Training in tandem

For whatever reason yesterday felt as though it could have been the first day of spring as opposed to another overly-mild day of a long winter run amuck. The sun was out, it was in the mid 50s, and the roads were even finally starting to dry up, at least here on the farm itself. It might have helped our perception as well that for the first time since last fall there were also small green shoots visible in the pastures. In fact it was the presence of that faint green hue that caused us last Friday to lock the animals off of the pastures down here at the Main Barn where our weaners and yearlings (including 80% of the male and female show strings) are all housed. The mild weather of last week had caused us to shed over a foot of snow pack in less than 72 hours so at this point the priority is to allow that grass a chance to get some actual growth over the next 6 weeks or so before grazing season will begin in earnest. The critters will have to hold court for now in the inside pens and the corrals of the Main Barn so that the paddocks that will hopefully sustain them through at least the end of July can get a good head start. Much will of course depend on how much rainfall we receive in the coming weeks but all things being equal usually the show critters coming home from the Futurity get to run out onto wavy green grass when they get off the trailer in mid to late April. It’s a nice reward. After all: nothing says “party” like a weeklong trip to Nebraska.

Meanwhile Jen and Kim have been steamrolling their way through the initial round pen sessions with our rookie show animals and all but 4 of the 16 have now had at least some time walking on a halter and lead. One of the more pleasant surprises of the last couple of weeks has been the revelation of just how smart and mellow the Elite Legend kids are. We’re really viewing that as the icing on the cake given their other qualities. Perhaps it’s just the contrast with those crias from other lines who are a bit more edgy, shall we say (talkin’ ’bout YOU Ringo)?  As the photo above shows, Elixir and Hyperion were so chill that the training team was even able to introduce them both to the round pen simultaneously without any issues whatsoever. If only the round pen training experience could be like that all of the time!  Follow me on Twitter @CCNFalpacas