weather set up. In the winter
or foul weather, I use my barn, which has a
passage way between two rows of pens. At
one end is a large mirror and at the other the
gate leading to the great outdoors. When I
lead the alpacas I stand as far away as possible
from them and give them the ratchet signal.
I use the ultimate lead to give me the extra
distance I need to make them feel safe about
coming forward. I will go up and down a
couple of times keeping myself at the same
distance from the alpaca student. At this stage
I tend to introduce the voice commands of
walk on and whoa, but I suspect that they
aren’t really necessary and alpacas understand
perfectly well what we want them to do.
Fig. 5.
At this stage Kira is not being
asked to go away from the
herd, only alongside them.
Stage four
Using The Wand
If you have previously tried to teach your
alpacas to lead without the long, narrow
aisle way as shown above, you may have
experienced leading your alpaca student away
from the herd and then try desperately to slow
them down as they return to them in a hurry.
The way to lead alpacas with both brakes and
a steering wheel is to introduce the wand.
Fig. 6
Introducing the stop signal
As you can see by the look of surprise on
Kira’s face this is the first time I have used this
signal with her. However she quickly becomes
happy to follow it and for me to work closer
to her.
Please note I never fall behind her eye or
ever let the hand holding the lead (normally
my right hand) even get level with her face.
At this stage of their training, dropping back
to the same level as the alpaca tends to make
them run past you. If you let your hand fall
behind the eye and you try to pull them back -
you will end up with them pulling past you as
it is the equivalent of putting your foot on the
accelerator.
Fig. 7
Working closer to Kira
who is now leading nicely.
Stage five
Outside the long narrow aisle way.
I set up a simple labyrinth, made from white
plastic poles at the end of my long narrow
aisle way. When the alpaca and I have been up
and down a couple of times using the wand
and in control, I undo the end of the aisle way,
and then lead them straight into the labyrinth.
Fig. 8
Navigating the labyrinth.
At each ‘end’ I ask the alpaca for a stop
before I negotiate the turn. This set up teaches
them a right hand and a left hand turn, under
your control. Please note the alpaca shouldn’t
step outside the poles whereas you can and
should to give them space.
I like this series of photos because it shows
Aster learning and responding to very minimal
signals from the lead and wand. I don’t need
to have any pressure in the lead rope, as the
wand is showing her all she needs to know
about turning and stopping.
Fig. 9 (series of 4 images)
‘Listening’ to my signals, interested, relaxed and alert.
How long does this process take I teach
my weanlings to lead over three days, usually
in the winter, in my barn. On the first day, I
teach them the leading signal, which takes
five minutes maximum each. On the second
we reprise the leading signal then go up and
down in the aisle way in the barn again for
about 5 to 10 minutes each, on the third we go
up and down a real narrow lane which leads
from my barn to their field a couple of times,
and do the labyrinth at the end of it, about
10-15 minutes. This is half an hour in total per
animal.
Problem solving strategies
• Sometimes alpacas can jump when first
given the leading signal. This is your cue to
keep hold of the rope, but not follow our
instinctive response which is to hold on
tighter. As every action has an equal and
opposite reaction, pulling tighter means that
the alpaca will pull harder in the opposite
direction. You need to override your instinct
and give with the lead rope to create that dip
in the lead once more, so you are back to the
contact point.
• Alpacas can also rear, which in my
experience is because there the lead rope is
often being held too tightly whilst they are
doing what you want and walking.
• Confusion gets the better of them
sometimes and they may kush. I have found
two things which help a lot here, the first
is facework, which is a Tellington Touch
technique we teach on courses and the second
is backing away from the alpaca to the very
end of the lead rope and being patient.
• An attempt to bolt once out of the aisle
way is another possible response and this is
another advantage of the long lead. If you look
at the way I am holding the lead and its folds,
my wand and the folds of rope are in my left
hand and I am using my right hand to give the
signals. If the alpaca bolts I can immediately
let go with my right hand and pay out all the
rope in my left hand, just closing my hand on
the knot at the end of the rope. By the time
the alpaca has got away this far they have
stopped running and you can walk up to them
as you refold your rope, and you carry on with
the lesson. It is very important that you fold
the rope over your left fingers, and not coil it.
Normally, if you have to drop the end of the
lead the alpaca will come to a standstill and
you can walk up to the end of the rope, put
your foot on it and regroup. This is probably
best not done on or near a road.
Step six
What next
I teach all of my alpacas and llamas to lead and
to load because it is the easiest way for me
to move just one around. For most of them,
getting to the labyrinth stage is enough for
them and for me to know that they won’t
forget they know how to lead should the
need arise. I don’t need to keep refreshing
or working with them, as they don’t forget. I
recently purchased a seven year old alpaca that
I had bred and taught to lead as a weanling,
and then sold. She had been led perhaps once
or twice a year for a couple of years and then
just used for breeding. A journalist wanted
to use her to take pictures for an article on
me and Tteam training, to my surprise she
remembered everything including how to
do all the obstacles perfectly and even did
new obstacles that I had invented since she
had left.
Usually however, after they have navigated
the labyrinth, I take my camelid students
for a walk around the field, and some other
interesting area on the farm they may never
have been before, this exposes them to new
experiences and builds their trust in me. For
the first time I take the long ultimate lead and
the wand, thereafter I dispense with first the
extension on the lead, and then the wand.
There are others that love working, learning
and interacting and for fun I will take them
through an obstacle course. If you would
like to learn more about this, have a look
on my website: www.carthveanalpacas.
com/articles.html or look at the Camelid
Companion by Marty McGee Bennett. Others
in the herd will be shown and have to have
a bit more training at ‘show school’. You can
see the process I use for this on the same
webpage. l
If you would like to find out more
about Camelidynamics training, halters,
equipment, books and courses, or if you
are interested in hosting a course, please
see my website: www.carthveanalpacas.
com or email me on taylor.browne@
clara.net
32 Alpaca World Magazine
summer 2010 summer 2010
Alpaca World Magazine 33