Ok so I said I would take some pictures of my halter breaking today.... so I made sure to take the camera and I took a few chicken picture too!!
First off let me start by saying this is the way I do it, it may not be the way other do and it may not be the way for everyone, it is simply the method that I prefer. I have been working with Felix for about three weeks now. Felix is a 5month old modern gray male, he will be weaned in the next month but we want to get the halter breaking done first to minimize the stress of weaning and halter breaking. This is only his 7 or 8th time in 3 weeeks ever having a halter on and he did exceptionally well. Some alpacas are naturals on a halter and basically have it on the first few tries, some are not so easy and some seem virtually impossible, they all can be made to walk on a halter to some degree.
The first and one of the most important things is the fit of the halter, it should fit well but not tight at all. you should be able to place two finger under it easily around the nose and neck, if not the halter does not fit well and that can lead to trouble getting them to walk on a halter, especially if it fits tight around the nose, their nose is soft cartilage and if it fits tight you will hear a wheezing sound of them struggling to breath when you put tension on the halter. Obviously they will not like this and thus will cush and buck and generally refuse to do anything you want them to do. Here is a picture of Felix with his halter on and properly fitted.
Here is a picture of him on the pole with the bungee as mentioned in my previous post, notice he is a bit upset by being put on the post and not relaxed, I will take him off of the post and work with him when he gets more relaxed and I feel he is ready, he has to decide that for himself. Some alpacas will have to spend maybe an hour a day for three or four days on the post before they are relaxed and ready to be worked on a lead so don't get discouraged if yours don't relax after the first 15 minutes it may take some time before they are not alarmed by being on the pole. They will also buck and kick and throw a fit some times but that is why we use a bungee not a rope, so they will not hurt their neck. Also notice the bungee is attached to the pole over his head, that is so if he does cush it is more comfortable for him to stand back up than lay down... if they get it in their head it is easier to just lay down then they will do it every time they feel pressure on the lead as well.
Here he is about 20 minutes later all relaxed and calm looking like he is ready to let me put the lead on him. Now I walked over and he instantly went into a fit, so I walked back off and let him calm back down, I really believe it is important to let them do all these things in as calm a manner as possible so they do not associate any fear or harm at all with the halter or lead. it took him just a couple minutes to chill out again so I gave him another try and he let me out the lead on him and take him off the pole with no protest.
The best thing if they want to lock up is to follow their tail, basically just give enough slack in the lead that you can walk back with a light amount of tension to their back legs then just keep walking towards the back legs in a circle. (does that make any sense??) They do not want you behind them and they do not want you that close to their back end so they will naturally just follow your tail as well. After a few turn (and before you fall over from getting dizzy) just keep moving but now in a straight line, they may lock up again but that's ok just start back on circles, eventually they will begin to follow you for a few steps before they lock up or buck or cush. Now if they cush you want to get them back to their feet, grab them by the base of the tail and lift their rear end and they will stand back up, make sure you grab near the base as you can hurt them if yo grab the end of it, then go back to circles...... always back to circles until you get the desired results. Here Felix is locked up on me, we walked circles today for maybe half an hour and actually walked in a straight line for 5 minutes at the most.
He did do rather well today though and we made a whole trip from one end of the barn back to his pen so I told him we could call it a day on a good note and we will work more on Sunday. I try not to do the same ones every day so they don't get burnt out and i don't get frustrated (easier for me to get frustrated). Here was the one good picture of him while he was walking with me... he really didn't like the flash all that much.
Time and patience is all it takes for these guys I promise, other than that just don't get frustrated. Make them work for you not you for them, never be afraid. I have seen perfectly docile very mellow alpacas become absolute monsters, if they feel they can dominate you... they will. Just like Caesar Millan says calm assertive energy, and not even that, just be calm and not afraid. My seven year old helps me work the animals and has helped more than once to halter break them, He has no fear of putting a halter on an animal that weighs 160lbs and leading it to the scale or to a pen for breeding he weighs about 50 lbs soaking wet. Yes we have a few girls that have permanent PMS but he knows them and will not mess with them as they are usually a good handful for even me at 5'11" and 200lbs I have ridden a couple across the pen on health day and just this last spring was knocked out cold in the driveway by an outside breeding girl that was pretty high strung and had escaped her pen. Those few are the exception not the rule though.
Again if you have any questions or I can help you in any way please let me know and I will be glad to share any information I can.
Here are a few pictures just for fun.......
One of our co-owned herd sires Strauss: multiple color champion, and another of our co-owned herd sires in the background Mustang: ugly but he throws beautiful crias.
Here is one of my favorite females on the whole farm, Fabiola. She has a few first place ribbons on here and she shows it in density and crimp coming out of her ears... I love this girl.
And of course I cannot leave out my helping hand around the farm, since his big brother is in school now he is THE man.
Steve
First off let me start by saying this is the way I do it, it may not be the way other do and it may not be the way for everyone, it is simply the method that I prefer. I have been working with Felix for about three weeks now. Felix is a 5month old modern gray male, he will be weaned in the next month but we want to get the halter breaking done first to minimize the stress of weaning and halter breaking. This is only his 7 or 8th time in 3 weeeks ever having a halter on and he did exceptionally well. Some alpacas are naturals on a halter and basically have it on the first few tries, some are not so easy and some seem virtually impossible, they all can be made to walk on a halter to some degree.
The first and one of the most important things is the fit of the halter, it should fit well but not tight at all. you should be able to place two finger under it easily around the nose and neck, if not the halter does not fit well and that can lead to trouble getting them to walk on a halter, especially if it fits tight around the nose, their nose is soft cartilage and if it fits tight you will hear a wheezing sound of them struggling to breath when you put tension on the halter. Obviously they will not like this and thus will cush and buck and generally refuse to do anything you want them to do. Here is a picture of Felix with his halter on and properly fitted.
Here is a picture of him on the pole with the bungee as mentioned in my previous post, notice he is a bit upset by being put on the post and not relaxed, I will take him off of the post and work with him when he gets more relaxed and I feel he is ready, he has to decide that for himself. Some alpacas will have to spend maybe an hour a day for three or four days on the post before they are relaxed and ready to be worked on a lead so don't get discouraged if yours don't relax after the first 15 minutes it may take some time before they are not alarmed by being on the pole. They will also buck and kick and throw a fit some times but that is why we use a bungee not a rope, so they will not hurt their neck. Also notice the bungee is attached to the pole over his head, that is so if he does cush it is more comfortable for him to stand back up than lay down... if they get it in their head it is easier to just lay down then they will do it every time they feel pressure on the lead as well.
Here he is about 20 minutes later all relaxed and calm looking like he is ready to let me put the lead on him. Now I walked over and he instantly went into a fit, so I walked back off and let him calm back down, I really believe it is important to let them do all these things in as calm a manner as possible so they do not associate any fear or harm at all with the halter or lead. it took him just a couple minutes to chill out again so I gave him another try and he let me out the lead on him and take him off the pole with no protest.
The best thing if they want to lock up is to follow their tail, basically just give enough slack in the lead that you can walk back with a light amount of tension to their back legs then just keep walking towards the back legs in a circle. (does that make any sense??) They do not want you behind them and they do not want you that close to their back end so they will naturally just follow your tail as well. After a few turn (and before you fall over from getting dizzy) just keep moving but now in a straight line, they may lock up again but that's ok just start back on circles, eventually they will begin to follow you for a few steps before they lock up or buck or cush. Now if they cush you want to get them back to their feet, grab them by the base of the tail and lift their rear end and they will stand back up, make sure you grab near the base as you can hurt them if yo grab the end of it, then go back to circles...... always back to circles until you get the desired results. Here Felix is locked up on me, we walked circles today for maybe half an hour and actually walked in a straight line for 5 minutes at the most.
He did do rather well today though and we made a whole trip from one end of the barn back to his pen so I told him we could call it a day on a good note and we will work more on Sunday. I try not to do the same ones every day so they don't get burnt out and i don't get frustrated (easier for me to get frustrated). Here was the one good picture of him while he was walking with me... he really didn't like the flash all that much.
Time and patience is all it takes for these guys I promise, other than that just don't get frustrated. Make them work for you not you for them, never be afraid. I have seen perfectly docile very mellow alpacas become absolute monsters, if they feel they can dominate you... they will. Just like Caesar Millan says calm assertive energy, and not even that, just be calm and not afraid. My seven year old helps me work the animals and has helped more than once to halter break them, He has no fear of putting a halter on an animal that weighs 160lbs and leading it to the scale or to a pen for breeding he weighs about 50 lbs soaking wet. Yes we have a few girls that have permanent PMS but he knows them and will not mess with them as they are usually a good handful for even me at 5'11" and 200lbs I have ridden a couple across the pen on health day and just this last spring was knocked out cold in the driveway by an outside breeding girl that was pretty high strung and had escaped her pen. Those few are the exception not the rule though.
Again if you have any questions or I can help you in any way please let me know and I will be glad to share any information I can.
Here are a few pictures just for fun.......
One of our co-owned herd sires Strauss: multiple color champion, and another of our co-owned herd sires in the background Mustang: ugly but he throws beautiful crias.
Here is one of my favorite females on the whole farm, Fabiola. She has a few first place ribbons on here and she shows it in density and crimp coming out of her ears... I love this girl.
And of course I cannot leave out my helping hand around the farm, since his big brother is in school now he is THE man.
Steve
