Xanadu Llamas & Xanadu Fibres - A llama farm, tourist park and fibre producing property at Mt Egerton, near Ballarat in Victoria's Central Goldfields. Xanadu concentrates on breeding heavily woolled llamas with correct conformation and congenial dispositions - and the production of fine llama fibre and exotic fibre blends.

Once upon a time, driving llamas was one of the furthest things from my mind. Several years down the track, and a llama named Monarc has completely changed my view of llama driving.

I had watched Nancye Moore drive Monarc on many occasions including weddings and Santa Parades…I had even sat in the cart with her, and helped her train her llamas to ground-drive, but Nancye was used to driving - she and her husband, Max, kept harness ponies. I didn't think I could possibly do that.

When Nancye passed away, Monarc came to live with us at Xanadu and Max, in his wisdom, sent Monarc's cart with him.

As we were booked in for some Santa Parades, I had to learn to harness Monarc. A few lessons from Max and hey, that wasn't so difficult after all.

After one particular harness lesson, Max suggested I take Monarc for a drive down the lane, just to become accustomed to the feel.

Nancye Moore

We live on a very quiet country lane…well, what could be the harm in that? So, off we went - just the two of us - strolling down the lane, listening to the birds and enjoying the sunshine. An hour later I returned home, well and truly hooked! Believe me, there is no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than driving with your favourite llama companion.

I can thoroughly recommend llama driving to anyone who feels they may enjoy this type of activity. However before you begin there are a few things to know to make your driving experience more enjoyable.

Most horses have the ability to pull a cart, but they don't all enjoy the experience. This is also the case with llamas. Driving is a big challenge for a llama and not all llamas are suited to the task…but those who take to it, seem to thoroughly enjoy it.

How do you know if your llama is suited to driving?

Firstly, the llama should enjoy leaving your farm and interacting with the public…a timid llama is probably not suitable. Secondly, you don't see many people driving llamas so wherever you go your llama will be the centre of attention. He needs to have a good personality and temperament to be able to handle this new celebrity status.

Size and gender are not as important as they may appear. Females can drive as well as males but tend not to do so, as their time is generally taken up with maternal matters. Llamas are strong animals so even a smaller llama could pull a small load. Common sense is the key here…we wouldn't give a small llama a heavy load to pack so don't expect him to pull one.

Age plays a very important part in driving. We would not recommend llamas to be driving until their bones and ligaments have finished growing … preferably four years of age but certainly not before three. This does not mean you cannot be preparing them for the task. Halter training, desensitising, ground driving without the cart and lots of public interaction can be done before the age of three but for a healthy, happy llama, leave the actual cart pulling until after his third birthday.

There are several ways of training llamas to drive and although they may all work, our preferred method is the old-fashioned way of ground driving.

One of the things, which most concerned me about driving, was the safety aspect.

What if he bolts? How can I control him? If the training is completed adequately this is not really an issue.

Training your llama to drive using the ground driving method takes weeks to accomplish. This may sound a long time but it gives you time to bond and form a partnership with your llama.

You learn together…he learns to trust you and you learn how he will cope under different circumstances. Ground driving teaches your llama discipline, teamwork and how to respond easily and correctly to the necessary commands of driving. All of this is accomplished in advance of hitching the llama to the cart. When we are ground driving at Xanadu, we take a couple of llamas out together or I get together with a friend and her llama…the llamas are more comfortable with the company of another and we have a laugh and bounce ideas off each other.

The time passes very quickly and it's a most enjoyable way to spend a day. The main idea is to ensure the training sessions are fun for both you and your llama.

Before a llama goes anywhere near a cart he needs to be well handled. You will need to be able to touch him all over his body, to place and adjust the harness so plenty of desensitisation work is necessary. If you are going out on a road he will also need to become acclimatised to all the things he may see or hear, including cars, trucks, dogs and people. For this reason we like to do lots of public walks with our llamas…walks through parks and shopping centres, taking part in parades - all of these activities help to accustom your llama to the public. If he can happily handle this on a lead rope, adding the cart will not be such a trauma.

Training your llama to drive is not a difficult exercise but it takes time and patience to ensure you have a safe and happy llama in the harness. It would take pages for me to explain the full training procedure so instead, for anyone wanting to take up driving, I will recommend two sources of information ... Ron Shinnick's book, "Llama Driving - A Basic Guide To Training and Driving Your Llama" and Jim Logan's training video, "Harness The Fun - Training Your Llama To Drive" are essential reading and viewing respectively, and both are available from Xanadu Llamas.



	Xanadu's "The Aussie"

After looking around for a new llama cart, Geoff and I were a little disappointed with the limited range available. Of course they will do the job, as will a modified pony cart, but they certainly lack the style a llama deserves. After seeing an article by Cheryl Frey whose family owns Colonial Carriages in the United States, we realised llama carts can be stylish as well as functional.

The only way to remedy this situation was to have some carts made to our specifications. We are very fortunate to have found a very talented cart maker who also happens to know llamas. Our first cart - "The Aussie" is now available.

Our carts are lightweight, well balanced and available in a range of heritage colours including, green, maroon and black. They can also be made to order with extra details as desired and come complete with puncture kits and a tyre pump for any occasional mishap.

There are a few halters available for driving llamas but the one we recommend is Jim Logan's driving halter. Jim has spent a great deal of time trying out halters and harness and has finally designed and patented this halter for the sole purpose of driving.

It is a little different to the usual halter, having a strap down the middle of the nose and a fixed metal noseband which is moulded to the shape of the llama's nose, giving the driver more control and making it easier to communicate the necessary aids to the llama.

I recently attended a driving clinic with Niki Anderson-Kuklenski, the 2000 US National Driving champion and she uses and recommends Jim Logan's halter and harness. We tried the halter on several llamas new to driving, and found it worked perfectly. The halter is available from Xanadu Llamas.

The driving harness has three basic functions - pulling, stopping and controlling the llama - everything depends on a properly fitted and working harness. Due to the llama's anatomical differences the llama harness is a little different in design to your average horse or pony harness, most of which will not fit well on a llama.

Again we use and recommend Jim Logan's harness, which is designed specifically for llamas. It is made from sturdy black nylon and has multiple adjustments to fit each llama. Harness pads are also available for extra comfort.

Each part of the driving harness is designed for a specific purpose and it is important to learn how to fit it properly.

An ill-fitted harness may cause your llama to appear uncooperative and difficult to train and may even rub him sore.

Check your harness each time to make sure it is positioned properly and not pinching fleece or rubbing.

This will ensure your llama is comfortable and attentive in the harness and will make the driving experience more pleasant for both of you.

Although we all want to jump in the cart and drive as soon as we possibly can, there are many things the llama needs to learn about driving. For example he needs to know how to turn with the cart attached, to speed up going uphill, to obey your commands, particularly the "Stop" signal so he doesn't try to squeeze through spaces which may fit him but not the cart. We take it for granted llamas know these things, but they don't…they have to be taught.

Most people who take up llama driving have never driven any other animal, let alone actually taught an animal to drive, so read as much as you can about driving and talk to people who drive well.

Take the time to teach your llama properly. It will take time, but it is time well spent and will mean all of your future driving experiences will be pleasurable.

If I can do it - so can you!

If you have any questions regarding driving or equipment, we are more than happy to help.