|
Gideon
Full Name: Gideon's Ovation
Gender: Male (Gelding)
Character: He thinks he's the boss,
but the girls just giggle at him behind his back. He's a bit of
a loner.
Gideon came to the Triple-B Ranch from a farm in New Hampshire -
and before that Texas! He was gelded only days before he came to
us - so the first couple of days showed dramatic changes in his
personality. On the first day, he tried to exert his
dominance over anything (non-human) that moved. By day 3, he had
calmed down significantly. Before being rescued by the folks we
got Gideon from, he had lived with a very nice family - who knew
nothing about llamas. Apparently he had not been sheared in as
much as seven years, and may have had his halter on for that
long too! So the first thing his rescuers did was
give him a minor trim. Good thing they stopped when they did -
as there was almost nothing left! His halter is only still on in these photos as he
had just arrived to our farm. When Silver joined us, Gideon instantly returned to his former behavior of clucking and
trying to mount him - which is a little strange, because Gideon is definitely not the boss
around here. But if he thinks he is, then good for him. A
positive self-image is important. He enjoys kushing up the hill
by the main gate (keeping an eye on things we guess) and
sometimes poses standing atop a large boulder in the pasture
(very goat-like behavior!) Notice Gideon's right ear - which is
significantly split. We don't know if he had an accident earlier
in life, or if another male may have ripped his ear with a
fighting tooth. But we think he's the only three-eared llama in
Putnam County.
On
September 17, 2012, Gideon became a Daddy. One of the females he
had been kept with at his former home (Sheeba) had, apparently,
already been bred before he was gelded. So quite suddenly,
almost a full year later, he's a Dad. Unfortunately, he really
doesn't seem to know it. Nearly every llama on the farm is more
interested and protective of the new cria than Gideon is. But
that's ok. He marches to his own drummer.
|
