Horses and Livestock Guardians

Little Dipper Farms

Our horses are well rounded, well mannered and barefoot. We have practiced barefoot trimming on all of our horses since 2000, having over 22 barefoot performance horses throughout the years. Its been quite a change moving from having mostly horses to goats but we still stay involved in the equine industry, even if it is just for pleasure anymore.

We use livestock guardians to protect the goats, chickens, and other prey animals we have here from the over-abundance of stray dogs and coyotes. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for their bios.

Scooter is our filly we've had since birth. She's a 4 yo TB/Paint, and has really come a long way in her maturity and is really turning into a nice mare. I find it very hard to fault her conformation wise and her movement and intelligence is incredible however, she has quite the attitude. Loves to squeal at me while working in the roundpen or arena. Her way of being rebellious without getting into trouble. She's making a wonderful all around mare who we've been using for trails, dressage, moving cows, all around western, gymkhana, etc.

Pictured with one of our spring 2010 farm interns

"Chip" is an 6yo APHA gelding. He was my sister's gelding but really does not enjoy barrel racing or drill team, so came to live with us to play with cows and trail ride. He's an easy going gelding and is a good addition to our farm for Shane and others to ride. No worrying about being barn sour or any nasty habits with this guy (for the most part). Because he is so lazy, I thought he would enjoy learning how to drive. Boy did he! Took 2 days to get him going and now he's been pulling the cart to town and everywhere else. He's been using the pony harness (since its brand new and we've never used it) so it still needs some adjusting and new parts (longer traces). We are planning to have him be the last permanent addition to our horse herd.

"Fez" is our 4 yo livestock guardian llama. He loves the younger goats and tiptoes around when we have new babies on the ground so he doesn't step on anyone. He's also been known to cuddle up to kidding does when its extremely cold in the barn. The real test was to see if he would stay with "his girls" out in the big pasture or if he only liked them for the food convenience. When let out for the first time (and ever since), he sticks right with the girls or keeps an eye on them from further away. Whenever they get out of sight, he panics and runs the property until he finds them. Fez has proven to be a good guardian (not all llamas are good guardians), pacing the fence when there is a threat to the goats and trampling stray dogs.

"Bo" is our newest Livestock Guardian addition. He is an Anatolian/Akbash/Pry. Having an awful coyote problem, we needed a little more support in guarding the goats, chickens, etc. Bo was raised with about 300 goats/sheep until we purchased him. He's not very people friendly but definitely wants to be. He enjoys following me out in the pasture and truly loves his goats (cows, sheep and horses are not his favorites). We'll see what the future holds, but so far he's been worth his weight in gold.

Lastly, we have Karine who is an Armenian Gampr. At 5 months old, she weighed in at 70 lbs. This breed is bred primarily for guarding livestock as well a being used as area guardians. Because they are not recognized by the AKC or CKC, this breed has not been damaged by the show breed standards, meaning primarily only the best guardians in breed. Another reason we chose to add Karine to our guardian family is because she is also very attached to her people family, guards the house as well, and does not wonder off. She is not people aggressive at all, but is very intimidating (especially her big girl bark) and is very good about telling other livestock eating dogs to leave her goats alone. Her ears are cropped (a typical breed characteristic) to keep them from being ripped on by predators. So far, she has proven herself to be a valuable addition to our farm. You can read more about the Armenian Gamprs on www.gampr.org.