There is nothing like relaxing in a nice grassy meadow in the sun. One day we found such a place and camped for a couple days to rest the horses and ourselves. The only sounds to be heard were the song birds singing and the Clydesdale stomping around the field playing with the foals.

That was until we heard bells and singing off in the distance. It sounded very foreign and not a part of the wilderness I know. As the sounds were getting closer, all of us, including the horses were peering into the timber bobbing our heads to get a glimpse of what was coming.

Out walk two older ladies and a Lama all packed up. All the horses went crazy. We had six horses with three tied and three loose. The Clydesdale was racing around in circles and the foals were hanging tightly under her protection.

The Quarter Horse mare was pulling wildly at her picket room and was snorting in pure terror. I tried to desensitize her by walking her up to the Llama but she was beyond desensitizing.

That night, my mare was looking for that Llama and snorting at shadows. I tied her tight and used a lariat looped around her belly for an emergency holding device.

Next morning I awoke to a broken halter and the mare barely held by the lariat I luckily had used. If she had gotten loose, there would have been one more wild horse to add to the list. I never would have found her.

As we rode out on the trail heading south the mare was a real handful. Every tree and rock had become a Llama with big teeth. It was so frustrating dealing with this. She was almost un-ridable.

The mare suffered from Llamaphobia for three months on the trail. To this day this horse is not the same. Better but still very wary. This was a very calm 10 year old horse who was trained in the mountains and lived there her whole life. She has seen and done it all. Llama's are a big threat to unprepared equestrians. I have heard many horror stories of confrontations on the trail. Some say it is the odor and others say it is the shape.

We are not looking forward to another encounter with these strange creatures of the South America. Especially on a narrow ledge with a 2000 foot fall!