[pct-l] horse rental

[Marion]

As a llama packer I have to say that many of the statements made by 
Donna and Tom and Carolyn also apply to llamas.  So often when I am 
hiking people ask me, "do you rent those out?".  I would NEVER rent out 
any of my llamas.  They are family members to me, and I have hundreds of 
hours invested into the training and relationship building with each of 
them.  The learning curve is steep, for both animal and handler.
Like horses, it is quite possible to get llamas for free.  Six of mine 
were "rescues", animals offered to me for free by people who no longer 
wanted the expense of feeding them.  The expense comes after you get the 
llamas home, and you have to house them, feed them, buy tack, a trailer 
or van, pay the vet, and spend time with them on the trail patiently 
training them to do what is necessary.  We have been hiking with our 
herd for 12 years and we are still learning new things from them every year.
Marion