Rocky Mountain Dazzle
ILR # 222315
female b. 9-3-1998
Bett’s Greyfeather x Rocky Mountain Puzzle
click on the photo to see more pictures of Dazzle on flickr®
Dazzle stands 44.25" at the withers and arrived ... ah, obese ... luckily for her, our scale wasn't working so the whole world will never know what that exact figure was!
Dazzle is still in the “getting to know us” stage, and (because she comes from a huge herd) she will be doing that for quite some time yet. We’re letting her take it at her speed. So far she has really impressed us with her tendency to think things through, and to consider our interactive overtures.
In the summer of 2003, we were visiting our long-time friend, Bobra Goldsmith (Rocky Mountain Llamas). Dazzle’s stupendous gaits caught our eye. Llamas with a strong natural trot are rare, and that trait is not only ideal for harness work, but is tightly linked with a strong, even four-beated walk, which is ideal for packing and particularly powerful performance when going up inclines — so you can understand why our interest was piqued immediately. We also appreciated Dazzle’s conformation, muscling, and (just as a bonus, understand!) striking color pattern ... and her geneology: Her sire is an excellent Classic working pack llama who is a 3/4 sib to our Greymist, a half sib to Sunshine, and a full sib to Legacy; her dam’s 100% Classic lines include several fine classic llamas we’d admired over the years. On that trip, however, we had already selected two other female llamas (of which Sunshine was one) and couldn’t afford (or justify) a third at the time. Before we left, we let Bobra know that we really wanted Dazzle, and Bobra agreed that she would sell her to us at some time in the future, and not to anyone else. When Niki Kuklenski (JNK Llamas) called us in the summer of 2007 to say she had just purchased Legacy, we longingly remembered how much we really, really liked Dazzle ... and abruptly decided we ought to avail ourselves of the transportation opportunity that presented. The future had finally arrived, and were we ever glad! Even the transporter remarked that Dazzle seemed to think this was the place she was meant to live when she stepped off the trailer.
Dazzle produced one offspring for Rocky Mountain Llamas in 2005. After she’s shed her excess fat and had ample time to settle in here, we hope she will produce a few fine Classic offspring for us. In the interim, Dazzle occasionally makes appearances in the show ring to support the recent (2008) creation of Classic llama halter divisions. Dazzle’s strong scalenes, appropriate neck length, and functionally desirable moderate size are not what’s “in”, but that’s OK — we know that our best animals will place at the bottom of the classes when we enter them, and that occasional higher placings will accidentally happen … and mean nothing. We’d rather be makin’ tracks on the trail (where most showring judges would be left in the dust!).
We don’t really know the inspiration for Dazzle’s name, although it may be intended to sound similar to her dam, Puzzle. However, her gaits sure dazzled Gwen out of a pasture full of 70+ females, and they still dazzle us here on our farm.
Meet Dazzle’s offspring:
2005 female — Rocky Mountain Diamond (listed for sale at Rocky Mountain Llamas)
Dazzle is bred to Sky Rocket and due late January 2011
• We will be retaining Dazzle's 2011 offspring