Nancy carpenter has been a llama owner
for more than a decade but is more
excited than ever to have a llama
Exposition in Northwest Montana
Carpenter owns Still Water Ranch with
her husband Bruce and has three llamas
Tomahawk Ekko and Jackson she takes them
to shows on occasion but they mostly
live a leisurely Life by the Stillwater
River we have eight Acres total and
probably about five or six of them are
in pastures um they have this one this
one and then whole front half of the
property oh pretty that they can um the
were surrounded by the river um almost
completely we do let them out and let
them run …

Nancy carpenter has been a llama owner
for more than a decade but is more
excited than ever to have a llama
Exposition in Northwest Montana
Carpenter owns Still Water Ranch with
her husband Bruce and has three llamas
Tomahawk Ekko and Jackson she takes them
to shows on occasion but they mostly
live a leisurely Life by the Stillwater
River we have eight Acres total and
probably about five or six of them are
in pastures um they have this one this
one and then whole front half of the
property oh pretty that they can um the
were surrounded by the river um almost
completely we do let them out and let
them run along the edge of the river um
they always think they're getting away
with something right by doing that yeah
it's really funny to watch them get out
they think they we Clos the front gate
and they run around very very crazy so
they're like we're free Carpenter is one
of many llama enthusiasts in the area to
help establish the new Glacier classic
llama show taking plays at the Majestic
Valley Arena on June 22nd and 23rd what
is a llama show it has elements of both
horse show and dog shows with a few
different categories according to
Carpenter these guys are performance
only because they're not breathing
animals they're they're performance
animals you never know what you're going
to be T asked to do in Arena so you're
basically they're judging me on my
relationship with my animal so I'm
constantly working with him to do things
that would be unexpected the competition
includes three obstacle courses one of
which mimics what a llama might
encounter on a packing trip another part
of the competition is public relations
which relates to skills found in therapy
animals like navigating around more
everyday occurrences like cars and
wheelchairs so you don't know what
you're going to be asked to do oh
interesting I'm going to be judged on my
relationship what I ask him to do does
he do it um if I drop a lead rope and
walk away will he stay on there he
usually w't across most of the test and
the competition judges are looking for
how well the Handler and the Llama work
together other areas of the show will
focus on the coats of the llamas this
part of the competition looks at the
varying types of fibers in the Llama
coats for example Le silky llamas would
compete for the champion silky a type of
coat characterized by its slippery touch
and luster so llamas don't come in
breeds they come in fiber types oh okay
um he is what they consider a classic
one of the traditionals where he most of
he doesn't have a lot of hair on him no
hair on his legs no hair on his head and
he will shed out
naturally um he is this guy here is a
double coat okay he's got he has to be
sheared um um because of his his age
um he Shivers a lot during the winter
he's almost
13 so I don't take it all off I leave
about an inch or so so that by the time
Winer rolls around he's got like two
three inches of hair on him Jackson the
white one on the right his is um very
very soft on his neck but the body here
is very coarse it wasn't that easy to
get the show up and running according to
Carpenter she and her husband moved to
the area and began connecting with other
llama owners and breeders but when it
came to host hting a show she learned
the state regulations made it difficult
for out of sters to bring llamas to a
show here the state used to require
llamas in alpacas who enter the state to
have a negative brucelosis and
tuberculosis tests following the change
in law llamas are now only required to
have a recent visit from the vet and
documentation Carpenter said the law was
created years ago when cattle ranchers
in the state had a fear of brucelosis
and tuberculosis spreading from llamas
to cows but through working with the
Montana Department of Agriculture and
the Montana State veterinarian they
found there are no documented cases of
llamas carrying brucelosis the change
has made it easier for people to come
here for a llama show but also for
Montana residents to go out of state for
shows Carpenter is excited to be taking
part in the competition and believes it
will bring together a strong community
of llama enthusiasts in Montana she said
there are notable breeders in the state
and that increasingly she's seeing
people use their llamas as pack animals
for backpacking trips because the
animals native to a Rocky and
mountainous environment it does
extremely well as a pack animal here
Carpenter fell in love with llamas more
than a decade ago after growing up on a
cattle ranch and showing horses she
longed to get back into owning large
animals she was living in Portland at
the time and started looking into animal
rescues eventually landing on a llama
Rescue It was there she met the first
llama she ever owned who was still with
her at the ranch she was working with
baby llamas and decided to adopt
Tomahawk who is still going strong at
llama shows he is uh an animal that has
challenged me his whole life everybody
says I don't own him he owns me Tommy's
in charge and um actually got a t-shirt
Shir once it says my llama is not
spoiled he just has me well
trained Carpenter said she sees them as
pets and enjoys their calm demeanor
because they aren't as high energy or as
large as Horses they don't pose a
physical risk for handlers they're also
sensitive to humans which makes them
great therapy animals according to
Carpenter they're very social um they're
very individual personalities uh they're
like dogs and they're very food
motivated that's about as much as
spitting as they do they do spit but
that was him saying no thank you stay
away from my heiny they they have a a
bit of a cat-like personality in that
they're really easy to train but you can
ask them to do something one day and
they'll just look at you like yeah not
today like I'm yeah and it's usually in
the arena when you're asking them to do
something in the performance class that
they they need to do organizers of the
show are hoping to see families out and
having fun with the llamas in addition
to the competitions on Saturday and
Sunday there will be vendors and food
trucks the glacier classic llama show is
June 22nd 23rd at the Majestic Valley
Arena beginning at 8:00 a.m. to learn
more visit the glacier classic llama
Show's Facebook page for the daily
Inter lake I'm Taylor Inman