Well at first the llamas were nervous of their shelter, because in their opinion they thought maybe the horses would be able to corner and trap them in it. So they only went in it to get grain and spent their time outside, sleeping in the rain. So I decided to get them used to it by putting really nice alfalfa hay in it. (Note: the big buckets they are eating out of are full of the alfalfa hay...when I put it on the ground they fought over it, when I had two seperate piles they walked through it and this attracted the horses....the horses DO NOT get alfalfa hay).
So by putting the hay out for them I was able to get them into the shelter for a long period of time.....but how do you teach a llama that they are indeed safe in the shelter and that the horses cannot get in under the bar?!?!?!?! Incidently, the horses themselves taught the llamas this very important lesson!
The horses were attracted to the shelter because of the alfalfa hay.....so they hung around it....
At first this scared the llamas because they felt that they could not get out with the horses hovering in front of the shelter....
But those nifty llamas very quickly figured out that the horses COULD NOT get in past the bar! The horse (in the above pic Misty) would come up, look in, stand around for a few minutes, realize they cannot get in and leave. Well this taught the llamas that they were indeed safe!
"And stay out!" So after all the horses and llamas learned from each other. When I left for the day, the llamas were contentedly munching on their hay with their rears facing the horses who were croweded in front.....a big deal in itself.....a llama will not turn thier backs to a threat and definitely will not eat if it is scared....so the llamas must have been feeling pretty content in their llama lounge of luxury!
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