Field Trip – Erie County Forest

So a couple weeks after our adventure in Batavia, we took a field trip to the Erie County Forest.  They have horse trails there… and where horse trails are, llamas are allowed to go 

What interested me most about this field trip was the fact that the forest contains streams, wooden bridges and covered wooden bridges – all things I want The Boys to not think twice about should they encounter them in the future.

To accomplish these goals, I enlisted the help of my sister and my friend Terry: one set of hands for each llama.  Unfortunately during the actual training times, we were all too busy to take pictures 

 

 

 

The trails in the forest were great and it was a very enjoyable afternoon.  The first obstacle we came to was the wooden bridge.  I have to admit that we spent a lot of time there…The only one to make it successfully over the bridge was Harry.  I guess I’m going to be able to bribe him to do anything    And just as before, once he went over the first time, there was no problem after that.

 

 

Indiana and Dalai just would not cross.  Both went onto the bridge, but once we hit the point where the bridge was actually going over the streambed (there wasn’t any water flowing underneath), they refused to go any further.  Between the three of us, no pushing, pulling, poking, prodding or bribery would get them to want to cross.  Indiana kept looking over the railing.  Maybe he’s afraid of heights?  I’m thinking that when I go back with him, the strategy to use is to distract him so he just looks straight ahead and not let him look down.  We’ll see how that goes…

 

 

 

Not far from the bridge was a stream that we could walk across.  The Boys did well here.  Indiana just plodded through, exactly like he was supposed to.  Harry and Dalai tried jumping over at first, but quickly learned that they needed to walk through the water, not over it.  I had wet soggy feet the rest of the afternoon to prove it 

 

 

We spent a couple hours exploring the trails and stopped for a little something to eat before heading back to the parking lot.  While we were eating, a hiker passed by us – The Boys behaved like perfect gentlemen 

 

 

On the way back, we decided to try the bridge one more time, but the results were the same.  I’m going to have to bite the bullet and come back with Indiana and Dalai one at a time and just work with them until they get it.

 

 

All in all, it was still an enjoyable afternoon and I do feel like we did accomplish something…  I can’t wait until the day when they will start carrying our stuff.  I have to save up for the saddles, so it may be a little while 

 

 

Ready to head home!