Sunday 30 May 2010

Halter Training !!....Hang On !!

Zeto ... he is lovely natured
Duke, he is a lovely pest ! at times

Zullulah, she is a feisty little girl !


Zienna, she is calm and sweet natured, like her dad



What is going on with the weather...lately ! It has been torrential rain this morning ! So much so that I thought I'd need a life raft !!
As the weather was horrible, the babies were not put out until this afternoon. So I decided to do a little halter training. This is the first time we have done this, but I think that its is a worth while thing to do. If you ever need to take your animals any where, it is lovely to be able to lead them with you happily. I have a couple of girls who are not halter trained and can be a bit of a handful to say the least. So in my opinion it is a very worth while experience.

As guessed, Zienna was a sweetie, she has had more contact with me than the others, some may remember that she had to be bottle fed for the first week, as she did not bond with her mum ! for some unknown reason, and I had my hands full with Minstrel who was not a happy mother at the time, I was regularly covered in spit and the chore to feed her was a right ordeal at the time. But I persevered and we made it !! Zienna accepted the halter and she was happy to wear this without any problems....so she was left untied to get used to the idea.

I then moved onto Zeto, my grey boy. He is a little bit of a handful at times, but he is a real sweetie and in fact really does not mind any hands on contact. He was a little concerned at the over the nose idea, but once he was wearing it, he accepted it without any problem.

I did not halter Duke as he has already been acquainted with the halter, so he is a little bit in front of my babies for the moment. Mind you he is a pest...when it comes to Zullulah, my black and white girl. He loves her and would not leave us alone. I was trimming Zeto's toe nails on Friday and he was almost lying on top of me as I tried to trim Zeto's feet, he is a real pest at times, I think there was a little bit of jealousy going on, as he was not getting the attention.

Meanwhile, onto Zullulah, she is a little bit of a mardy madam, at times, she is also a bit of a flighty pants. I knew that she would be the one to put up a struggle. Firstly she protested as the halter was being fitted and then we managed to get over that hurdle, then came the bronco jumps, as she tried in vein to fight the halter off.....she was not very happy that this strange thing was still there. She calmed down a little and then she sulked and was refusing to move ! After a little while, I managed to coax her to walk forward, just a little introduction to this, as I believe, lots of little and positive is the best method.

So that was the haltering experience....for now. I shall be doing it all again, tomorrow !!
No doubt !

3 comments:

Apple Vale Alpacas said...

Good luck Jayne, it'll be worth it in the end. I'm trying to train Minnie, but she's four years old so quite stubborn, and with a kick like a whiplash! She's fine with the halter, but leading is going nowhere at the moment - lots of standing around waiting for her to accept it. Dave.

Zanzibah Alpacas said...

They are all different ! But I think it helps to start early !!...but keep trying, don't give up......Jayne

Shirley said...

Good to see you getting the better of your team, Jayne! Haltering isn't too big a problem with our boys, but 'walkies' takes a bit more effort. It does seem that some days they are more accepting of training than other days too. Good luck! Nice to see the photos now that we have met your girls & boys. Shirley & Robbie