s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

We went to the Central District Field Days on Friday. We took the new ute up, so we could pick up our new alpaca shearing table. The one we had ordered arrived a couple days prior, but someone in Rotorua put a forklift through it, so we arranged to pick up a replacement, since the folks who make them were going to be at the show.

Also got a pair of binoculars, some socks, a new hat, an oilcan for the shearing handpiece, and a few other bits and bobs. One of the highlights of the day was “Dirty Girl” — a beautiful old steam tractor — shiny black with trim in red and brass, and wheels half again as tall as me. Woo. The other highlight was walking in the gates just in time for a trick riding demonstration, given by some of the people who train horses for movies. There was a gorgeous dun whose rider had him practically dancing, without the reins, even, just using leg pressure and center of balance. There was one horse who’d been trained to kick down doors, and another who would bow, or lie down and play dead while the bullwhip snapped just feet away; he didn’t twitch an ear. Then they had their stallion lie down with three people lying on top of his ribs and another two sitting against his belly — between his hooves — while another stunt person leapt back and forth over the lot. Etc. Very cool.

Alas, I didn’t bring my camera.

So you’re stuck looking at more photos of cria, since the camera was left home.

Here’s a photo of Jodie and Mjolnir. It was taken at dusk and came out all blurry, so I played around with it:

Here’s Galadriel’s new boy:

A1 had a girl! Unfortunately, she has got to be the least photogenic cria I’ve seen yet, which is saying something considering we were calling her sister “Quasimoda” for a while. This girl has this unfortunate Clockwork Orange thing going with her eyelashes…