LLAMA CHUTE
The second-from-last incarnation. This chute started out quite complicated and got simpler as it went along. There are half-circles to tie leads to where the red arrows point. We don’t usually use ALL the tiedowns, but they’re very handy, especially for dentistry.
Front view of the bottom. A rubber mat cut to fit would help animals be a bit more confident on this floor. The floor is raised off the ground as it rests on the side stabilizers. We added a bar under the floor right at the front edge to keep it from tipping forward.
Here’s another improvement – wheels (on the front only) solve the tipping-forward problem, and make moving the sucker a lot easier. The owner’s also added two more removable sidebars, which make this chute fit crias better than ours – cria butts go right out under our single removeable sidebars. I’m not crazy about the side stabilizers being so high off the ground.
Closeup of the middle front of the wheeled chute. I particularly like the pins holding the sidebars on, making them easy and fast to remove. The squares supporting the sidebars also provide a secure anchor in case you want to put a line over the llama’s back to keep him from jumping up.
You might be able to see the pin holders for the front and back bars that we never use any more. I like the moveable neck bars MUCH better than a horizontal front bar. It seems to make the llamas feel more confident, and definitely holds them more securely. The squares in the top front corners are to hold the cinch (on the ground by the stool) in case we want to put it under the llama’s belly to hold him up. We don’t use this much anymore either. Training works wonders for controlling llamas. Go figure.