Critter Tour- Part Three!

Greta

Oh my beautiful, beautiful Greta...  such luxurious, silken white locks you have.

This is my "wild sheep".  As soft and beautiful as she is, she is also very flighty, skittish, um... she has a strong sense of self-preservation. When I go in to feed, she is always watching me, like I might all of a sudden leap onto her and start devouring her.  She is Navajo Churro crossed with Icelandic. I told that to a sheep person one time and they just asked Why?

I don't know why- I bought her with my original small flock of various "primitive" types- but I do love her fleece.  and her crazy personality!  She is a jumper (not, thankfully, of fences) but when I open the pen gate to let everyone out to graze, this girl jumps past me (five feet off the ground!) before she goes bounding off to nibble grass with everyone else. Very cute and endearing when you are ready for it, when you are in the flight path- not so much...

Greta is the sheep that nearly killed me.  Well that is really an exaggeration, she merely dumped me and almost broke my nose.  And it was entirely my fault (ok, so maybe not entirely but I am the one with the BIG BRAIN and the opposable thumbs).  This is what happened:

We had finished shearing everyone else. Greta is usually last because she is the most difficult to trick into the holding cell pen.  We got her in there, I put her little sheepy halter on and led her out to our shearing stand.  Lead is kind of the wrong word for it- barely contained a jumping, hopping, bounding bundle of sheep wool is more accurate. 

She settled right down once her head was secured in the stand and all went well, until it was time to take her out on the grass to do her belly.  As a horse owner, I know better than to stand directly in the path of travel, but I thought "she's just a sheep" and she DID NOT want to come out on the grass. Sooo... I got in front of her and gave a mighty tug on her lead.  Yes, you all know what happened.  She broke free of her frozen posture and bowled me over at the knees, face first into the ground.  A little shocking.  But, in my defense, I never let go of her!

My husband grabbed her lead, told me to go in the house and make sure I was OK.  He told me later that Greta continued jumping up at the end of her lead- her feet head high to him (and he stands nearly 6 feet!).  He was able to finish shearing her without my help and all I suffered from was a bloody nose.

and a little embarrassment.