A tiny coal black cria won my heart. Triton has a strong personality, the number one requirement in all my animals. He was obsessed with cribbing, not the greatest habit, but adorable. He continues to do it as an adult. Last winter we put up screens to protect the alpacas from the vicious winds. Triton’s obsession with design prompted him to turn these into more attractive venetian blinds, the other boys thought this a fine pursuit and soon we had a complete set of perfectly pleated screens.
When I first started volunteering at Alpacas At Windy Hills, one of my duties was to halter train the show babies. I began walking Triton and we bonded immediately. He loved to walk around the farm strutting past the girls, but clucking like a baby to me constantly.
One sunny California afternoon, Ed and I took a ride out to Somis to hang out on the ranch where Cindy Harris was having a pen sale. In the long string of pens, there was my boy. Being impulsive is a part of my nature, and it usually works out, so by the end of the day Ed and I owned our first Alpaca. Buying an unproven Junior Herdsire is not normally recommended to begin your foundation herd, but when have I ever followed the crowd. Triton was beautiful cria with gorgeous fleece, great conformation and a sweet personality, that was good enough for me and I have never regretted that purchase. He is giving us beautiful crias, and his son Centarus, who is a Kobe/King Kong grandson is spectacular. Best of all they all inherit his personality, one of his sons, Jasper Alpaca, is the first certified therapy Alpaca and has his own Facebook page.
The best part was that we now had a cria to take to shows and Triton was so much fun in the ring and he WON!
The first two years he won ribbon after ribbon, there is nothing like being in the ring holding that blue ribbon..