New Arrival

 

Last week an 18 wheeler backed up into our driveway and dropped off a new arrival.

A Deluxe Jr Portable Corral by  Shady Shack.

I decided to get one of these portable corrals for future overnight ACTHA CTC rides, base camp horse camping trips and for grazing my horse and llamas in the front yard (When we have grass. Thank you monsoon rains!).

I had considered getting an electric fence corral, but remembered how Apache reacted to the one that she was in last summer during our Carson National Forest camping trip. To say that she has a high respect for electric fence is putting it mildly. The pen that she and about 10 other horses were kept in during that trip was about 150 x 50 feet, and she avoided the edges of that pen and stayed in the center at all times. When I had to walk her through the electric gate, she was very high-headed, snorty, and bug-eyed and practically leapt through……I had to stay on my toes….not easy for me to do with my bum knee and creaky hips.

Also any time we’ve had to ride near an electric fence, Apache has gotten nervous to the point where it feels like she’s all coiled up like a ball of springs and wants to gallop right on past.

So, while I know she respects electric fencing, I nixed the idea of keeping her in an electric corral during horse camping trips, because I want her to be relaxed and calm while penned up in a small space and not worried and stressed. And I don’t want her to be tied up to a trailer all weekend, especially after she’s carried my butt around on trails all day long. I’m pleased with the inner dimensions of the corral, which create a 10x10 stall or a 13’ circle. Apache is able to lay down and walk around, too.

(I wasn’t too sure about those heavy duty velcro closures. But they are a nice safety feature in case a horse ever got tangled up in the fence panels)

   

Apache really does seem to like her new portable corral, too.

(Some of you have noticed that Fantastyk Voyager and I are neighbors and have asked how close we live to one another. Well this photo kind of gives a good idea. See the large barn on the left side of the photo? That’s Val’s barn. See the smaller barn on the right side of the photo? Yep, that’s mine. The llamas and goats have the paddock on the far right side of my barn and Apache has the two paddocks which are to the left of my barn and behind her portable corral. In fact our horse paddocks share a fence line, of which you can see coming down the upper left side of the photo, beside Val’s barn. So our houses are only separated by the distance between the two horse paddocks. So yeah, we’re friends, bloggers AND neighbors.) 

As for the llamas, unless they are sheared down to skin, they wouldn’t be bothered by an electric fence. And unless I ran at least one high string and one low string, they could just crawl under…..or leap right over the top.

(Catlinite, the old man, is the one I have to watch out for because he likes to kush down to eat, and I can totally see him shimmying right underneath this portable corral)

Speaking of Catlinite, oh boy! It has been way too long since I’ve tried to catch and halter him and it showed the other day, too. I had already haltered Cataleya, very easily I might add, and she was already inside the portable corral happily munching grass, so Catlinite was a stressed out, distracted mess pacing up and down the fence humming to his sister. If only he understood that I was trying to take him to her. bah!

I had to spend 20 minutes working with him to accept the rope and halter. Once I get him in the barn stall I can usually walk right up to him and get him haltered, but I made the mistake of first trying to catch him in his paddock and when I got the rope around his neck, he turned and ran off full barrel, so I had to let go. The 3 goats weren’t making it any easier on me because they were constantly getting in between Catlinite and me trying to get me to pet them. ugh! And after he got away from me in the paddock, he was a smarty pants and wouldn’t let me get close enough to be caught. So, I left the paddock and he finally went into the barn, where I locked him in and finally caught him. Naughty bugger! 

People always ask me, “Why Llamas?” And I tell them it all started when I was a little girl and watched the movie “Dr. Doolittle” for the first time, and saw his “Push Me-Pull Me”. I wanted one of my own someday! Never mind they don’t exist. hah!

Or do they?

Catlinite is a guard llama through and through and he takes his job seriously. He is often seen pacing the fence or kushing down at the farthest egde of his paddock keeping an eye out for danger. If he sees any, he is quick to herd the goats into the barn and then run back to take care of the predator. He came from a farm that used him to guard their huge herd of alpacas……and they never lost one or had one injured by predators or stray dogs, ever.  I watched him go after a stray dog in our paddock about a few months after we bought him 4 years ago (he is 7 years old now, and with his neck all snaked-out, his clawed hooves striking out as he ran after it full barrel, that dog was screaming for safety!

(Cataleya and Catlinite accept both of our ranch dogs. But Dobbie Girl still gets pretty intimidated when the llamas bend down to have a sniff.)

Cataleya, who arrived with Catlinite 4 years ago, is now 5 years old, and is a very sweet girl. She loves to leave the barn and go for walks and explore new places. She can be nurturing and patient with the goats, letting them nibble hay from her fleece, or lay beside her, but she has virtually no guard instincts and is happy to leave them behind if given the chance.

I trained her to carry a pack right after I bought her and she seems to enjoy going for a hike in the woods while carrying my water and gear.

Anyway, I guess I got off on a totally different subject, probably because I hardly ever talk about my llamas and the 4 year anniversary of when they first arrived here is in just another month. Wow! Time flies!

You can see those early llama posts if you’re interested: 

Officially a Llama Mama!

Llama Land

Room with a View of Llamas!

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Ok, so I won’t bore you with anymore llama talk. This post is about my new portable corral, for Pete’s sake!

Someone on my Facebook asked me if it was heavy to move around and told me that I was lucky to have a couple of strong young men to help me. Well, I’ve not had to utilize my strong young men at all, in fact. I can move it all by myself, thank you very much. hah!

Yes, it’s true, the 5’ high x 5’ wide, 3/4” steel panels only weigh 13 lbs each and I can carry two of them by myself. Which is very convenient, since I am currently using the portable corral to graze my animals in the front yard.

I‘ve already moved the corral 4 times since last week. And I have the Crop Circles to prove it. hah!

(The first two crop circles belong to Apache. Right after the llamas crop circled that 3rd one, I moved it up to the 4th location)

Seriously, aren’t those alien crop circles the funniest thing?

But at least the grass is getting mowed and it’s free food for the critters. It won’t last once the monsoon rains end in the next couple weeks. The grass only grows here once a year in late July/August and then it’s back to feeding hay full time.

Hard to believe that summer is over already.