Happy Birthday Black Jack!

Our oldest llama hits a huge milestone today - he turns 20! This is Ivory Pond's Black Jack. We bought Black Jack in the spring of 1998 for our daughter, Jackie, to use as a youth performance llama. Black Jack was almost 7 years old when we bought him and had been used by quite a few youths in the show ring.

Here is Black Jack and Jackie after winning first place in every event and Grand Champion in her youth class at the 2001 Sangre de Cristo Llama Show in Westcliffe, Colorado. At this show they got a perfect score in two out of the three classes. They missed one point in the pack class because Black Jack didn't step on the last step coming off the bridge. The judge said he rarely gives perfect scores and he was actively looking for something to "ding" them on but couldn't find anything until the missed step in the last class. So out of a possible 240 points they scored 239 points!

Here is a compilation of the awards won by Jackie and Black Jack over the span of four show seasons.

Grand Champion Youth Performance

• 2002 Rocky Mtn Regional Championship Show
• 2002 Colorado State Fair
• 2002 LOCC Fall Show
• 2002 Boulder County Fair (1st in all events)
• 2002 LOCC Spring Show
• 2001 Rocky Mtn Regional Championship Show
• 2001 Kiowa Creek Youth Show
• 2001 Sangre de Cristo Youth Show
• 2001 Boulder County Fair (1st in all events)
• 2001 LOCC Spring Show - Ultimate Grand Champion
• 2001 Banana Belt Llama Classic (1st in all events)
• 2001 Western Slope Llama Classic(1st in all events)
• 2001 Ntl Western Stock Show (1st in all events)
• 2000 Ntl Western Stock Show (1st in all events)
• 2000 LOCC FallClassic Llama Show
• 1999 Western Slope Llama Show
• 1999 LOCC Spring Llama Show

Reserve Grand Champion Youth Performance

• 2000 Sangre de Cristo Youth Llama Show
• 1999 Banana Belt Llama Show
• 1999 LOCC Fall Classic Llama Show

Top Ten @ 2000 Grand Nationals - Public Relations

4th Place @ 2001 Grand Nationals - Pack Class 4th Place @ 2002 Grand Nationals - Pack Class
7th Place @ 2002 Grand Nationals - Public Relations
8th Place 0verall @ 2002 Grand Nationals

I'll write more later as a tribute to Black Jack, who we affectionately call "the bestest best llama in the whole wide world".

Congratulations Kemui Yama! Grand Champion x TWO!

This past weekend we attended the LOCC (Llamas of Central Colorado) Fall Classic Llama Show and the Rocky Mountain Regional Llama Show held together at the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Castle Rock, Colorado.  Because we were volunteering to help at the show we only took one llama since we knew we wouldn't have time for grooming or preparation once we got to the show. We decided to take Midnight Hour's Kemui Yama. You've seen him before here on the blog - last summer I did a before and after segment on shearing llamas and Kemui was our model.

We entered Kemui in the Adult Medium Wool Male classes at the two shows and he placed first in both classes and then took Grand Champion Medium Wool Male! We're so very proud of Kemui, especially since he is a product of our breeding program.

Here's Kemui - photo taken last night after we got home from the shows. The wind was blowing, the light wasn't great at the end of the day and we were all dead beat, but here he is!

Kemui is a Midnight Hour son out of Nuance, a female that our daughter bought with her own money. Midnight Hour is our first show llama that we fell in love with when he was born in July 1997. We started showing him in January 2008 at the National Western Stock Show.

Here is Kemui's sire, Stage Stop Midnight Hour

And here is Kemui with his mother, Nuance, when he was just a little cria.

We hope everyone had a safe, relaxing and fun Labor Day weekend!

Had a great time at the llama show!

Midnight Hour's Kemui Yama
LOCC Fall Classic Llama Show Grand Champion Medium Wool Male
Handler: Jim Vance

Midnight Hour's Kemui Yama
LOCC Fall Classic Llama Show - Supreme Reserve Grand Champion

Split Rock Decorus Domina (aka Baby Dee)
LOCC Fall Classic Llama Show Reserve Grand Champion Medium Wool Female

Split Rock Tina Fey
LOCC Fall Classic Llama Show - 3rd Place Medium Wool Yearling Female

We had a great time this weekend at the llama show. Yesterday was performance classes and we just volunteered all day. Today was the halter classes. We showed Tina Fey in the Yearling Medium Wool Female class and she placed 3rd in a class of 6; Decorus Domina was in the Adult Medium Wool Female class and she placed 1st in a class of 3 then took Reserve Grand Champion Medium Wool Female; Kemui Yama was in the Adult Medium Wool Male class and he placed 1st in a class of 3 then took Grand Champion Medium Wool Male and went on to take Supreme Reserve Grand Champion which means that out of all the llamas in the show he placed 2nd overall (this is basically Best in Show)! We were so pleased with how well behaved all the llamas were. I will download and tweak photos tonight and upload them to this post tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a great Labor Day tomorrow! Stay safe and have fun.