# Horse-Eating Llamas are out there!!!



## LikeIke17 (Mar 18, 2011)

Oh.... aren't those moments priceless? My old Arab does that except he's completely convinced around EVERY corner there will be a killer animal waiting for him. So around every tree it's a planted all four feet stop and then trotting on like "Oh... Ok... just kidding!... TREE! There is a monster I know this! Don't you see it?! Don't you see?!? Oh... just kidding..." 
Gotta love horses.

Favorite quote "Horses are afraid of two things. Things that move and things that don't move."


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## Citrus (Feb 26, 2010)

That is a good quote... it was a good reminder for me today that my normally calm horse can lose his mind... but that snort/scream was pricless- Just another thing about him that I love


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

I was at a trailhead one day. In pulled a smaller pickup with an old travel trailer behind it. The folks got out of the car and walked back to the trailer and opened the door. Out piled 5 Llamas. Turns out they had gutted the trailer and were using it to haul Llamas. 

My horses delt with that. They knew it was strange to see animals come out of a little door on a travel trailer, but they coped with it.
I've frequently passed hikers leading llamas on forest service trails. So I've always taken the opportunity to make my horses stand close by.

The one animal that really freaked out my horses was a fellow that unloaded a camel out of a horse trailer. My horses knew that animal must have been shot with radiation or something to be that deformed.


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

LOL a radiation camel! LOL Horses are funny. My cousin's horse will stop and look at ANY thing that he deems is off kilter and it could be a tree, or good grief, a boat in the water nearly gives him a nervous breakdown. Elan is hilarious with his "did you see that?" reactions.

Your horse must have given you a good laugh today with the snort scream!


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## dressagebelle (May 13, 2009)

My first horse was terrified of Llamas. My dad's horse could frankly have cared less, but my horse had a cow every time we had to trail ride by a llama, or a peacock. Made for some interesting trail rides. He was fine with everything else, didn't spook easily, but of course llama's eat horses doncha know. My Thoroughbred loved the bucking bulls, and the calves, but get her around the roping steers, and she about had a cow with the horn covers. Apparently horns aren't supposed to look that weird, yet the bucking bulls were just fine. It was honestly slightly embarrassing to be at the rodeo grounds, working my horse, getting her used to the sights and smells, have her walk up to the bucking bulls and say hi, but then snort and flag her tail, and spin in circles when confronted with the roping steers. I swear all the cowhands were sitting on their horses laughing at me and my "crazy" Thoroughbred. At least I could confidently say she would never make a good rope horse lol. Its amazing the things they decide are horse killers. I got my Arabian out for the first time in 2 weeks since the rain has finally stopped, and she freaked out over a pile of perfectly good hay in the middle of the walkway. Snorting, tail flagging, bug eyes, all over a stupid pile of hay, and apparently she's done the same thing in the pasture at feeding time, she'll snort at a pile of hay until one of the other horses goes to eat from the pile. I'm mildly embarrassed to say that she's mine lol.


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## Citrus (Feb 26, 2010)

I was not aware that llamas ate horses, but now that I know, I will heed the warning... too bad cuz they are sort of cute. I am going to walk my horse over there some day and let him see them. He always warms up to things after he sees them up close- even side by side loading trailers.....

That is cute that your horse snorts at hay... they are all different and perfect in their own way


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## Rachel1786 (Nov 14, 2010)

I just wanted to say that you guys are hysterical! It should certainly be interesting when i take my OTTB on our first trail ride, can't wait to see what she thinks will eat her!


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## SailorGriz (Nov 28, 2010)

We haven't come across any horse eating llamas on our rides. But Mr. Big sometimes finds horse eating deer. Some deer are harmless and he either ignors them or just watches them with curiousity. But every now and then . . . !!!

We also had a horse eating black lab come around a corner once. The black lab's person was a very attractive young lady out hiking in the snow--in running shoes, shorts, jersey and a 9mm automatic on her waist. Kind of incongruous! But she was friendly enough and very sorry that her horse eating lab caused Mr. Big to dump me in the snow. I thought it was kind of humorous!


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## SAsamone (Nov 5, 2009)

Lol, don't mind the gun, just run from the dog^^

Funny, funny stories. Emma will walk along highways and beside llamas and cows, but heaven forbid, the other day there were orange flags flying in the breeze that wanted to attack her, she 'bout had a heart attack. My arab is the same way- she's pretty good on trails, but water/puddles/lakes/ponds are going to suck her into a black hole.


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

The only time Saro has ever done a perfect roll back was the first time she saw a cow. Thank the Gods I stayed on since the hard gravel road was the playground.


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

Oh don't even get me started about Llamas! They do eat horses you know. My one and only bad trail ride was due to horse eating Llamas. He almost broke my nose when he shot his head up in terror. Busy road, at least 8 or 9 one rein stops to save us both from bolting into traffic, emergency dismount, couldn't even lead him past them. Had to back track 2 miles to get back to the trailer. The only saving grace was, he was so cute afterwards burying his head into my back while I played hero leading him away from the hairy beasts and then let out a huge sigh when I got back on. Yes, I hate Llamas, almost as much as my horse!


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## SAsamone (Nov 5, 2009)

^^****...that's a cute story


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## Katze (Feb 21, 2011)

Omg your babies sound hilarious, nearly split my sides laughing!


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## Citrus (Feb 26, 2010)

SailorGriz said:


> We haven't come across any horse eating llamas on our rides. But Mr. Big sometimes finds horse eating deer. Some deer are harmless and he either ignors them or just watches them with curiousity. But every now and then . . . !!!
> 
> We also had a horse eating black lab come around a corner once. The black lab's person was a very attractive young lady out hiking in the snow--in running shoes, shorts, jersey and a 9mm automatic on her waist. Kind of incongruous! But she was friendly enough and very sorry that her horse eating lab caused Mr. Big to dump me in the snow. I thought it was kind of humorous!


 
this would have been a romantic way to meet someone.....


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## Citrus (Feb 26, 2010)

MyBoyPuck said:


> Oh don't even get me started about Llamas! They do eat horses you know. My one and only bad trail ride was due to horse eating Llamas. He almost broke my nose when he shot his head up in terror. Busy road, at least 8 or 9 one rein stops to save us both from bolting into traffic, emergency dismount, couldn't even lead him past them. Had to back track 2 miles to get back to the trailer. The only saving grace was, he was so cute afterwards burying his head into my back while I played hero leading him away from the hairy beasts and then let out a huge sigh when I got back on. Yes, I hate Llamas, almost as much as my horse!


That is cute... the head burying part.... I was a bit unnerved when my normally calm guy reminded me he is a fight or flight animal...


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## Citrus (Feb 26, 2010)

Vidaloco said:


> The only time Saro has ever done a perfect roll back was the first time she saw a cow. Thank the Gods I stayed on since the hard gravel road was the playground.


 I have hear that true cowy horses either reacti with anger or fear when they see a cow.... is your horse a cutter?


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

Citrus said:


> That is cute... the head burying part.... I was a bit unnerved when my normally calm guy reminded me he is a fight or flight animal...


It was absolutely adorable. Here's this 1150 pound animal clinging to me like a 3 year old boy after having a bad dream. I wish I had it on video. No matter how scared he gets, I know he's not trying to do anything naughty. He just wants his mommy to save him.


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## Skipsfirstspike (Mar 22, 2010)

Funny stories!
My horse has no problem with big dogs running out and barking at him, not phased at all. But he just about lost it the one day a tiny white chiuaua came tearing out from behind a house. He thought it was a psycho rabid bunny that was gonna eat him! lol


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## dressagebelle (May 13, 2009)

Haha, you gotta watch out for those rabid bunnies, they can be quite dangerous. My mare was terrified of chickens when I first got her, now she could care less, but man I had no clue one of the chickens had gotten out of its pen, and she was acting all weird, then all of a sudden I saw the chicken try to make a run for it towards my horse, it was a rather exciting afternoon, took a while to get her back to her stall she kept thinking she was going to get ambushed.


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## SAsamone (Nov 5, 2009)

Citrus said:


> I have hear that true cowy horses either reacti with anger or fear when they see a cow.... is your horse a cutter?


That's a very interesting theory....my arab's dad was a cutter, and she is very VERY aware of cows...she's too old to start training her now, but I wonder if she could have been a cow horse????


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## caballero (Jan 31, 2011)

dressagebelle said:


> My first horse was terrified of Llamas. My dad's horse could frankly have cared less, but my horse had a cow every time we had to trail ride by a llama, or a peacock. Made for some interesting trail rides. He was fine with everything else, didn't spook easily, but of course llama's eat horses doncha know. My Thoroughbred loved the bucking bulls, and the calves, but get her around the roping steers, and she about had a cow with the horn covers. Apparently horns aren't supposed to look that weird, yet the bucking bulls were just fine. It was honestly slightly embarrassing to be at the rodeo grounds, working my horse, getting her used to the sights and smells, have her walk up to the bucking bulls and say hi, but then snort and flag her tail, and spin in circles when confronted with the roping steers. I swear all the cowhands were sitting on their horses laughing at me and my "crazy" Thoroughbred. At least I could confidently say she would never make a good rope horse lol. Its amazing the things they decide are horse killers. I got my Arabian out for the first time in 2 weeks since the rain has finally stopped, and she freaked out over a pile of perfectly good hay in the middle of the walkway. Snorting, tail flagging, bug eyes, all over a stupid pile of hay, and apparently she's done the same thing in the pasture at feeding time, she'll snort at a pile of hay until one of the other horses goes to eat from the pile. I'm mildly embarrassed to say that she's mine lol.



I do love these kind of things. I was riding outdoors last year (not trail but on a riding pitch. I can't think of the right work for it now-_-) and my mare was doing just fine. She was only about 5 years old then and still curious, but that day nothing new was there so it was ok. Until two men came up and put up a sign about 20 yards away from us. They dug a little hole and pushed it in. The whole time they were there working, she wasn't bothered, but when they left, and the dangerous white sign was there on it's on, she looked at it and galopped away. With me still sitting on her. She was in panic and I didn't know why, until my friend said was probably the sign. So I walked her over, let her look at it, and she was fine...


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## QHa (Apr 8, 2011)

Anything could scare a horse. = )


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## SailorGriz (Nov 28, 2010)

QHa said:


> Anything could scare a horse. = )


Only if it moves. Or it doesn't. ;-)


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## luxurylife88 (Apr 3, 2011)

Love this thread.


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## Citrus (Feb 26, 2010)

Well his fear of llamas has now turned into he gets to be a circus clown in the field near the lllamas.... not the one where he can see them but just next to the field where he can see them..... silly horse!!!! I am going to walk him over there and let him meet the llamas so that I can again ride gently in the field... keep in mind, my horses idea of circus is trotting with his head and tail up.. . but this is too much for my daughter, so he needs to face his fear... LOL


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## Cinder (Feb 20, 2011)

I don't have a horse but I have a few interesting lesson horse stories...

The first time I ever saw a horse really spook and freak out was when we were coming back from a trail ride from horsecamp. There was a pile of old hay in the path. All of the sudden my cousin's horse got down like a dog wanting to play and then galloped away. Keep in mind this was an OLD, been-there, done-that mare, and she reacted like this...to hay. :lol:

Then my cousin had her lesson horse spook at something on a stall door (I think it was a fly mask), and jammed my cousin into the wall. She got a lovely bruise from that. 

Pretty much all of the lesson horses I know are DEATHLY afraid of the wind in the indoor arena. Commotion, screaming, whatever outside more than half of them couldn't care LESS, but heaven forbid it's windy outside and we're in the indoor arena...:lol:


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## PerchiesKisses (Dec 6, 2010)

Hahaha! I love this post! we have a set of llamas on the ranch property, and those things are darn near vicious! The male goes out of his way to chase the horses who feel inclined to run away from him. They are penned outside, and anytime a new horse sees them there is always a wonderful display of snorting dancing and bolting. And should the horse in question NOT be dancing, snorting and bolting, he will then emit a terrible high-pitched scream similar to those from the dinosaurs in Jerassic Park.


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## TBtrailrider (Apr 2, 2011)

I used to board at an old cowboy's stable who told me that the smell of llama's is similar to the smell of cougars for a horse. So many horses react badly to them because of this. That and the llamas just look like they're from another planet!


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