Sorry for the delay in updating this blog, but it’s hard to type with frozen pads. Brrrrrr! This has been one brutal winter. Anyway, I’ve decided to go ahead and wrap up the 2013 season in this posting so we can get to the business of 2014.
The Iowa State Fair was largely a boys only show for us with the usual concentration on performance. Quaker took a Grand in Silky Male. Celee and the girl won Grand in Senior Youth Performance and Celee also won Grand in Non-Breeder.
The Nebraska State Fair was next. That was our first time to Grand Island and it was a nice trip. The usual boys went along with Lulu and Lluna. The judge there really liked us! Celee and the girl (Aspen) took grand in Senior Youth Performance with a near perfect run score of 99/100. That score plus his 93/100 and 96/100 really set the bar. Then the girl and Quaker took Grand in Open Novice Performance with scores of 73, 76 and 78 out of 80. High marks indeed. Celee won Grand Champion Non-Breeder, Quaker was Grand Champion Medium Wool Male and the old pro Lulu took Grand in Medium Wool Females with the Reserve going to Lluna. Don’t worry Lluna, it’s never bad to lose to the old pro. That grand also completed Lulu’s ALSA Halter Championship. The old gal has won about everything a llama can in halter. She even helped the bald man win the Open Showmanship class. Now it’s time for her to pass that incredible lineage on. The boys are lined up to have a date with her. In all, we entered 5 divisions and won Grands in all with a Reserve kicker. Not a bad weekend at all.
September was quiet since the LFA is now in conjunction with the Gathering, so our next event was Lama Market in Menomonee, WI. We took a few different faces on this trip. Pixie and the new boy Peeta joined the fun. Peeta’s mom Destiny came along for the ride to make sure the kid didn’t get too stressed and even stepped into the ring. Coda came along to work with the girl’s boyfriend so it was a fuller trailer than most of the year. Celee and the girl took Reserve in Senior Youth Performance; Celee took Grand in Non-Breeder; Quaker took Grand in Silky Male, Dazz took Reserve in Medium Heavy Male and Pixie took Grand in Silky Female.
The end of October we set off for Shawnee, OK for the ALSA National Show. Just the 4 boys again. No performance as the girl had lots of school activities going on as usual. They really need to hold this show at a different time of year if they want the youth to participate. Anyway, Razz and Celee took 2nd place in their classes (Med Adult Male and Adult Non-Breeder) while Quaker took 3rd in Med 2 yr old Male and Beast took 4th in the same. Not the show we had hoped for, but when your at the national championships, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th aren’t too bad. Heck, most llamas don’t even qualify to get here.
12 shows down, 1 to go!
We closed the season the second weekend of November in Louisville, KY. The North American International Livestock Expo is a show we have wanted to attend but never could make it. After another long drive across those dang Indiana roads, which cost us a tire this time, and 10 hours later we were there. This show was the boys, Pixie, Peeta, and two newbies, Bug and Stella. Things started pretty good with Peta and Pixie both earning 1st place in their silky classes. Bug earned a first in Heavy Juvenile Female and Stella was second in Medium Juvenile Female. Although the judge said she would have done better if she stood still. No performance this time either as the girl was in something called “a musical” back at school. She would have liked to be here though as one of the only two kids to beat her all year was here. We know she wanted another chance. Anyway.. the rest of the show was not as productive as hoped but Celee again came through in the end. This was a two day show, ILR on Saturday and ALSA on Sunday. Both days we were without a Grand or Reserve with the final division to go. Not a position we had been in all year. On Saturday, in a class of 21 non-breeder adults, Celee placed 2nd and then took Reserve. Sunday, in largely the same group, Celee took first and Grand switching places with the llama that beat him on Saturday. Thanks Celee, you saved our llama bacon!
Up Next: The summary!
The Weary Llama 