The Coshocton County Beacon October 29, 2020 | Page 12

12 • The Beacon October 29 , 2020

Llama 4-H club organizes its own obstacle day

By Marianne Austin
Missing all the activities the county fair brings was disappointing for area 4-H clubs , but Jean and Mike Haumschild , advisors for Kamelid Kushers 4-H club , thought of a way to still have some activities .
“ It ’ s a Hobo Show ,” Jean Haumschild said about the Llama Obstacle
Fun Day held on their farm near Warsaw on Oct . 18 . “ Hobo is when you don ’ t clean up your animals . We couldn ’ t do the fair , so we decided to do this . Be prepared because adults have a couple of classes to compete in as well .”
The obstacle course was set up first with orange traffic cones where llamas had to maneuver around
the cones and pass to the right and to the left of the cone . Next up was walking the plank , then putting a hula hoop on and off the animal ’ s neck in a fluid motion , followed by making a 360 circle within the confines of a square , a change-of-pace stopping point and two jumps .
Handlers had to walk their animals into a space set parallel with PVC pipe on two sides and back them out of the space , walk into and through Styrofoam tubes and a Styrofoam pit , then on to the streaming tunnel , which is built tall enough for a person to walk through with long streamers hanging almost to the ground . The llama is supposed to walk through without fear or
without messing with the streamers .
And finally , there was a teeter-totter ramp and the swamp . The swamp is a tarp the llama is expected to walk right up on and walk calmly to the end of the tarp .
“ It ’ s spongy , and llamas don ’ t like it ,” Jean Haumschild said .
Kids were welcome to come out to the Haumschild farm and practice with their animals beforehand . The junior division had eight obstacles , and the senior division had 10 . Points were deducted if the llama deviated from the course , touched the obstacles , had a short lead or hesitated . Judging also included having good rapport with one ’ s animal .
Mike Haumschild is a national judge , and the Haumschilds have been 4-H advisors for many years . However , this wasn ’ t classified as a 4-H activity , so anyone could come out and enjoy the fun .
“ Parents give their children advice when showing their llamas , so we thought it would be fun to let them do a relay with the llama ,” Jean Haumschild said .
The egg-drop relay was for everyone . Parents could balance an egg on a spoon
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Marianne Austin Ty Collins guides his llama across the teeter-totter challenge .
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