Archives
December, 2013
H
o
w can I begin to explain the excitement we felt on Monday, December 30, 2013, when Shangrila’s Confetti gave birth to a positively SMASHING Appaloosa boy? This fellow, whose father is Killian, has light brown spots all over him and fiber to DIE for! Confetti is the model mom, being so very attentive from the minute he was born. As he have done with previous Appaloosa babies, we checked the Appaloosa horse registry for names and settled on Cordero. Cordero is among the most gorgeous babies we have ever seen. He is gentle and intelligent; he would excel in the showring, as a herdsire, or as your best friend. Do not delay! This boy won’t last for long!
W
e were watching Confetti and Argentina all day long Monday, December 23, 2013, expecting a baby any minute. But did we pay any attention at all to Tessa? No!!!! So, it wasn’t until afternoon chores that we realized Tessa had given birth to a lovely little girl! By the time we found her, she was already standing and nursing. And of course, Tessa is a perfect mom! This little girl looks just like Iris, her older sister. Yes, she is just that pretty! So she needed a pretty name. We quickly settled on Emma. Emma, whose extraordinary fiber came from her father, Trouble, is a lovely shade of gold with a dark head. What a gorgeous surprise!
T
uesday, December 3, 2013, Lacey gave birth to Trouble’s first son, a smashing black boy with dark brown highlights and just a little bit of white on his chin. He came out strong and coordinated. And SMART! He found those nipples in record time! Once he found them, he had no intention of letting them go! We were in love within just minutes! We knew he had to have a very special name. See if you can follow our logic. His dad is Trouble. “We’ve got Trouble. Right here in River City.” Do you remember that song from The Music Man? The Music Man (the original movie) starred Robert Preston. That’s right Our new boy’s name is Preston! Preston may have his father’s build and fiber, but he definitely has his Mother’s face. He got the best of both worlds!
November, 2013
Sometimes
you take a picture that is so FREAKIN’ adorable you just HAVE to share it! So here you go! This is Yin (Shangrila’s Yin and Yang) with her Trouble daughter, Hoshi. Yin loves to stand on this stump and survey the farm from the elevated height. She will walk her back feet around, keeping her front feet on the stump, so she sees the full 360 degrees. We think she is sooo cute! And speaking of cute! Can you say Hoshi? We could not possibly be happier with these two girls. We plan to breed Yin to Betelgeuse McGrath for another smashing Appaloosa next year!
Arcadia
went into labor on Saturday, November 9, 2013 at 1:00 PM. By 3:00, she still hadn’t broken water, so I put on gloves and went in. I had to go in very far before I felt anything. But it wasn’t head or nose or feet. It was just a solid mass. I didn’t know what I was feeling, but I knew we didn’t have a normal presentation. Ken called our vet who came right out. He stuck his hand in and knew immediately that the head was back. He straightened it out and within minutes we had a baby! A big strong, healthy and HUNGRY baby! She was standing in 15 minutes and nursing within 30 minutes! In celebration of this miraculous birth, we named tour newest Checkers daughter Gloria. Gloria is strong, straight, BIG, and still very, very hungry! Thank you, Checkers. Your legacy lives on.
October 10, 2013
S
unday, October 13, we drove to Charlottesville, VA and purchased a new herdsire from Paige McGrath of Lower Sherwood Farm. After much serious consideration of three very nice males, we finally settled on Betelgeuse McGrath, a three year old son of Rebano Escondido Tercero (E.T.). Betelgeuse is a very loudly marked Appaloosa. Yes, you may think of us as your Appaloosa Connection. We now have three herdsires and four breeding females with Appaloosa in their pedigrees. If you have not yet seen an Appaloosa llama, give us a call and let us show you how incredibly striking these animals are!
Yin 
was in the Nursery, but not due for another couple of weeks. However, we were watching her as she was a maiden and she had a very large milk bag. Suddenly, Yin went in to labor and very quickly gave birth to a positively smashing Appaloosa daughter. Appaloosa, you say? We were also surprised, since neither Yin, nor the new father, Trouble are Appaloosa. But, as we remembered, Yin’s father is Appaloosa and Trouble’s father is a dilute Appaloosa. So, I guess this little girl got the best of her two grandfathers! Her name? We call her Hoshi, to continue the Asian heritage of her mother.
September, 2013
T
uesday morning, September 17, 2013, we were dong chores as usual. After all, we were not expecting a baby for another week or so. When we got to West Twenty, I entered Trouble’s paddock and immediately heard high pitched humming. I looked toward Carin Cole and saw a beautiful black and white cria! Carin cole had a baby! I picked up the baby and Carin Cole followed us to the Nursery. It didn’t take us long to name this beautiful little girl with the bright eyes and charming personality. Nicole’s babies have Cole in their name (hence, Carin Cole) and we have been thinking a lot about Nicole lately. In addition, this is Trouble’s third daughter. So, in honor of her grandmother and her father, we named this brand new baby Elevenses Trina Cole. Welcome, Trina Cole! We are pleased to meet you!
December, 2012
November, 2012
October, 2012
Ride
Sally Ride was on gestation day 331 when she gave birth to our first Trouble Cria. Ride Sally is always early, and this little girl was four days short of normal range! Luckily, it was Sunday (October 7, 2012) and we were both home. This little girl was not strong enough to nurse, but she sucked just fine on a bottle! We got 33 ounces of colostrum in her during the first 24 hours. Then she switched to mom and she hasn’t looked back! Her name? We call her Sunita, after Sunita Williams, the current commander of the International Space Station. Our Suni has the finest, shiniest black fiber you have ever seen! Trouble, you did good!
The very next day, October 8, 2012, Arcadia gave birth to our second Trouble Cria. As much as Ride Sally was early, Arcadia was late. One leg was back and Ken thought Arcadia was going to have trouble giving birth. But while Ken was waiting for our vet, out popped a baby! This BIG girl is totally AWESOME! She has the most amazing assortment of brown, black, gray and white fiber you could possibly imagine! Corazon (Spanish for Heart) is just dripping with luxurious fiber that rivals her dad’s. She is tall, straight, robust...what more could you possibly want? Trouble, you are exceeding even the very high hopes we had for you!
We
brought Serqet over to the Nursery the evening of Monday, October 22, 2012. We were just in time, because Serqet gave birth to a beautiful, brilliantly, blindingly WHITE baby on Tuesday, October 23, 2012. As with Serqet’s previous two babies, this little boy’s father is Checkers. When you find a good combination, you have a tendency to keep going back to it! His name? He told us himself. “Call me Ishmael!” Ishmael was standing in 20 minutes and nursing in 45. Talk about a progeny! Ishmael is completely white with the exception of a tiny black dot on each hip and a small black spot on his tail. He is strong, straight, and SMART! Ishmael is going to be a delight to train and I suspect he will love being the center of attention! Can you say PR llama?
We
examined Argentina Sunday morning, October 28, 2012 and decided she wasn’t going to have a baby that day and so left her out in pasture. Well, we couldn’t have been more wrong! That afternoon, as I was going across the pastures, closing gates and filling water buckets, Checkers’ entire herd was out in pasture. I called them to come in, and a little colorful cria came running in after Argentina! Argentina had a baby! I picked up the baby and Argentina followed me to the Nursery (where babies are SUPPOSED to be born!). As soon as I put this little girl down, she started nursing on Mom. This was definitely NOT the first time she had done this! We wanted the perfect name for this perfect cria with a perfect first time Mom. We went to a map of Argentina and found it. Esquina. Esquina is BEYOND beautiful! We couldn’t be happier! Congratulations, Argentina and Checkers!
February, 2012
On Friday, February 24, 2012, Glory Day went into labor. After a couple of hours with no progress, I 
went in. I discovered that the baby was a breech - rear pointed out. The baby’s back legs were bent at the hocks, with the toes pointed forward. I knew I had to unbend the back legs so that I could bring the feet out first, but I didn’t know how to do it without hurting the baby. So, we called our vet and he came right out. I explained the situation and he told me you have to bring the feet out to the sides rather than down. Within minutes, he had the legs in the correct position but it took a great deal of effort with both Ken and our vet pulling to get the baby out. We took extra care to make sure all the fluid was out of his respiratory system and thanked our vet profusely for giving us a live baby! As all of Glory’s babies have Day in their name, we called this Checkers baby Daybreak.
Two hours later, we started giving Daybreak colostrum and got 34 ounces in him before he started nursing on Mom the next day. As you know, fetuses face forward during much of their gestation. A couple of weeks prior to birth, Mom turns the baby so that it is facing toward the rear. It appears as if Glory started to turn Daybreak, but he got stuck. So, everything on him faced to the left. Both front feet pointed to the left, his left rear leg was weak, and his spine curved to the left. I purposely used the past tense in that sentence as Daydream is starting to straighten out! HIs left rear leg is as strong as his right rear leg, his toes on his front feet point forward as much as they point to the left, and his spine appears to be straightening! And he is only a week old! Daybreak is our latest miracle!
October, 2011
E
levenses Kachina started October, 2011 with a bang! She gave birth to a smashing Checkers son on Saturday, October 1. As you know, Kachina and Checkers combine so well that we just keep breeding her back to him. Well, we were no disappointed! This little boy is white with a black blanket and black marking on his face. We were so impressed that we spent the rest of the day trying to come up with the perfect name for him. I think we did it. Meet Elevenses Chaveyo (say Cha-VAA-oh)! Chaveyo is the Ogre Kachina. If Hopi children are particularly bad, Chaveyo threatens to eat them! I suspect our Chaveyo is more inclined to kisses!
Just
two days later, Tessa provided us with the most adorable, totally black, Titan daughter you have ever seen! Oh my! This child looks just like her mother: beautiful and feminine with perfect conformation. She has extraordinarily soft, silky fiber. And smart! This child will keep you on your toes! She has a mind for numbers and is definitely headed for a PhD in mathematics. Her name, you ask? Well, Tessa is short for Contessa and her new baby is definitely royalty. So we named her Elevenses Duchess. Come see her. You will fall in love as we have!
April, 2011
W
ell, guess what? Lil had her third cria on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 and it was an Appaloosa! Three crias, three Appaloosas! The first Appaloosa (Altivo)was not a surprise since we bought Lil already bred to an Appaloosa. We were surprised last year when she had Leto, and Appaloosa, by Titan. So guess what? We rebred her to Titan. And she did it again! This little guy is totally AWESOME! And deserves a totally AWESOME name. We finally settled on Kadin, Arabic for Companion. Kadin is straight, strong, and has magnificent multicolored wool. He had troubles finding Mom’s nipples, so we gave him colostrum by bottle. Lil is the perfect mom and does not mind at all that we are helping her raise her son.
Since Altivo and Leto are already sold, Kadin is the only Appaloosa we have available. Come see him. You won’t be disappointed!
February, 2011
Kelly and Sugar Ray
Monday
, February 21, 2010, Serqet gave birth to her fourth cria; her second by Checkers. This little guy is AMAZING!!! He is 22 pounds of the most adorable, intelligent, energetic perfectly conformed bundle of love you have ever seen! In no time, his name became Sugar Ray. Sugar Ray is white with a black blanket. He has a black spot on the top of his head and he has a big brown patch on the left side of his face just like his mom. Sugar Ray gets his beautifully curved ears and his extraordinary fiber from his dad. If Serqet and Checkers keep doing this, it is going to be really hard to reed her to anyone else!
October, 2010
Celeste
gave birth to her first Checkers cria on Friday, October 29, 2010. This multicolored little girl of 24 pounds has truly stolen our hearts! We were concerned that Celeste didn’t have enough milk, so we managed to give her baby 13 ounces of colostrum before the little one decided that what Mom had was way better. Once she was solidly on Mom, we started searching for the world’s best name. We think we found it! As you know, Celeste’s registered name is Elevenses Celestial Fire. Her daughter’s name is Elevenses Larissa. Larissa is a moon of Neptune, discovered in 1989 by Voyager 2. Our Larissa is intelligent, personable, and positively gorgeous! We are in love!
May 2010
Elev
enses Glory Day was HUGE, late, and about as uncomfortable as a llama can be. We were afraid she was going to explode rather than give birth. I was in Washington, DC attending an FDA meeting on May 3, 2010 when Glory went into labor. Rather than take a chance, Ken immediately called our vet. Good thing, too, as it soon became apparent that Glory had a dystocia. Forty-five minutes of hard work finally resulted in a HUGE, thirty-five pound, totally white male cria. This boy has wool all over his body - even between his toes! He has a huge head just like his father, Checkers, and a huge heart. As you know, all of Glory’s babies have Day in their names. It didn’t take long to name this very special boy Elevenses DayGlo. DayGlo has stolen my heart! Come visit him and let him steal your heart, too.
April 2010
J
ust
two days later, April 5, 2010, Elevenses Kachina went into labor. She wasn’t making any progress, so Ken went in and found that the two front feet were bent down behind Kachina’s pelvic bone. He raised the feet and delivered an absolutely SMASHING Encore daughter! This was also a BIG baby at 34.5 pounds (what ARE we feeding these moms???). We name Encore kids names of songs, so this precious baby is Elevenses Moondance (from the Van Morrison song: “It’s a marvelous day for a Moondance”).
As 
we were coming back from doing chores Friday 
morning, April 23, 2010, Ken noticed that Lil was lying down by her barn rather than waiting for us to open the gate to the pasture. We walked up to the barn to check on Lil only to find that she had just given birth to a cria! Ken picked up the baby and Lil followed us back to the Nursery. It soon became apparent that this baby was appaloosa, just like her mom, in spite of the fact that her dad, Titan is a solid color. What an unusual appaloosa, with black, brown, and red spots on a background that varies from white to gray to lavender! This special girl deserved a special name and we finally found it. Elevenses Leto is named after the Titan Goddess of motherhood. Leto is beautifully conformed, incredibly friendly, and positively stunning. Thank you so much, Lil!
The
very next morning, April 24, 2010, Carin Cole gave birth to a 26 pound cria that is the exact duplicate of his father, Checkers - even down to the brown markings on both sides of his face. This little boy is brilliant white with a black tail, those distinctive facial markings, and wool to die for. He was standing and nursing in near record time and is about as smart as they come. We wanted to honor his father and so named him Elevenses Backgammon. As you know, Checkers, Chess (Checkers’ registered name is Checkmate McGrath), and Backgammon are all board games. Our Backgammon is tall, straight, friendly - everything you could ever want in a little boy!
March 2010
Arcadia 
was only on day 330 of her pregnancy by Titan and we were not expecting a baby on Sunday, March 21, 2010. But Arcadia obviously had different plans. I was actually shearing her when she went into labor! At 1:00 PM, she gave birth to a phenomenally beautiful male cria. Even though his gestation was only 330 days, he was a whopping 25 pounds. He wasn’t nursing (or even standing) at four hours, so we offered colostrum in a bottle. He sucked it down! In fact, he sucked down an amazing 39 ounces colostrum in the first 24 hours! When we came out with the next bottle, he said, “No thanks. I think I’ll try Mom’s.” He hasn’t looked back since. His name? Elevenses El Guapo (The Handsome One). We think that is the perfect name for this amazing young man.
February 2010
Elev
enses Ride Sally Ride had a little boy Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at 4:30 AM. February 16 is the birthday of Galileo, who discovered Saturn. One of Saturn’s moon is Titan. Our Titan is the father of this new brown, black, and white cria, whose name just HAD to be Galileo! Galileo couldn’t find the nipples, so we supplied colostrum. He sucked down 42 ounces of the stuff before switching to Mom. Galileo is tall, straight, and very big boned. He is exactly what we were hoping for!
January, 2010
October, 2009
September, 2009
June, 2009
April, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 
2009, Shagrila’s Lilith gave birth to her first cria. Lil is an appaloosa and she was bred to Altanero, also an appaloosa. Her son is also an appaloosa. Our first appaloosa! Wow! Is he ever flashy! And cute! And smart! We named him Altivo, a synonym for Altanero (proud, confident). Altivo’s spots in the front are darker and more defined; his spots in the rear are lighter and more fuzzy. We have seen pictures of Lil as a tiny baby and know that she has gotten darker with age. It will be so much fun to watch Altivo as he grows!
The very
next day, April 2, 2009, Elevenses Arcadia gave birth to her first Titan son. Arcadia has given birth to two outrageous cria, Elevenses Sudoku and Elevenses Masiela, but she really outdid herself this time! This little guy has silver ears, gray face and neck, and a red-brown body. Outrageous! We named him Don Diego, in order to keep the Latino heritage of Arcadia’s line intact. Don Diego is a high energy clown! He loves to play tricks on his llama buddies. Don Diego is a real practical joker!
Saturday, April 25, 2009, Mary’s Noel FEPJ gave birth to a solid red-brown male cria by Titan. We lost Noel’s mother, Proud Mary, many years ago and honor her by including Mary in the names of all of Noel’s crias. Noel has given birth to Mary Margaret, Mary Todd, Francis Marion (Swamp Fox), Ancient Mariner, Tsunami Mari, Lucille Marie (Skipper), Castlemerry, among others. We named this most recent baby Elevenses Marionette. Marionette is positively stunning! He is tall, straight, correct, intelligent, and full of fun! We couldn’t be more thrilled!
March, 2009
Thursday March 12, 2009, 
when I got home from work, Ken met me and asked me to come into the Nursery. He had moved Flicker into the interior stall and she was standing with her back legs spread, straining. I went into the house to change my clothes and came right back out. I put gloves on and went in. The baby was in the normal presentation, so I grabbed a foot and started bringing it out. That is when Flicker started pushing. Between her and me, we had a beautiful white baby on the ground in just a few minutes. He is white withe light brown on the sides of his face and he has a brown tail. He is 32.5 pounds and his dad is Checkers (Checkmate McGrath). So his name is Elevenses White Knight.
Tuesday March 24, 2009, 
Tessa (Shangrila’s Contessa) gave Birth to a totally awesome 28 pound male cria. He really takes after his dad, BAL Whisk Me Away. He has the most beautiful gray face, ears, neck, tail, and feet. The rest of him is the same light brown of his dad. His wool is positively awesome!! In honor of BAL Whisk Me Away, we named this gorgeous boy Clean Sweep. Tessa is a wonderful mom with lots of milk. Clean Sweep is an aggressive nurser and is full of energy. We couldn’t be happier with Tessa’s first cria! Congratulations, Tessa!
While Ken was 
tending to Tessa and Clean Sweep, Carin Cole gave birth to a lovely 23 pound female cria - black with white legs, white tuxedo, and white markings on her face. In short, a miniature Carin Cole! This darling’s father is Encore and we name Encore progeny after songs. Additionally, we wanted to honor Carin Cole by using a Nat King Cole song. so we named her Ballerina after the Nat King Cole song. “Dance, Ballerina, Dance!” Ballerina is tall, straight, refined, and athletic. A typical Carin Cole baby.
You should see Clean Sweep and Ballerina play! They run and chase and have SO much fun!
Llamas are supposed to have their 
babies in the morning. Actually, we have just as many babies born in the afternoon as the morning, but overnight babies are extremely rare. Glory Day holds the record for the latest time of birth; Haru Dei was born at 10:20 PM. So we continue to check her long after we would stop looking at other llamas. Friday night, March 27, 2009, Glory went into labor at 10:15 PM. By 11:30 PM, we still had no baby, so I went in. The baby was in the normal presentation, so I just showed him the way. Ken actually did the hard work and pulled the baby out. He is male, white with a black blanket and brown on the sides of his face. His father is Checkers. In honor of the new record time of birth, we named this little boy Day’s End.
January, 2009
Elevenses Ride Sally Ride had her 
baby by Checkers on Friday, January 23, 2009. This was just 320 days gestation (our average is 347 days)! Needless to see, we were NOT expecting a baby on this day! Ken found him at 3:45 PM out in the pasture with Ride Sally, picked him up and brought the baby and Ride Sally back to the Nursery and called me at work. I rushed home as quickly as I could. Elevenses Gus Grissom (Gus Grissom was one of the original NASA Mercury astronauts) was just 19 pounds, but he was alert and incredibly strong considering his short gestation time. Grissom would not nurse and would not take a bottle, so we began tubing him. He got an amazing 48 ounces of colostrum in his first 24 hours and then immediately started nursing on Mom.
December, 2008
Serqet gave birth to a positively adorable little girl at 4:10 PM on December 16, 2008. She is white with a brown blanket and the most intelligent eyes I have ever seen on a cria!l Her father is Encore and we name Encore babies after songs. We call this precious angel Elevenses Satin Doll. Satin Doll was standing in 30 minutes and nursing in just under an hour. This is Serqet’s first daughter after two sons and she definitely prefers daughters. Serqet is one very happy mom! We are in love with little Satin Doll! Come see her and you will be in love, too.
September, 2008
We 
marched in the Pride Parade in Durham on Saturday, September 27, 2008. We knew it was going to be a large crowd and decided to take our bomb-proof llamas: John Petty and Carter. I made decorations with long, multicolored ribbons for the boys to wear on their halters. This was, after all, Pride, and it is without a doubt the most colorful celebration you will ever see! I wanted our boys to look the part. The minute we walked into the park, we were mugged by people who wanted to pet the llamas. Everyone took pictures!
What fun 
we had! There were thousands of spectators and they clapped and yelled while we waved. John Petty and Carter were positively convinced that the parade was in their honor and everyone came specifically to see them! We were incredibly proud of our boys, since this was a 1.7 mile parade and they never lagged behind. But they were glad to get into the van for the ride home. These were two very tired llamas!
June, 2008
Tessa (we have a donkey named Contessa) is solid dark brown (nearly black). She has very fine fiber, is medium wooled, has extraordinary bone, and is also very correct. Tessa is out of Shangrila’s Strawberry Wine and by Power Stroke. Tessa is bred to BAL Whisk Me Away, a very large silver-gray son of BAL Whiskers and a grandson of the great Whist. We can hardly wait to see this baby!
Lil and Tessa are best friends and are living together. We are having so much fun getting to know their individual personalities. Welcome to Elevenses, Lil and Tessa and thank you again, Harry and Laurie!
May, 2008
Ana had her baby Tuesday afternoon, May 13, 2008
. He is a tiny little guy of just 19.4 pounds. His father is Titan and his name is Alexei (Anastasia’s little brother). Alexei didn’t stand until he was four hours old. He obviously didn’t nurse either. He wouldn’t take a bottle so we tubed him. By 6:30 Wednesday morning, we had tubed 20 ounces colostrums and I went to work. Ken tubed (by himself! That is an accomplishment!) another 4 ounces at 10:00 – then Alexei went under Mom and NURSED!!!!!!! Alexei nursed several more times on Wednesday, but his energy level was WAY down. The next day, our veterinarian gave him a plasma transfusion and this little guy has never looked back! We are so pleased! Alexei is black with four white feet and a white tuxedo. And enough personality for five llamas!
It was May 19, 2008 and we were within a half hour of taking Galveston to our veterinarian's to ha
ve surgery on his broken left rear leg when Celeste broke her water! Of all the days to have her baby, she chooses this one! We gave her 30 minutes and there was no presentation, so I went in and found the baby in a normal presentation, I pulled out first one foot, then the other foot. Celeste managed to get a nose out, but both Ken and I had to pull on both feet to help Celeste push out the head. It took both of us to finally deliver this great big 30 pound solid black Titan son. We managed to grab Galveston and Carin Cole and make it to our veterinarian's just in time! When we got home that evening, we named the new baby Xanadu, a large reflective equatorial area the size of Australia on Titan, Saturn's largest moon.
March, 2008
We had been watc
hing Carin Cole very closely. She had passed 350 days gestation and the only other time she did this, she had twins. We definitely did NOT want to see twins again! We got our wish on March 1, 2008 when Carin Cole gave birth to a very handsome SINGLE male cria! WHOOO HOOO!!! This is Carin Cole's third cria by Titan, and he appears to be every bit as nice as the first two! Galveston is solid light brown with gray legs and face. He is tall, straight, and strong. He has intelligent eyes and a very easy demeanor. What more could you want in a baby?
Flicker was as big as a house, so w
e were thrilled when she went into labor on Monday, March 10, 2008. She broke her water at 4:30 PM, but had made no progress by 4:50, so I put on gloves and went in. The baby was in the normal presentation, but both front feet were turned back. I straightened them and pulled them out. Within minutes we had a very tall black and white female cria. She has four white feet and a full tuxedo, just like her dad, Encore. It didn't take long to name this extraordinary little girl Fire and Rain (remember the James Taylor song?). Congratulations, Flicker and Encore! We couldn't be happier!
Evita was humming with every breath Monday morning, March 17, 2008. We were watching very carefully. Late morning, I was shearing llamas and Ken was checking every 15 minutes. He walked back at 11:45 to check and Evita had fluid leaking out of her vulva. Within two minutes, she had two feet. H
e barely got Evita in the interior stall before she popped out a baby! Another girl! She was sternal in two minutes and standing in ten. And that is when her obsession with the corner began. She immediately went to the corner and stuck her head between the boards. We would turn her around and she would go back to the corner. Over and over and over. We could stick her under Mom and she would suck. As soon as we turned her loose, she was back in the corner. She was so obsessed with the corner she wouldn’t cush. We put a bale of hay in the corner and she leaped over it! We played this game for TWO hours when Ken said, “Let’s put them in the empty exterior stall." We did and without a corner, her obsession went away. We held her up to Mom, she nursed, then she CUSHED for the first time! Soon she was nursing on her own. Whew! Oh yes, this is a Checkers daughter and her name is Reina, Spanish for Queen.
Glory Day was extremely agitated Monda
y evening, March 24. She went into labor about 7:30 PM and finally managed to give birth to a GREAT BIG 34.8 pound boy at 8:05 PM. This gorgeous cria is reddish brown with a black head and a white star on his forehead. He has extraordinarily thick wool, reminiscent of the Argentine llamas. His father is Encore and his name is Daytripper, after the Beatles song. Tripper is destined for greatness, whether in the showring, in a breeding program, or as your favorite companion. Come see him for yourself!
The very next day (March 25, 2008), Glory's mother, Kachina gave birth to a slightly smaller male cria. This guy's father is Checkers and he is a full brother to Kachina's baby last year, Chakotay. We like Chakotay so much that we bred Kachina back the same way for this year's baby. And we were not disappointed! Chaco (as in the Chaco Canyon, New Mexico) is marked like his mother, with the bulk and fiber of his father. He has huge feet covered with luxurious white wool, a lovely head, and beautifully curved ears. Shall we breed Kachina to Checkers again and try for three perfect babies?
February, 2008
I was in Boston on Thursday, February 7, 2008. That morning, during chores, Ken found a baby. Ride Sally had her baby two weeks early! Ken scooped up the little girl and carried her to the Nursery, Ride Sally following. Ken immediately offered her colostrum and during the rest of the day got an amazing 52 ounces of colostrum in her! By the time I got home, Ken was exhausted, but the baby was doing just fine! In fact, she was nursing the following morning! Her mom is Ride Sally Ride and the shuttle Atlantis blasted off Thursday morning, taking a lab to the space station. So, the baby was named Atlantis! Atlantis is doing great and Ride Sally is a wonderful mom! The dad? How could I forget? He is Checkers!
January, 2008
It was 32 degrees and raining on January 17, 2008. We weren't actually expecting a baby, but Noel obviously had something else in mind. Ken was doing chores when he found Noel and her soaking wet baby. He grabbed the baby and hurried to the Nursery, Noel following with her n
ose on her shivering newborn. Ken dried the baby as thoroughly as he could and I hurried home from work. We nervously watched the baby try to nurse. Noel politely asked us to give her and her daughter some privacy, and so we watched the baby nurse for the first time from the monitor in the house. Whew! She immediately got a jacket and a name. Since we lost Noel's mother, Mary, many years ago, all of Noel's babies get Mary in their name. The little one's father is Checkers (registered name Checkmate McGrath), so we included a chess piece in her name. So what is her name? Elevernses Castlemerry. Castlemerry is tall and straight and has varying shades of mahogany fiber. She inherited her father's fun-loving personality and likes to give kisses as she flies from one activity to the other. This is one busy little girl!
November, 2007
Tuesday November 6, 2007, at about 3:30, Ken was going across the paddocks closing gates and doing water, he saw a little white object in
Jason’s pasture. He noticed it because Twyla was looking at it. At first he thought it was a duck, but Twyla was so intent on it, he decided to check it out. It was a cria! Twyla’s baby by Encore! And it was in the wrong pasture! Ken picked up the baby and Twyla followed him back to the Nursery. The baby was dry, but he didn’t know when she was born and he didn’t know if she had nursed. Over the next several hours, he got 13 ounces of colostrum in her. She refused the last several bottles; while at the same time Twyla’s nipples decreased in size. Finally, the next morning, Ken observed the baby nursing.
She is only 21 pounds, but considering she is only 324 days gestation, that is just fine (our average is 347 days)! She was down on her fetlocks the first 24-36 hours, but she is up on her toes now. Her ears have not tipped – a sure sign of a premature baby. Her name is Skylark – a classic jazz tune recorded by Aretha Franklin and Linda Ronstadt, among many others.
April, 2007
Arcadia was bred to Titan and was as big as a house when we moved her into the Nursery on Sunday, April 8, 2007. And just in time, too! Monday morning, April 9, 2007 at 11:00 without any warning whatsoever, she gave birth to a great big 35 pound cria! This beautiful big girl is gray/brown with four white socks, white on her face, a white neckerchief and a white spot on her chest. She is strong and straight with a high tail set and an intelligent face. In keeping with the Latina heritage (Arcadia’s mother is Elevenses Evita), we named this lovely llama Elevenses Masiela. Masiela was standing in 30 minutes and nursing in an hour and a half. Way to go, Arcadia and Titan!
This morning, April 16, 2007, we got up and started chores as usual. I was on West Twenty wh
en Ken got to the Nursery. He turned on the light and saw a little white cria INSIDE the Nursery. Serqet was the only pregnant llama and she was in the stall. Somehow, this newly born cria managed to get through the creep gate and all the way across the Nursery. Ken threw the baby back in the stall and came to get me. We were both terrified that we would have our first case of a llama mom rejecting a baby. But we put Serqet and her baby (who we estimated was born at 4:00 AM – our third nighttime cria of the season!) in the interior stall, and it became immediately obvious that we did not have a bonding problem. In fact, by 6:00 AM, this little guy was nursing! Whew! We really needed Serqet to have a healthy baby! And healthy he is! He is a very aggressive eater, getting his mom up whenever he is hungry. He is very active and very strong. He is very small at just 19.1 pounds, but that is nearly two pounds larger than his older brother, Takami. Oh yes. His name. Well, we decided to name Encore babies after songs. You know, like singing an encore at a concert. One of Fleetwood Mac’s hit songs is Landslide; the Dixie Chicks sang its encore performance. So our newest little boy is Landslide.
March, 2007
After watching Flicker every day for three weeks, she finally decided to have her baby on Friday, March 2, 2007. Was he worth the wait! He is a great big multi-colored Titan son. His face is brown with white markings, his neck is gray, his feet are white, and his body is chocolate. Since Flicker’s registered name is DDL Firelight Dream, we decided to name him Torch. Did I mention big? Torch was nearly 35 pounds! He came out looking like a week old cria! We couldn’t be more thrilled!
Elevenses Kachina ga
ve birth to our third Checkers baby March 3, 2007. He is a great big (34 pounds!) white boy with brown markings on his face and a brown rear (very much like his mother). He is covered with curly fiber (just like his father). He is tall straight and absolutely gorgeous! Since Kachina babies get Native American names, we called this big healthy boy Elevenses Chakotay. Chakotay is going to be every bit as impressive as his mom and dad. Congratulations, Kachina and Checkers!
We had been watching Elevenses Glory Day (Kachina’s daughte
r) for a week. She was incredibly uncomfortable and we were very worried about her. Then, finally, on March 12, 2007, she gave birth to another big Checkers son! Since all of Glory’s babies have Day in their names, and since Checkers’ registered name is Checkmate McGrath, we decided to call this sweet Glory look-alike Elevenses Tournament Day. Tourney is adorable, sweet, and the hungriest baby we have ever seen! Well done, Glory and Checkers!
February, 2007
On Thursday, February 8, 2007, Ken was helping one of our clients deliver an absolutely smashing female cria. Since Ken was going to spend much of the afternoon there, I arranged to go home early to do chores. I had just started the West Twenty side when Ken drove in and started to put away the things he had purchased on his shopping trip. I walked into Checkers’ paddock and Elevenses Ride Sally Ride ran right up to me, actually ran INTO me, turned around and ran back to a brand new baby cushed on the ground! A baby! I wasn’t expecting a baby! I picked him up and carried him to the Nursery, Ride Sally humming right behind me.
This gorgeous little boy is our first Checkers (Checkmate McGrath) baby. He was very early at just 351 days gestation, but a nice weight at 23.8 pounds. We didn’t know when he was born and so didn’t know 
whether to give him colostrum. By 5:00 PM, we had not observed him nursing so gave him 4 ounces of colostrum. He seemed to be very low energy, so we called our veterinarian who examined him at 7:00 PM. Dr. Seal pronounced him healthy with strong lungs and heart and helped us tube him with 8 ounces colostrum. We made him a little bed with a heating pad and put him on it. By 10:00 PM, he hadn’t moved and I was getting ready to prepare some more colostrum for him when Ken said, “You need to come look at this!” I looked in the monitor and found little Elevenses Gambit (a chess move that involves sacrificing the pawn in exchange for a favorable position) walking around. Soon, he went under Ride Sally and started to nurse! Success! What a guy!
We were blessed with 
our second Checkers (Checkmate McGrath) baby on Tuesday, February 14, 2007. Elevenses Carin Cole (Beautiful Mother of Twins, to you!) gave birth to a precious little princess of a llama we named Elevenses Caissa (the Goddess of Chess). Caissa is pristine white with a lovely black blanket. She is feminine, friendly, beautifully put together, and has the most gorgeous set of ears I have ever seen on a llama! You are two for two, Checkers!
December, 2006
As we were cleaning up around the farm on Dec
ember 3, 2006, we were watching Noel. She was on day 343 of her pregnancy by Titan. She seemed to be progressing, so as soon as we were finished, we put on her halter and put her in the interior stall. Not ten minutes later, she broke her water and we soon had a nose. Within a half hour, Noel gave birth to a beautiful white cria with a black blanket. All of Noel's babies have Mary in their names to honor Noel's mother, Proud Mary. It took no time at all to name this beautiful baby Lucille Marie, after Ken's mother. Ken's dad always called Ken's mother Skipper. Therefore, our Lucille will also be known as Skipper.
Elevenses Evita 
was looking uncomfortable on Monday, December 4, 2006 but did not go into labor by the end of the day, so we left her in pasture with Titan. We checked her one more time that night and didn’t worry any more about her. After all, Llamas only have their babies in the day time. Yeah, right! When I got over to her paddock on Tuesday morning, December 5, 2006 at about 4:50 AM, there was already a baby on the ground! What a surprise! He was still wet, so I estimated his time of birth at around 4:30 AM: the very earliest llama birth on our farm! I picked up this solid black little boy and Evita followed me back to the Nursery. We dried him off and soon he was up and nursing. Oh yes. His name? Well, since he is the earliest llama birth on Elevenses, his name is Elevenses Primero, Spanish for First.
We were walking through our pastures the afternoon of December 21 with some visitors, sharing our love of llamas. We were listening to Celeste hum, but as she was on Day 354 and she always gives birth on day 35
6 or later, we were not overly worried. When we got to Celeste’s pasture, she came up for loving as she always does, but then broke water! As you can imagine, we immediately put her halter on, took her to the Nursery, and cut the visit short. An hour later, Celeste had not strained and we had no baby, so I put on gloves and went in. I was delighted to find a baby in the normal presentation, so proceeded to bring out one foot at a time. The head soon followed, and within minutes, we had a baby! This beautiful solid black baby is Pachinko’s last, and so we named him Elevenses Saigo Samurai (the Last Warrior). Samurai is truly precocious, standing in 30 minutes and nursing in an hour! He is tall, strong, straight, and one of the smartest babies we have seen. What a wonderful early Christmas present!
May, 2006
The AIDS Walk in Raleigh was on Saturday, May 6. Team LLAMA raised more than $10,000! That morning, Billie Holiday (who was pregnant by Titan) was going into labor. She had her baby (a very tiny little girl) at 1:10 PM -- three hours before we had to leave for the AIDS Walk! I did chores while Ken watched the baby. At 4:00 PM, we gave her eight ounces of colostrum, picked up John Petty and Carter and headed for Raleigh. What a great time we had! We got home at almost 9:00 PM and gave the baby another bottle. Then chores and into bed by midnight. I got up at 1:00 and 5:00 AM to give her bottles. By the time the baby was 24 hours old, she had consumed 32 ounces of colostrum! But she was nearly comatose. We call this a colostrum stupor. So, I went out every half hour or so to wake her up, stimulate her, make her stand up. The baby’s name? Well, her mom is Billie Holiday who was often called Lady Day. One of her songs was written by Cole Porter and called Night and Day. Our baby is white (day) on one side and black (night) on the other. Her name is Elevenses Lady Niten Day (“Lady Night and Day").
We were still bottle-feeding Lady Niten Day on Day Three, May 9, 2006, when we noted her energy dropping. While she didn’t have a fever, she refused her bottle. We rushed her to Flat River Veterinary Hospital, along with a bag of llama plasma. Our veterinarian transfused her and we had her back with her most attentive mom within an hour! Within a day, her energy and appetite returned and the next day she transferred from the bottle to her mom. She hasn’t looked back since! Lady Niten Day is unbelievably friendly, giving kisses to anyone who gets into range! Come see this very special little girl!
April, 2006
We came home from an event in C
hapel Hill on Sunday April 2, 2006 to find that Twyla had given birth approximately 30 minutes earlier. This precious little girl was born approximately 6:00 PM. Since her father is Pachinko, we named her Konichiwa (a Japanese greeting). Konichiwa was not interested in nursing so we gave her colostrum by bottle. We continued to bottle feed her even though it was obvious she was also getting milk from Mom. We figured as long as she still wanted the bottle, we should supply it. Finally, on Day 8, Konichiwa decided that we could put the bottle away for good. Konichiwa is funny, friendly, and full of energy. What more could you want in a baby?
March, 20006
We decided to retire Pachinko in February and imme
diately started looking for a new herdsire. Our first phone call was to our good friend, Paige McGrath of Lower Sherwood Farm in Charlottesville, Virginia. When we declined all of the younger males she had for sale, she offered a mature breeding male to us: Checkmate McGrath. “Checkers” is eleven years old, a proven breeder, and the fraternal half brother to their premier breeder, The Spin Doctor. We couldn’t believe that Paige would let us have this very special boy! We immediately made plans to travel to Charlottesville and on Saturday, March 4, 2006, we brought Checkers home to North Carolina.
Checkers is a large, heavy wooled, big boned, white male 
with a brown tail and brown markings on his face. He is unbelievably easy and loves attention. He gives the sweetest kisses and has a great sense of humor (he loves jumping into the hay storage to select the very best hay!). It has been so much fun to watch him react to all the new sights. Imagine Carin Cole’s disgust when he alarmed donkeys. Donkeys! We have already bred Carin Cole, Kachina Mana, Ride Sally and Glory Day to Checkers. We are positively thrilled to have Checkers in our breeding program and can hardly wait for next year to see his babies!
February, 2006
Saturday, February 11, 2006, we delivered Chase, Co
nfetti, and Karrin Jo (three weanling donkeys) to their new home in Sunbury, NC. We left before 6:00 AM to try to stay ahead of the forecast rain/sleet/snow - and because we were watching three llamas who were about to give birth. We got home at 1:00 PM - right after Elevenses Glory Day had her baby! He is a beautiful dark gray boy whose father is Pachinko and we named him Elevenses Kenkoku Dei. He was born on Japan's National Foundation Day (Kenkoku Dei), celebrating the crowning of their first emperor. Kenkoku is unbelievably stunning in that lovely gray wool. What a show stopper!
The very next day, Elevenses Kachina gave birth to a great big beautiful girl, her second daug
hter by Titan. We want to continue the Native American tradition and so searched for the very best Native American name for this gorgeous white cria with a black blanket. We think we found it in Elevenses Miwok. The Miwok are native to central California. Before the westerners arrived, the Miwok enjoyed thousands of peaceful years in the pristine beauty of Angel Island. The Miwok had an animistic philosophy: they wanted no walls and trod lightly on the land, leaving no footsteps, always apologizing to the spirits in animals or nature whenever they disturbed them. There is no evidence the Miwok had words for such concepts as war. Kachina’s Miwok is incredibly strong and straight. She is curious and friendly. We think Kachina has another winner in this gorgeous baby!
Flicker went into labor around 5:30 PM, February 13, 20
06. There was nothing showing by 7:30 PM and she was rapidly losing energy. So I went in. The baby was in there and in the proper position, but not in the birth canal. I found the nose and both feet and brought them out. It took us a while but we delivered a beautiful 33 pound girl! She is black with white feet and a white tuxedo. She was standing in 15 minutes, but did not nurse until 10:15 PM. Since her mother’s registered name is Firelight Dream and her dad is Titan, we named her Elevenses Conflagration (big fire). Conflagration is incredibly friendly, giving kisses to anyone and everyone! What a precious little llama!
January, 2006
We had been watching Elevenses Arcadia for several days. Monday, January 30, 2006 looked like the day. She went into labor between 3:00 and 4:
00 PM. By 4:25 PM, she pushed out a bubble, but there was no foot or nose inside it. Five minutes of really hard pushing didn't change anything and we knew Arcadia had a dystocia. We called our vet who arrived at 5:00 PM. He put his hand inside and determined the baby had head down and forelegs back. He got the baby in the right position and had to pull really hard; five minutes later he delivered a live baby girl! Thirty minutes later she was standing and 30 minutes after that she was nursing! Her dad is Pachinko and her name is Elevenses Sudoku (that very popular Japanese game where you have to put nine numbers in a row without repeating any of them). She is BEAUTIFUL! And Arcadia is a wonderful mom. Sometimes things just go right.
December, 2005
Elevenses Carin Cole was on gestation d
ay 337 on December 18 and we were not even thinking about a baby. But Carin Cole was! At about noon, she gave birth to an absolutely smashing black baby with white stockings, a white face, and a wide white tuxedo. This precocious little boy was standing and nursing in no time and at 25.2 pounds, you couldn’t tell that he was ten days early. With Titan as his father, it seemed fitting that we name him Elevenses Baldur – the Scandanavian God of Peace. Let’s hope that Baldur is not only precocious, but prophetic.
June, 2005
Elevenses Isis gave birth to a lovely little girl on Tuesday, Ju
ne 21, 2005. This precious baby, whose father is Pachinko, was named Elevenses Midori, after Midori Ito, the amazing Japanese figure skater. Our Midori looks just like her mother. She is reddish brown with darker legs and a dark gray face. She has extraordinary fiber and is just about the sweetest thing you have ever seen! So now our twins have each had a single baby and we can breathe again! Midori and her cousin, Elevenses Takami, are the very best of friends. Come visit them and experience this extraordinary family
April, 2005
Evita gave birth to the full brother of Elevenses Ancho Poblano on April 7, 2005. Each of Evita's babies get Latino names, and since this active boy had something to say from the minute he came out, his name immediately became Elevenses Orador (Spanish for talker or orator). Orador, whose father is Titan, is tall and straight with shiny black fiber. He is formally dressed with white stockings, a white neckerchief, and white eyebrows. Talk about striking! Orador is easy to handle, confident, and intelligent. And given that his mother and father are among the largest llamas on the farm, we believe Orador will be a very big boy when he gets his growth.
We bred the twin
s, Serqet and Isis, to Pachinko last spring. Serqet, the smaller and younger of the twins, got pregnant first. She gave birth to her cria on April 14, 2005. He was a very tiny 17.5 pounds, but perfect in every other way. This little guy is primarily white with black face and feet. And then he has these interesting brown spots all over his body. He is Pachinko's first appaloosa! Even though Serqet was bottle-raised, she is a loving and devoted mom and is providing plenty of milk for her little boy. His name? Well he is the son of a twin and his father is Pachinko so he has to have a Japanese name. Marty spent her childhood with Japanese-American twins Janet and Janis Takami and it just seemed appropriate to name Serqet's son Elevenses Takami. OK, Isis, you are next!
Saturday night April 23 at 6:30, Elevenses Fiesta had her baby. A beautiful 27 pound boy. At 10:30 PM, he still hadn't nursed, so we offered him a bottle of colostrum. He wouldn't swallow. Absolutely wouldn't swallow. The colostrum dribbled into his mouth and back out again We tried again at 12:30 AM. No luck. He still wouldn’t swallow. In 130 llama babies, this had never happened! We were going to have to tube him. We had never tubed a baby! While Ken looked for our tube (purchased several years ago - hoping we would never have to use it), I looked for instructions on tubing a baby. Insert on the left, do not go down too far, listen to be sure you didn't access the airway, give 4 ounces, do again in 2 hours, then gradually increase the volume. So we tubed our first baby. And again in two hours. And again in 2 hours. Then, we started increasing the volume, as our directions
stated. Every time, we offered him the bottle first. When he wouldn't swallow, we switched to the tube. Eventually, we got 44 ounces down this baby!!! This is more colostrum than we have ever given a cria!
We switched to kid milk replacer after 24 hours. He still refused the bottle so we tubed eight ounces at 6:00 PM and again at 10:00 PM Sunday night. We slept through that night and offered him a bottle at 4:00 AM Monday morning. He took it! He wasn't good at it and it took 15 minutes, but he SWALLOWED it!!!!!! Six hours later, Ken gave him another bottle and he sucked it right down! What a guy!! Just two hours later, he was nursing on Fiesta, who should get an award for being the best maiden mother ever! Fiesta immediately bonded with her son and never seemed to be overly upset that he didn’t want to nurse. She said she was perfectly content to let him take his time. Oh yes. Now that it was obvious this little boy was going to make it, he needed a name. We consulted Megan Valentine, who came up with the perfect name: Elevenses Fast Track. His mom is Fiesta and his dad is Titan. And now he is on the Fast Track.
March, 2005
We purchased two male llamas from Jerry and Carolyn Ayers of Walnut Ridge Llamas in Chuckey, TN. WRLF Epic's Encore is out of BAL Epic, a llama with more Grand Champions than I can count! We expect Encore to mature into a herdsire, to replace America's Patriot who was retired this past fall. Encore is a beautiful black llama with a full tuxedo. He has his father's conformation and is so very easy to handle. We expect him to pass both his conformation and his personality to his crias.
And the other little boy? Well, he is WRLF Special Edition (also a BAL Epic son) and he was just so adorable, we couldn't pass him up! Special Eddie is a gorgeous little appaloosa with personality plus! He is so small that we don't expect him to grow up to be a herdsire, but there is no doubt he will spread joy everywhere he goes. Welcome to Elevenses, Special Eddie!
December, 2004
Wouldn’t you know it? The day we were both in the hospital for Ken’s total knee replacement (December 13, 2004), two (yes, TWO!) cria
s were born on Elevenses! Flicker gave birth to a beautiful black boy with white markings on his face and the obligatory red cheeks. Noel gave birth to an adorable little girl; completely reddish-brown. Both babies were fathered by Patriot. Since these two precious babies were born on Ken’s special day and since he is from Wisconsin, they were named after Wisconsin cities. Flicker’s son is Elevenses Lac du Flambeau and Noel’s daughter is Elevenses Prairie du Chien.
The day after these two babies were born, I went out to the Nursery to feed their moms and found Flambeau (Patriot is the dad and Flicker is the mom) flat on the ground. In a panic, I checke
d him and he was warm and breathing. But he did not want to sit up. I took his temperature. It was 100.5; normal. Then I gave him a warm water enema and managed to get four ounces of kid milk replacer down him. I called our vet who said I had treated Flambeau properly and the only additional thing she would suggest was to give him some banamine. So I did and in two hours he was sternal. In another two hours, he passed his meconium and was nursing. Whew! Relief! Flambeau and Prairie brought so much happiness to a very stressed household when we most needed it. What precious babies! Thank you, Flicker and Noel!
December 26, 2004, Elevenses Kachina gave birth to a gorgeous dark brown cria with white stockings. We knew this striking son of Titan needed a very special name and after hours of considerations, we finally settled on Elevenses Hillerman. Tony Hillerman is the author of numerous novels based in the Four Corners and we enjoy his depiction of Native American life. Our Hillerman is very correct, very intelligent, and holds great promise for the future.
The very next day, 
Pollyanna gave birth to another Titan son, Elevenses Pollux (Pollux is a star in the constellation Gemini). Pollux is solid black with the most expressive eyes you have ever seen. Pollux is a little small, but not the least bit deficient in the energy department! He is a natural escape artist, managing to get out of the nursery several times before he was even 24 hours old! This little imp is already driving his older brothers and sister crazy!
May, 2004
Elevenses Carin Cole was on day 350 of her p
regnancy when she gave birth, on May 5, 2004, to a beautiful single (this is significant since Carin Cole is the mother of our twins) daughter by Mosette's Titan. Carin Cole's new cria looks just like her mom. We named this new one Elevenses Kali. Kali is the Hindu Goddess of Cosmic Power. Also known as the Black One, her name means "The Ferry across the Ocean of Existence." Kali is shiny black and brilliant white with extraordinary conformation. Not a big surprise, considering her mom and dad! This one is destined to pull in the ribbons in the show ring.
April, 2004
We had been watching Eleven
ses Celestial Fire (Celeste) for several days when she went into labor on Monday, April 19, 2004. Ken watched closely and at 3:50 PM, he saw a nose. Thirty minutes later, no additional progress had been made, so he put his hand inside and extracted first one and then the second leg. Once both feet were in the proper position, Celeste was able to push the baby out. This beautiful black and white female weighed 27 pounds and was standing within an hour and a half. We try to give astronomical names to Celeste babies; since her father is America’s Patriot, she also needed a patriotic name. Ken came up with the perfect combination. Imagine the flag of the United States: stripes of red and white; white stars among a field of blue. Her name became Elevenses Starfield.
Starfield was not yet nursing at four hours after birth, so we started giving her colostrum by bottle. Twenty-four hours later, she had consumed 39 ounces colostrum and we switched her to kid mild replacer. We fed Starfield by bottle for three days, when she decided to switch to Mom. Starfield is a straight, correct, full of energy and striking in her black and white formal attire.
Elevenses Cassiopeia gave birth to a smashing 
white baby on Sunday, April 4, 2004. She is white with red cheeks and tiny black dots all over her back. Her dad is Pachinko and we are trying to give Pachinko babies Japanese names. We finally settled on Elevenses Kujira (Japanese translation for the constellation Cetus, literally "whale"). Kujira is beautiful, intelligent, and funny...just like her mom! This one is going to be a winner!
March, 2004
Elevenses Glory Day had a bea
utiful baby boy on Wednesday, March 24, 2004. His father is Pachinko, and we are giving Pachinko babies Japanese names. But Glory Day's kids have Day in their names (Elevenses Winter's Day, Elevenses Billie Holiday), so it was quite a challenge to name this gorgeous little guy. We finally settled on Elevenses Haru Dei, Japanese for Spring Day. Haru Dei is a beautiful red and white llama with wool to die for. He is intelligent, confident and friendly. Wow! What a package!
February, 2004
Elevenses Evita gave birth to her fourth cria (and Titan's first son!) on Saturday, February 21, 2004. He is tall, straight, covered with luscious black wool, and promises to be every bit as impressive as his father. We always give Evita’s crias Latino names, and finally settled on Elevenses Ancho Poblano for this impressive little guy. Ancho Poblano is a dried chili pepper used in Mexican cooking; specifically, Poblano is the pepper used to make chili rellenos. Our Poblano is full of spice and character and will liven up the world wherever he goes!
January, 2004
Wednesday, January 21, 2004, Twy
la gave birth to her eighth cria. This little girl was born on gestation day 333 and was just 21.5 pounds. She is solid black with wool to die for, just like her dad, Titan. We named this little girl Elevenses Ganymede. As Titan is Saturn's largest moon and Ganymede is Jupiter's largest moon, it only made sense. Ganymede is full of personality, as are all of Twyla's babies.
November, 2003
Wednesday, November 19, 2003 was a day to remember! A line of storms crossed North Carolina, leavin
g in its wake wind damage, two to five inches of rain, and more than a few nervous people. By evening, everything was calm again and we were doing our routine chores. I went into the nursery and fixed bowls for Kachina, Pollyanna (who already had Rainier), and Michelle (who was nursing Althea). I put them down and the three girls went to their feed stations as usual. When Kachina finished hers, she turned to see if she could steal Pollyanna's food and I saw a head and two feet sticking out of her back end! Kachina was in the process of having a baby! Not one to take a chance on missing a meal, she gave me no hint that she was actually in labor! I quickly put her halter on, moved her into the interior stall, and ran into the house for towels. When I returned, I helped Kachina give birth to her fifth daughter. As this child is Titan's first progeny, she was born on an extremely windy day, and she was truly an "unexpected good fortune", we named her Elevenses Windfall. Whoooeee! What a beauty! Congratulations, Kachina and Titan!
Pollyanna gave birth 
to her eighth cria on November 4, 2003. And what a cria he is! This little guy is primarily white, with a black head, large brown spots on his left hip and shoulder, dark brown feet, and (the big surprise!) a totally dark brown left rear leg! He is so blindingly handsome, you will need to wear sunglasses if you come to visit him! We knew he had to have an extraordinary name and since Patriot is his father, we needed to give him a patriotic name. Pollyanna previously gave birth to Mt. McKinley by Patriot, so we decided to call this new little one Mt. Rainier. Rainier is big boned, correct, friendly, and LOUD! But don't take my word for it. Come see him for yourself.
October, 2003
Surprise! Michelle wasn’t due until October 18, 2003, so we were not looking for a baby on October 6. 
Maybe we should have been. Michelle chose this crisp fall day to give birth to her sixth cria and fifth daughter. At only 338 days gestation, this little beauty, whose father is Patriot, weighed just 23.75 pounds. As Michelle is our most athletic llama, we name her babies after athletes (Elevenses Michelle’s Kwan, Elevenses Martina N, Elevenses Annika, Elevenses Sammyso, Elevenses Brandi). So this dark brown baby was named Elevenses Althea. Althea Gibson was the first black person to win the French Tennis Championship, Wimbledon, and the US Nationals. In 1957, Althea was the first black woman to be voted by the Associated Press as its Female Athlete of the year. She won this honor again in 1958. A true pioneer for black athletes, Althea Gibson died on September 28, 2003 at the age of 76. We proudly honor Althea Gibson by naming our first fall 2003 cria after her.
July, 2003
On June 19, 2003 Ken was closing the critters in to the paddocks prior to feeding lunch. As he got to our yearling female herd, Accolade was standing at the gate humming. She didn’t want to go in, so Ken went around behind her to coax her. And he found a new baby. Cushed on the ground. 
Brain shut-down. He reached out to the cria to touch it, as if it was a visual hallucination and would disappear. Nope. Accolade was 16 months old and, of course, had never been intentionally bred. For those of you who are unfamiliar with our management processes, our mature herds consist of a breeding male, the females he is bred to, and any babies they have. We wean the babies at six months, which works well, as the females generally become fertile around 8-10 months of age. This girl was an exception, as she was obviously fertile and bred at 4-5 months of age by Pachinko, the herdsire she was living with at the time.. After about 110 births this is the first time this has happened. It caused us to reassess our policy but we have decided the benefits of raising babies with both mom and dad outweigh the potential for this undesirable happenstance. Sansai (the new little boy – meaning second-generation Japanese-American) was 17 pounds at birth, had already nursed when he was discovered, gained 2.5 pounds in his first three days of life, and is the most entrancing little jewel imaginable. The two largest concerns regarding this event proved groundless. Accolade is in good condition physically in spite of growing a baby at the time she should have been growing herself. And she is a great mom, fully bonded with Sansei and devoted to him, with plenty of milk. What could have been a disaster has turned into a celebration.
May, 2003
Flicker broke her water at 11:30 AM on May 26, 2003. By 12:00 noon, we still had no sign of a baby, so I grabbed some gloves and went in. The baby was in the normal position, so I just guided it out and at 12:15 PM, 
Flicker gave birth to a GREAT big baby girl! Did I say big? Would you believe 35 pounds?!? No wonder she needed some help! While this gorgeous girl was standing at just 20 minutes, she seemed to have no interest in nursing. So, at four hours old, we started giving her colostrum. She got 19 ounces of colostrum in the first 12 hours, an additional seven ounces of colostrum in the next seven hours. It was at this point that she realized Mom had something much better than what we had in a bottle and she hasn’t stopped nursing since! Her name? Well, she is a Pachinko daughter, so we wanted a Japanese name. Flicker’s registered name is DDL Firelight Dream, so we finally settled on Elevenses Inazuma, Japanese for Lightning. We call her Zuma. Zuma is big, straight, very friendly, and has unbelievable wool! She loves to give kisses and talks to anyone who will talk to her. Come see her! You will be struck by lightning!
April, 2003
Wednes
day afternoon, April 23, 2003, Mary Noel FEPJ gave birth to her seventh cria. This little guy was 29.5 pounds at birth and is Pachinko McGrath’s first son. All of Noel’s babies have Mary in their name (to honor Noel’s mother who died nine years ago) and all of Pachinko’s kids have been given Japanese names. It took us a while, but we think we came up with just the right name for this gorgeous, completely white, cria. His name is Elevenses Tsunami Mari. Tsunami is very heavy wooled and very big boned. He has his father’s beautiful face and ears. Congratulations, Noel and Pachinko!
March, 2003
Elevenses Glory Day went into labor Sunday afternoon, March 2, 2003. After two hours, she was not making
visible progress, so I put my hand in to see what I could feel. I immediately found a head and one foot. I tried again and found the other foot. I retrieved my hand without bringing out the cria. I must have aligned the baby because now Glory was able to give birth to her. As soon as we weighed this beautiful black, brown, and white baby, we understood the problem. She weighed 32 pounds! Glory Day’s last baby was named Elevenses Winter’s Day and we decided to follow that pattern. It didn’t take us long to name Glory’s new baby Elevenses Billie Holiday. Billie Holiday, whose father is Patriot, still had not nursed by four hours, so we gave her ten ounces of colostrum. Four hours later, we checked her only to find that she was nursing on Mom. Success! Billie Holiday is strong, straight, and everything anyone could ever want in a llama. Come visit her!
Elevenses Cassiopeia (Cassie) 
gave birth to her fourth cria on Sunday, March 9, 2003 after 259 days gestation. This great big 30 pound boy was born uneventfully at 1:40 PM and was nursing in four hours. This baby’s father is Patriot, and as you know, we often give Patriot progeny patriotic names. So we named him Elevenses Carter, after the best former president this country has ever had. Carter is primarily white with a brown, black, and white face and brown back, tail, and rear legs. Carter is very tall and promises to be every bit as impressive as his father!
Friday, March 14, 
2003 was the day Nicole decided to give birth to her sixteenth cria. She easily gave birth to a beautiful 27 pound white llama with a brown tail and black and brown slashes across her back. Since this little girl’s father is Pachinko McGrath, we thought she should have a Japanese name. Additionally, all of Nicole’s babies have Cole in their names. We settled on Elevenses Meiko Cole. She is the perfect combination of her mother and her father. She is full of fun and energy and is a little doll! Congratulations, Nicole and Pachinko!
Elevenses Celestial Fire 
(Celeste) broke her water at 2:00 PM on March 26, 2003. By 2:20 PM, there was nothing visible, so Ken donned gloves and went in. He managed to extract two front feet, but the head was upside-down. Ken immediately called our vet, and at 3:25 PM, our vet arrived. After a great deal of manipulation, he delivered a live, if a little stunned, female cria. We immediately named her Elevenses Wasabi (Japanese horse radish) in honor of her father, Pachinko McGrath. Wasabi was 30 pounds at birth and has the most beautiful, dark gray fiber. Her brains were a little fried from the extended time she spent in the birth canal, and so she had no idea what Mom’s nipples were. We started feeding her colostrum and by 12 hours, she had consumed 21 ounces! At that time, her head cleared and she immediately switched to Mom. Wasabi is very tall, straight, and incredibly friendly. She definitely does her dad proud!
February, 2003
We adopted a llama with meningeal worm on November 26, 2002 (see below) We named this boy Christopher and 
immediately set up a hoist and sling system so that we could raise him twice a day to exercise his legs. Very quickly, we realized that meningeal worm wasn’t his only problem. He had some very serious injuries of his left rear foot and leg that required veterinary care. During the two-and-a-half months that we had Christopher, we loved him, hoisted him, bandaged him, and injected him. By the end of January, he was putting weight on his front legs and his right rear leg. At no time did he ever put weight on his left rear leg. He was examined by a third veterinarian on January 30, who suggested he be transferred to North Carolina State Veterinary Teaching Hospital for additional evaluation.
With the help of several friends, we loaded Christopher into the van Monday, February 4, 2003 and took him to the Vet School. Tuesday morning they X-rayed his left rear leg. He had so much infection in the bones of the foot that about 50% of the bone was gone. Many options were discussed, such as removing his outside toe, fusing together whatever bones they can find, casting. No one was encouraged that any of these options would be successful. After much discussion and soul-searching, we decided to end Christopher's ordeal and have him euthanized. We miss Christopher terribly and are comforted only by thoughts of him frolicking joyfully across the Rainbow Bridge. We thank everyone for their thoughts and encouraging words during the time that Christopher graced our lives with his courage and with his love.
January, 2003
Elevenses Aquila went
into labor at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, January 3, 2003. By 12:35 PM, there was still no presentation. So Ken put on a pair of latex gloves, lubricated them with K-Y jelly, and went in. He immediately found a head, but had to feel around before finding one, then two(!), feet. At 1:00 PM, Aquila finally gave birth to a great big 31 pound baby girl. Her father is America’s Patriot and we try to give Patriot babies patriotic names. In addition, Aquila is the Eagle constellation, so a flying patriot would honor both mother and father. It didn’t take long to come up with the perfect name for this baby: Elevenses Ride Sally Ride! Ride Sally is nearly black, just like her mother. She has a white chin, a white spot on her nose, and red on he cheeks, just like her grandmother. Ride Sally is tall, straight, and big-boned. She is everything anyone could ever want in a llama!
Elevenses Evita
had her baby on January 20, 2003; day 358. She had a beautiful little girl of 26 pounds. All of Evita's babies have Latino names, so we named this precious darling Elevenses Arcadia (“adventurous”). She is Apperson red (yes, Apperson is her father with white legs, white tuxedo, and a face of white, brown, and black. Her ears are black. She is full of fun and curiosity! Since Arcadia’s father is Apperson, and since we just sold Elevenses Carnie (an absolutely outrageous Apperson daughter), we have decided to keep her. She is going to make some beautiful babies for us some day!
December, 2002
We weren’t expecting a baby on 
December 28, 2002. We certainly weren’t expecting a baby at 6:30 AM! Elevenses Twylight Eclipse (Twyla) obviously had other plans. Twyla was only on gestation day 336 (our average gestation time is 347 days), but she broke her water at 6:00 AM and by 6:35 AM, she slipped out a beautiful baby girl. This gorgeous red-brown baby with the intelligent, gray face, was 28 pounds, very vocal, and VERY opinionated (“I don’t WANT you to dry me any more!”). She is the spitting image of her father, Apperson Jackrabbit GLE, and was named Elevenses Holly Golightly (remember Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s?) by her new owners. That’s right. This precious darling was reserved MONTHS ago and is already sold! You’ve got to get up pretty early in the morning if you want to have a Twyla kid!
On Monday, November 25, 2002, we received a call from a woman who was taking care of a llama with meningeal worm. Two weeks earlier a veterinarian had correctly diagnosed the illness (the llama had never been vaccinated nor dewormed as far as anyone knows) and treated it very aggressively as per instructions from the North Carolina State Veterinary School. Amazingly, he survived the acute disease but was left unable to stand. The owner wanted the llama moved off his farm. We offered to take financial responsibility for his care, expecting that we would be transporting him to the Vet School. When the Vet School was contacted, they said the llama would do just as well at our house, that we needed to continue low dose banamine (for pain and swelling) and omeprazole (to prevent ulcer generation), and we needed to rig up a sling so we could raise him twice a day. The very next day, we transported the llama to our place.
The first thing we did was change his name to Christopher Reeve. The original Christopher Reeve has surpassed all predictions of healing, physical sensation, and muscular control and it was all due to his hard work. We wanted to inspire our Christopher to do the same. The second thing we did was set up the sling. We had a couple of false starts and had to replace cable, pulley, and come-along, but we finally settled on a sling that works
Christopher is wonderful! 
He is so very affectionate, it just breaks your heart! He has an assortment of hay and a bowl of llama chow available at all times. We go out with warm water several times a day so he doesn't have to drink cold water. We keep a blanket on him at night, although he seems to be doing a reasonable job of maintaining his temperature. Christopher has total control of his head and neck and partial control of his front legs. If he isn't propped up with hay bales, he falls over. He is a big boy, weighing around 350 and it is a real job turning him and cleaning him. But he returns all favors with hugs and kisses. We love him dearly and are happy for the opportunity to make him comfortable.
Very unfortunately, as if meningeal worm isn’t enough to deal with, Christopher has a very serious injury on his left rear leg. The injury goes all the w
ay to the bone and runs the length of his leg from the hock to the fetlock. Whether this injury is the cause of his swollen left rear foot or if he had a separate injury is anybody’s guess. The injury was cleaned and treated and Christopher was put on antibiotics for eight days. We were told that an injury this severe could take as long as a month to heal. We are changing his dressing every other day and keeping it as clean as possible while we wait for it to heal.
As of this writing, Christopher is six weeks down the road from the acute disease. He is not yet standing, but we continue to exercise him twice a day. We honestly don’t know what his prognosis is, but we will not give up on him until we are certain there is no longer any hope. The really sad part of this whole story is that this didn’t need to happen. Deworming with ivermectin is inexpensive and effective against meningeal worm. Please do not take this chance with your llamas. Deworm your llamas regularly and often (please consult with your veterianarian as you plan their health care). The devastating effects of meningeal worm are much too serious to risk.
November, 2002
I stayed home late on November 11, 2002, as I had a dental appointment at 9:00 AM. Rain was forecast and we were desperately trying to spread the last of the manure before the rain started. I was shoveling you know what until the last minute. As I was driving out, I decided to check Elevenses Carin Cole, who was on day 350 of her gestation. A BABY!!! I screamed at Ken (so as to be heard above the noise of the tractor) and we quickly moved Carin Cole and her baby into the Nursery. I jumped back into the car and just barely made it to the dentist. I didn’t even know what sex the baby was! All I really knew for sure was that this was but a single baby.
This is significant as Carin Cole
is the mother of the twins and we were not anxious for a repeat performance. When I got back from the dentist, I learned that this beautiful boy was 25 pounds and was marked very much like his mother. It took us all day to name him, but I think we came up with a winner. Elevenses Appian Way honors his father, Apperson, and continues the trend of naming Carin Cole’s babies (her first two sons are Elevenses Fallingwater and Elevenses Taliesen) after architectural wonders. Appian Way is a road built by the Romans under the direction of Appius Claudius Caecus in 312 BC. Appian Way was more than 350 miles long and it was the main route from Rome to Greece. Parts of Appian Way are still in use today.
October, 2002
Mosette’s Titan arrived 
on October 7, 2002. He is a tall, stretchy, straight medium wooled llama with a great pedigree. His mother is LLL Chantuse Mosette and his maternal grandfather is Feni Moses Othello. His father is E. R. Hercules, out of The Fiduciary. His fraternal grandfather is Oko Castizo. Titan is a five year old intact male who has been living with other intact males and has not yet been used for breeding. We believe Titan is exactly the llama we want and will give us some gorgeous babies.
Unfortunately, Titan has had essentially no handling and is going to require a lot of work, patience, love and discipline. Titan has received his first lessons and has already responded. We have great plans for this gorgeous boy!
May, 2002
On April 15, 2002, DDL Firelight 
Dream (a Topflight daughter, known to us as Flicker) gave birth to her eighth cria. Flicker went into labor at 10:00 that morning and broke her water at 11:15 AM. By 11:30, she had still not given birth, so I donned gloves and went in. The cria was in a normal presentation, so I just pulled his feet out and let Flicker do the rest. No wonder Flicker wasn’t able to give birth to this baby on her own – he was 33 3/4 pounds! He is absolutely smashing with that wide full tuxedo and black mask on his white face. This is Carnival’s antepenultimate baby (Carnival was retired last fall due to severe arthritis of his right rear fetlock), so he was named Elevenses Rio de Janeiro. Rio is big, correct, friendly, and absolutely smashing! What a tribute to his father!
May 15, 2002, 
at 4:00 PM, Pollyannna went into labor. She broke her water at 4:25 PM, but we still had no baby at 4:45 PM. I put on a pair of gloves and found that the baby was in a normal presentation, so I just grabbed a couple of feet and brought them out. By 5:00 PM, we had a baby on the ground. And what a baby she is! At 33 pounds, she is Pollyanna’s largest cria. She is beautifully marked with a dark gray body, white front legs, white markings down her neck, and a black and brown head. She is strong and straight and incredibly friendly. She is Carnival’s penultimate baby so we wanted to name her in honor of her dad. With her strong body and exuberant personality, Elevenses Roustabout seemed the perfect name!
We had been watching Elevenses Kachina Mana for what seemed like eons! On May 28, 2002, she was on day 359 of gestation and when Ken checked her at 9:10 AM, he noticed that 
she was dripping amniotic fluid. Finally! Unfortunately, she did not show the characteristic bulge above the anus and after 20 minutes, she had made no progress. Ken donned gloves and went in. He found the head and forelegs, but they were caught behind the pelvic bone. He raised the nose up above the pelvic bone and then grabbed the two feet and extracted them through the vulva. He then allowed Kachina to contract undisturbed. She needed a little more help, but at 9:45 AM, gave birth to a beautiful 29.5 pound female. She is white with a black blanket that covers her tail and goes down her back legs to the hocks. She has black speckles on her white legs. In short, she clearly resembles her grandfather, Carnival, so Ken immediately named her Elevenses Carnie! Carnie, whose father is Apperson, is very curious and very sweet. She is straight, strong, and has lovely long fibers. Come see our last two crias of the season, Roustabout and Carnie, playing chase among their mothers in the Nursery.
March, 2002
Babies! We love babies! Nicole 
started us out on February 13, 2002. She gave birth to her fifteenth cria at about 11:40 AM. While this was a very short gestation of just 339 days, this little girl weighed a whopping 29 pounds. All of Nicole’s babies get Cole in their names (Ray Don Cole, Carin Cole, Nani Cole, etc) and so we named this most recent baby Elevenses Accolade. Accolade was standing at 35 minutes, nursing at 1 hour 20 minutes, and running at 1 hour 50 minutes! This precious baby hasn’t stopped running since! Accolade, who is a Patriot daughter, is chocolate brown with a white chin. You have never seen a more busy baby!
Just four days later, February 17, 2002 at around noon, Noel went into labor. By 2:00, 
we still had no baby, so I donned gloves and went in. I immediately found the head with nose pointed out, an indication that the baby was probably alive. I found one foot and brought it out. I went in again, found the second foot, and brought it out. Noel pushed until the head was out and decided that was all the work she wanted to do today! After a lot of pulling on our part and pushing on Noel’s part, we finally had a beautiful baby girl. Elevenses Marika (all of Noel’s babies are named in honor of her mother, Mary, who died nine years ago) was 24.5 pounds, standing in just 15 minutes, but took a full three hours before she decided to nurse. We were starting to get nervous! Marika is a very light tan with a dark gray face, and very light colored legs. She is going to be heavy wooled (thanks to her dad, Apperson) and very striking as she matures. Marika is incredibly friendly, passing out kisses to all who enter her paddock.
Pocahontas went into labor 
on February 25, 2002 at about noon. By 1:00, we still had no baby so I put my hand inside to see what the situation was. This baby was in the normal position, but so large that Pocahontas couldn’t have it by herself. I pulled the feet and head out, she pushed, we pulled, and in a short time we had a great big, 34.5 pound baby boy! This guy’s father is Carnival, so he is a full brother to our Elevenses Kachina Mana. He is beige with dark gray face, white blaze and white neckerchief. We give Pocahontas’ babies Native American names and so this guy is called Elevenses Jaysho. Jaysho is the Navaho word for buzzard and this was used by the Navaho Code Talkers during World War II to mean bomber planes.
January 19, 2002
CARNIVAL AND PACHINKO
One of our three llama herdsires is Carnival. He is a very impressive half-Bolivian with big bone, a beautiful head, and a very gentle spirit. He has sired many impressive llamas including Elevenses Carin Cole (mother of our twins and multiple blue ribbon winner). We love Carnival dearly and were looking forward to many more Carnival progeny. Unfortunately, life does not always follow even the best made plans.
During the fall of 2001, 
we noticed that Carnival was favoring his right rear leg. We assumed he had arthritis, but didn’t think it was career-ending. Unfortunately, we noticed that he was extremely uncomfortable during breeding. He was so frustrated with his inability to breed Celeste that he actually bit her ear – a completely uncharacteristic act for this big sweet boy. While the bite did not inflict serious damage (a single treatment with neosporin was all that was needed), the behavior indicated to us that Carnival’s condition required action on our part. It was on that day that we simultaneously began the search for a new herdsire and contacted our veterinarian to begin the diagnostic procedures that would allow us to make his life more comfortable. Thursday, Jan 10, 2002, our vet X-rayed Carnival’s ankle and found that 1) he has arthritis in that joint, 2), he is missing cartilage and has bone sitting on bone, and 3) he has a bone chip likely causing excruciating pain when he flexes the joint. Our vet believed that additional breeding would aggravate Carnival’s condition and we agreed that he would be gelded the following week. He also suggested that we try injecting cortico-steroid directly into the joint. Chronic pain management with banamine or phenylbutazone is not recommended for llamas because of their tendency to develop ulcers.
While we were 
having these discussions with our vet, we also contacted Paige McGrath of Lower Sherwood Farm in Charlottesville, Virginia. She had a young male, nearly two years old, named Pachinko McGrath. On Saturday, January 12, 2002, we drove up to Charlottesville to meet Pachinko. Pachinko was everything we wanted in a herdsire: structurally correct (Paige has shown him three times. He received first place ribbons in his first two shows and a second place in the Eastern Regional Show), big-boned with a beautiful head and ears, and medium wooled. We bought Pachinko and brought him home that very day. Thanks, Paige!
Tuesday, January 15, 2002, Carnival was gelded. While he was anesthetized, our vet injected Carnival's fetlock. He told us that we should not expect to observe full benefit of the cortico-steroid for three to four days. We were surprised and pleased to find that Carnival appeared to be more comfortable from the moment he awoke! The following morning we could not detect any limp at all. Two days later he was running out to pasture with his girls! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Carnival could spend his well-deserved retirement pain-free?
