Kids Corner

Maricopa County Fair

Thank you Caroline for the photos--Looks like fun!

Bridget and Nahani (Reserve Champion Youth) - Dylan and WINS Hazz Pizazz (Grand Champion Youth)

Bridget and Dylan above were at Maricopa County Fair. Dylan went Grand Champion Youth and Bridget went Reserve Champion Youth.

Riverside County Fair 2006

Fun at Indio Date Festival

By Meagan Browne-age 13

Golden Browne Llamas

Phelan, CA

The Indio Date Festival llama show was the first llama show I went to this year. I was bit worried that I would do terrible at this show because the llama I always show, who also happens to be my best friend, was recently bred to one of our females. His name is Checkers. I thought he would be all hormonal, but when he started doing the obstacles, he was completely concentrated on the show. I was really relieved that he did so well and that he behaved himself. Now I will get to take him to another show.

The first class I showed in was Intermediate Youth Showmanship. I showed our llama named "Bounder". I was unsure how well I would do with him because the last time I had taken him into a showmanship class, the judge said he was too jumpy. When I got into the arena, I felt confident because "Bounder" was behaving himself perfectly. I concentrated hard on the judge and what she was doing, and I was feeling even better about myself as time went on. Toward the end of the class, the judge told us that it was really hard for her to decide who won because we were all so good. She had us switch llamas which felt really strange. She had me hold Dawn, my friend Dylan’s llama. Dawn was so tall I had trouble holding my arm high enough up. I was very surprised when the judge placed me in first place. I was so happy because this was the very first time I have ever won First place in showmanship.

The second class was Intermediate Youth Obstacle. I showed Checkers in the Youth Performance classes. I think I did pretty well but sometimes Checkers doesn’t like to run and jump. There were two jumps and Checkers stepped over the first one and jumped the second one. He kind of half trotted on the change of pace so I probably had a tight lead. We placed second in this class.

The next class was Intermediate Youth PR. It was an interesting class because the very first obstacle was called the confinement area. You had to take your llama in a pen, and take off his/her halter. Checkers mastered this because he actually likes to be haltered. At home he comes to me when I’m carrying his halter. He did all the rest of the obstacles on the course really well and I was proud of him. We won first place in P.R.

In Youth Pack, they changed the course around a little at the last minute because it was getting so late. Checkers did really well on all the obstacles, and I did my best to keep a loose lead. I got to use our new pack this time because we loaned our other one to Matthew. I was so excited when they announced the placements. We won First place!

I ended up winning Grand Champion Intermediate Youth and High Point Intermediate Youth, which was very exciting because now I qualify to go to the new ALSA South Western Region competition here in Southern California!

I also showed two of our llamas in Novice Obstacle and PR. One was Bounder, who I also showed in Youth Showmanship, and the other was Miss Pearl, a weanling female. It was Miss Pearl’s first show. She won fifth place in Novice PR, out of around TWENTY-SIX entrees!!! She loves performance!

All in all I had a great time at the show, and getting to go on the rides at the Fair. It was really neat being able to sleep in our three-room tent. The tent was not cold either.

Check out my other llama stories on my Muses From Meagan page on our web site, www.goldenbrownellamas.com Keep a look out for my book I’m writing too! See you at April Magic!

Indio Fair and Date Festival

By Matthew Armenta-11 years old

Phelan, CA

This was the best llama show I have ever been to. This time I got to use Appi Mattox from Golden Browne Llama Ranch. I got to spend time training him before the show and we worked really well together. We just call him "Appi" for short because he is an appaloosa. Another reason this show was so much fun is because I got to camp. Meagan and I got to sleep in a three-bedroom tent and we each had our own room in the tent. Marti and John got to sleep in a friend’s Toy Box trailer. I really like sleeping outdoors.

Appi and I did really well. We got three fourth places and one fifth place and to me that is pretty good for a kid who has only been to four shows in his life. The first day I was there, I showed in Junior Youth Showmanship and I placed fourth. My performance shows were on the second day. I showed in Junior Youth Obstacle, PR, and Pack. Out of five people showing in each class I placed fifth in Obstacle and fourth in P.R. and Pack. I was up against some kids that have been showing for several years so I still think I did really well.

I also got to play with my friends Dylan, Jeremy, Emily, Ryan, Bridget, Catherine and Kyle. When the day ended Meagan and I got to go on the rides. The first one we went on was the trampoline with the bungee jump. Then we went on the octopus and the space ride. Then we went on the swings twice and then we finished it off with the carousel ride. Meagan felt kind of sick this time but I didn’t. We went back to the tent and talked until about 3:00A.M.!

The next day was the last day at the fair. We were packing up our stuff when Kyle and Barbie asked if we wanted to go on the rides with them. We went on some of the same rides as the night before but there was one that Meagan and I were deathly scared of. But we went on it anyway. The ride was called the crazy wheel. When Kyle, Meagan and I got off the ride my hands were shaking but after a few seconds we started to laugh and say that was really fun. On our way back to the campsite Kyle, Meagan, and I talked about how fun the fair was. I would also like to thank Marti, John, and Meagan Browne for taking me to this show and loaning me "Appi" and for sponsoring me in LASC. I thank "Appi" for giving me a chance to win and for giving me high hopes. This was the best show ever. Hope to see you at April Magic.

Grand Nationals 2005

Bridget and her llama, Nahani, in the opening ceremonies

Bridget in showmanship (Top Ten 10th place out of 22 kids in her class)

This year during the April Magic Llama Show, something almost magical happened. At our ranch up in the high desert, in the little town of Phelan, a mother llama sniffed her new baby. The baby got up, and tried to nurse.

Meanwhile, our ranch-sitter, named Asker, was standing a few feet away watching. She had been inside the house and was standing at the kitchen window when she saw the mother llama giving birth. She immediately called the owners of the llama. They were away at a llama show. Those people are Marti, John and Meagan Browne. This is a true story. My name is Meagan Browne.

It was Saturday afternoon at the April Magic Llama Show right before the llama carting class started. Asker called my parents and said, “Red Haute’s ‘calf’ was just born!” She didn’t know a baby llama is called a cria. I was playing with my friends when my dad came up and said he and my mom had to go home because Red Haute’s baby was just born. They said I was going to stay with Norma Stevens overnight. All this news was a lot to take in.

Now let’s rewind this story to the very beginning. My family and I had just arrived at the McCoy Equestrian Center in Chino Hills. We drove our truck, trailer, and an extra car to the back of the equestrian center. There were lots of trailers and llamas. We were at the April Magic llama show.

We parked our trailer right next to Norma Steven’s motor home. Then we took the panels off the side of the trailer and set up a pen and Easy Ups for our llamas. I left the truck and went to find my friends.

On Friday there were no events. Everybody just set up their campsites. We stayed till it got dark, and then we left our llamas and the truck and trailer in the safety of Norma’s care. We went and got some dinner and then retired in our hotel room and went to bed.

In the morning, I was awakened (unfortunately) by the sound of my parents talking. I got up (grudgingly), got dressed, and made some breakfast from the food that we bought from the grocery store. Then we all hopped in the car and headed for the show.

When we got to the show, every body was already up. I went and said hi to the llamas we brought with us. That included Appi (he’s for sale), Getti (he’s for sale too), Bounder (definitely not for sale), and Checkers (as usual).

That day I played with my friends and watched people show their llamas in the halter classes. Youth Showmanship was that day too and I placed third this time. The judge said I turned the wrong way. That’s hard to remember which way to turn. Later on the scorekeepers asked me to hand out ribbons for a while. Bridget was missing. The rest of the day I played with my friends.

Now we get to the part of the story about the baby. You already know what happens then.

Saturday night I slept in Norma’s motor home while my parents went back to our ranch to check on mom and new baby. During the night some of Norma’s llamas got out and were checking out the sites. In the morning Norma and some other llama people caught them.

Sunday morning when I got up, I found out it had rained overnight. The ground was soaked! The mud stuck to your feet like glue. There were snails everywhere. My friend Bridget and I made a snail pile and then threw them one by one into the bushes. A few accidentally hit the tree (hardly accidental)

My parents got back a short while before the show started. They gave me a change of clothes and then the announcer said the show was starting. I got my llama, Checkers, and stood at the gate waiting for the class to start. They did the Juniors first and then told the Intermediates to start. I went in first (I don’t like rock, paper, scissors anymore) and started the course. Checkers did everything! I got first place in Youth Obstacle. Then I took Appi, Getti and Bounder in Novice Obstacle. It was Appi and Getti’s first show and Bounder’s second. We are getting them used to going to shows.

Youth P.R. came next. Checkers did everything perfectly. It was me that messed up. I didn’t put myself through the hula-hoop. I got first anyway though. Then I showed Appi, Getti and Bounder in Novice P.R. That’s hard competing with all those adults.

Then I showed Checkers in Youth Pack. He balked at the water, but then he went through it in the end. I won first in that class too! That made me feel really good because I had worked so hard to train him.

All in all, I won Grand Champion Intermediate Youth and High Point Intermediate Youth. I got a hundred bucks too!

That concludes this story. Remember that it’s true! As for the cria, it’s a girl. She is a beautiful reddish brown color like her mom and has black patches and white sox with black spots on her front feet. She has a white band around her neck that looks like a pearl necklace. We named her “GBL Girl With The String Of Pearls”. I call her Pearl for short. I bought her from my parents for a hundred dollars (you can just guess where I got the money!) I’m one step closer to my own llama business! You’ll have to look for her in the show ring. I’ll be training her soon!

I'm in the 6^th grade, and I chose llamas for one of my 4H projects because they are not native in America. They also protect my goats from predators.

I'm looking forward to learning more about llamas and competing in upcoming shows this year

We were involved for five yeas in the St. Croix County 4H Llama Project as a sponsor farm. We learned a great deal from our project leaders, Sheila Fugina and Jean Rickard, and also from the kids and, of course, the llamas.

After moving to Washburn County, Wisconsin, in 2003, we decided to give the llama project a try here. We started with 11 kids and held monthly meetings at our farm with different themes: history of llamas, llama health, fiber, shearing, a showmanship clinic, and general “hands on” with the llamas.

We finished the year with a family picnic in September and then a fun parade with the llamas at our local Cranberry Festival. At the November 4H banquet, we were truly astounded to receive the Project Leaders of the Year award!

This year we want to so something a little different with the kids. We were inspired by Sheila Fugina’s article in the winter issue of LANA News and are focusing on “What do you do with a llama?” We’ve had our January meeting and, with various handouts and discussions, hope we’ve motivated our 11 kids to try some different things like packing, fiber projects, and community PR work.

For our February meeting, a local fiber guild will show the kids how to process fiber and different techniques such as spinning and weaving. In March we have our local veterinarian coming to talk to the kids about health issues with llamas. By the way, we nominated our vet for the LANA hand in hand project award, and he was one of the finalists! In April the kids will help again with shearing day. May brings us some nice weather and plenty of opportunity to work with the project llamas. We have scheduled the showmanship clinic again for June. The kids loved it last year! Finally the fair is in July. This September we plan to have a packing picnic with the llamas to simulate a day hike through our trails and woods. Again we’ll wrap up the year with the great Cranberry Fest parade.

To be a project leader requires a commitment and some work. But it’s a lot of fun and extremely rewarding for you, the kids, and those wonderful llamas. And you’ll make some great friends!

We urge any of you who are considering starting a llama 4H project to give it a try!

The following are some ideas that may assist youth leaders as they consider ways to improve the lama programs they offer for their youth. This is not a comprehensive list, but rather a few suggestions that we have found helpful in the last nine years as we work with our 4H lama project (we have both alpacas & llamas in our project, thus the one “L”).

Without a doubt, the greatest strength of our project comes from our dedicated adult leaders. We have 8 farms that provide lamas free to youth who do not own their own lama. Six of our adult leaders regularly participate in ALSA level shows. All of our leaders assist in our monthly meetings and help monitor the progress of the youth on the individual farms. Without this kind of support, our project would not be nearly as successful.

We also recognize the importance of keeping the older, more experienced youth involved in the project. We encourage them to become Youth Leaders. Each Youth Leader then is responsible for a group of 5-8 younger members. They check homework, assist with training problems, and keep close tabs on the progress of their group. They are also responsible for planning the fair exhibit and all fair-related activities.

We have found that the more opportunities we give the public for hands-on experience with the lamas, the more support and interest we generate for our project. At our county fair, we set up a small ring next to our tent and invite the public to take a lama for a walk in the ring. Parents love the photo opportunity when their small child is walking the lama, and it gives us a great excuse to get the lamas out of their pen and walk them around. It also helps the lamas calm down for the show ring.

Our lama show is one of the highlights of our fair. We always draw a large crowd. We do our best to make the show interesting to watch. Our obstacles are designed to change quickly so the people don’t get bored during long change overs and leave. We make the course interesting to watch by including obstacles that really demonstrate the ability of the lamas. Our driving class always attracts a lot of interest from the horse people. They leave with a new respect for lamas. When our costume class is in the ring, the fair almost comes to a stop to watch. All 37 of our members have their lamas in full costume. We encourage competition for the best costume, and the kids really go all out. Our judges always comment that they have never seen anything like it at other shows. We also include “Lama Games” in our show. This is another crowd pleaser.

After our show, we always invite the public into the ring to meet and walk the lamas, and if time permits, we invite the public to take a lama through the obstacle course. We go out of our way to work with special needs kids, and the lamas always respond well to them.

One year we invited all fair goers to help us set a Guinness World Record by walking the lamas over fiber and turning it into felt. Each visitor got a pin certifying his or her involvement, and we had TV, radio, and newspaper coverage all week. Over 1,000 people walked a lama that year.

Another year we did a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society at the fair. We set up a small obstacle course that even small children could walk on and invited fair goers to go through the obstacle course with a lama and make a contribution. We raised over $500 and generated a great deal of interest and support for the project.

Each year at the fair, we have an ongoing series of activities in our tent or in the area just outside the tent every day. We invite the public to get their picture taken with a lama, put on shearing demonstrations, have a variety of fiber demonstrations, including making rope, spinning, weaving, and needle felting and a large display of completed fiber projects.

We also invite the 4H spinning project members to come to our tent and spin lama fiber during the fair. They like the exposure it gives their group, and it’s a great opportunity to promote lama fiber.

We also recognize that our members enjoy a variety of lama-related activities. Our project meets year around. We incorporate a variety of both educational and “fun” activities into our calendar. In addition to hiking, packing, cart driving, parades, participating in other ALSA and non-ALSA shows and visits to schools, we include showmanship and performance workshops and a fiber workshop.

All of these things attract people and generate more interest in our project. Each year more youth join the project, and each year the fair board recognizes the value of our project by asking us to be a bigger part of the fair.

I’m sure all youth leaders have many great ideas on improving youth programs. I would welcome additional suggestions or success stories.

This year was the first year I got to show at the Date Festival in Indio. The neat thing was that it was the first time I did so well. In Youth Showmanship, I won Fourth Place. There were only four people in the class though. The Judge said she placed me fourth instead of third because I turned my llama the wrong way when I was turning him around. My llama, Checkers, (I’m sure you know him) did not want to stand still. I don’t blame him. I don’t like to stand still either.

I did a lot better in the performance classes. In Intermediate Youth Obstacle, I won First Place! I really didn’t think I would win because Checkers slipped and fell off the bridge. Luck was with me though, because we did the bridge again and got all the way over it. In Youth P.R. I was worried because I couldn’t figure out how to do a pivot turn. I also wasn’t able to get Checkers to go through the water. That really annoyed me because he went through the water later in Youth Pack! Since he didn’t do two of the obstacles, I didn’t think I would place very high, so I was very surprised when I got First Place! In Youth Pack he didn’t do the side pass. He did everything else O.K. though. Still it was surprising to me when I got First Place in Pack too. In the end I ended up winning Intermediate Grand Champion and Intermediate High Point Youth. For High Point, I got a Silver-plated serving tray that was engraved. I had always seen people get prizes like that at llama shows, so I was excited when I got one too! It was worth all the time I’ve spent training Checkers. I’m so excited because I’m now eligible to go to the Nationals in Nebraska! I want to practice more for the Nationals though.

I also showed Bounder, one of our recently weaned babies, in Novice Obstacle. I haven’t trained him to do very many things yet but that’s O.K. because I only showed him so that he would get used to being in the show ring. I plan on training him to be as good as Checkers some day, but that’s in due time. My friend, Bridget showed him in Novice P.R. and he did a little better in P.R. In P.R. he wouldn’t back up, walk over the tarp, and something else, I just don’t remember what. He got three refusals in P.R. too so he wasn’t allowed to finish the show.

I sang the “Stars Spangled Banner” for the opening ceremony done by the youth on Sunday morning and Bridget carried the American Flag. I was pretty shaky and almost didn’t do it because it was a last minute thing since the C.D. player wasn’t working and someone asked me to sing it. I’m glad I did it anyway.

All in all, I had a lot of fun, and that’s what counts. For me it’s about having fun. That’s what counts!!!!!!!!! Plus I’ve met some really great friends!

If you liked my story and how I write, you can read more on “Muses From Meagan” on our website, www.goldenbrownellamas.com and keep a look out for my new book, Llama Story!

My llama’s name is Checkers. Probably my favorite thing to do with him is show in Performances classes. At home, I train him for Obstacle, Pack, and P.R. My favorite class is Obstacle. Checkers thinks so too because he gets all excited when I take him on the obstacle course. My favorite obstacle is the bridge. It is a fairly easy one to learn, so that’s the one I trained him to do first. At home I am training some of our other llamas for Performance and Halter Classes. Checkers caught on fast. Of all our llamas, Checkers likes to show the most.

In the P.R. class, Checkers likes it when people pet him. After all, he loves attention. I think showing him in Youth P.R. helped him because we take him out in public occasionally for educational presentations. Sometimes I take him to do Pet Therapy. Once I took him to a friend’s house right into her bedroom to visit her. She had to be in bed a lot of months.

Another class I like to perform in is Youth Pack. For a long time I did not train Checkers for pack. One day we were at the Moonlight Madness Show and Tracey Wallace suggested I try Pack. So I decided I wanted to try Pack. Checkers had never worn a pack in his life and he won First Place in that class! Ever since then, Youth Pack is a regular class we enter.

(This month we are starting a new section featuring the LASC kids and their activities.)

The 2004 season started off with a bang with a group of our youth and their Llamas participating in the Kids Day Parade at the Indio Show. Later on that evening all the kids that were at the show were sent on a scavenger hunt. The kids were divided up into teams of two with a younger child being teamed up with an older one. The teams had to find different Llama items and get answers to showmanship questions. In fact as it turned the judge actually asked one of the same questions during the Youth Showmanship Class on Saturday. When all was said and done the boys team of Jeremy Wallace and Ryan Russi were the first ones back with all the items and the questions answered. The kids then got their rewards and had a Kids only pizza party.

The Indio Show started off with all the kids and their Llamas marching in with the American flag and standing during the playing of the National Anthem. There was more than one misty eye in the audience. This is a new tradition we hope continues.

The rest of the weekend was spent showing with a lot of new faces in the showring. Welcome to Makenna Falconer, Kyle Free and Ryan Russi. We had a total of 8 youth showing and several of them would have given the adults a run for there money.

Congratulations to Allyson Burke and Emily Russi the Grand Champions and Makenna Falconer and Jeremy Wallace our Reserve Grand Champions. Good job kids.

On March 20^th Justin Bohac, Katie Eaton, Kyle Free, Austin Lemieux, Dylan Myers, Emily and Ryan Russi all showed up in there western wear to participate in the Swallows Day Parade in San Juan Capistrano. All the kids looked great and did a real fine job on the parade route.

Looking forward to seeing you all at the next event. Parents thank you for the continued support.

LASC Featured Youth: (Every newsletter a different LASC youth will be featured in this section)

Kyle is nine years old and has only owned Llamas for a little over a year. Indio was Kyle’s first show and he did real well. Even though he had only been working with his Llama for a very short time he was still able to get him to do most of the obstacles. You saw improvement in every class as he and his Llama started to work a team.

Kyle jumped in feet first and showed in all of the youth classes at his first show including Youth Showmanship. He has also participated in three parades with other LASC members.

Kyle will be receiving a gift certificate sponsored by The Pondarussi Ranch. Keep up the good work Kyle.

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