Swings hind end in show ring

[Marty McGee Bennett]

Hi Marty,
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Its been a couple of months, but I thought you might be interested.... had purchased the book, DVD, training rope, halter*and wand - all proved*GREAT in helping work better with the male stud 'Da Vinci', and with me understanding even more about these wonderful creatures. Each piece worked its wonder, just as you displayed in the DVD.
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Previously could not touch*Vinnie,*usually reared up to 'get away'. He is so comfortable with me now that I can pat him all over, feed out of my*hand and also the waist bag I carry, and haltering is too easy. Even managed to clip the front toe nails without restraining him - still working on the back.
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Still have one problem though. He has always been skittish when someone went behind him - understandable, I would too :-)* - problem is that although he is comfortable standing alongside me and I can inspect his fleece all over, if someone else approaches, he still moves his rear away, making it impossible for anyone else to inspect. I have tried getting someone else to hold his rein while I approach - still no good. Tried with redirecting his nose direction to get the rear back in place, gets even more skittish. I'm thinking I may train him to cush - that's the only time he lets anyone touch him all over, though that's not what a judge wants to see.
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Oh well, will keep trying...

[Marty McGee Bennett]

HI, Have you tried working with your guy in a small space at first like a catch pen? Approaching from behind with a treat grain or hay and just having him eat from someone who approaches from behind for a few times might help. Let me know how you do.. cheerio Marty McGee Bennett

[Tiffany Miller]

I have recently been working with a client who is experiencing something somewhat similar with a young alpaca (about 8 months old) who's being readied for the show ring this spring. The alpaca is comfortable and familiar with leading, but began rearing and bolting when the owner tried to touch his fleece while outside of the barn on lead. He went thru the roof, figuratively speaking of course, when another person approached from the other side.
I noticed a few obvious things right away--he was away from his mom and herd, walking alone; he's young and immature, in fact, he's still nursing; his handlers were choking up on the lead rope instead of giving him plenty of slack and space; he was outnumbered--2 people, 1 alpaca-- and we made adjustments.
First, I recommended the basics: giving him some slack on the lead rope, being ready to let the lead slide through his hand if he wasn't quick enough to preempt a bolt. I also suggested haltering mom and taking them both on a brief walk to see if her presence helped change some of his behavior. That alone worked wonders!
To get him comfortable with touch we stopped with both alpacas side by side and had the handler, who was standing at least arms length away, reach out and stroke the young alpacas neck with the back of the hand and step back before the alpaca moved away. Repeating that and stepping closer each time, making sure to keep the small side of his body towards him (handler is facing same direction as alpaca) and that the alpaca stayed in balance and in place (didn't want him to learn to step away from the handler). We progressed with that until he was comfortable being touched all over and then added another person approaching from the other side while the handler touched the alpaca, making sure they both stepped away before he moved. Next, we had the approaching person touch him while the handler kept hands off. Finally, both people were able to touch him from both sides with hardly a flinch from the little guy:) With mom present and chunking the exercise down into more manageable sizes he has done very well. It took 4 lessons. His confidence is increasing, he hasn't reared once and he seems very comfortable with being touched. A reminder that when you do your best to accomodate their fears while challenging them to learn BOTH the handler and the alpaca can succeed. It was great fun watching them both win!

[Marty McGee Bennett]

excellent story and very intuitive use of lots of the tools in your tool box. Your story shows a real understanding of how to problem solve. I loved reading about the very positive outcome. It is a great model for others to use to work on this same problem. I couldn't have said it better myself. Well Done!