# Another Training Hike



## IceDog (Aug 1, 2010)

I have two older girls I'm training to be pack goats. Phoebe, age 3, is doing great. Mack, age 6 or 7 and a dominant doe, is getting better, but still is easily spooked on the trail, but she stays closer to me too!

Here are a few photos from our hike a few days ago....
[attachment=4:2sp8mat2]DSC07454 Mack & Phe PSC8-600x750.jpg[/attachment:2sp8mat2]
[attachment=3:2sp8mat2]DSC07484 Mack & Phe PSC8-600x750.jpg[/attachment:2sp8mat2]
[attachment=2:2sp8mat2]DSC07494 Mack & Phe PSC8-750x600.jpg[/attachment:2sp8mat2]
Yesterday on our hike I used their new halters. Mack hated the halter immediately. She appears to have had one on before and knew how to get out of it in a flash. I had to put it on really tight to keep her from getting out of it. She'd tuck her head and pull ahead so it pulled off her nose, or she'd rub it off. Here are halter photos....

Phoebe in her halter...
[attachment=1:2sp8mat2]DSC04330 Phe halter 11-3-10 PSC8-500x400.jpg[/attachment:2sp8mat2]
And Mack in her halter....
[attachment=0:2sp8mat2]DSC04389 Mack halter PSC8-500x400.jpg[/attachment:2sp8mat2]
I'm thinking they don't fit quite correctly, wrong size, or that the design doesn't work well for them.

Any ideas on a halter than will work better with their head shape?


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## ohiogoatgirl (Jan 31, 2010)

i have a similar halter. but i made mine from a pic on the web. and mine just goes around the face and behind the head and not under the chin by the neck. here is how i made mine. i hope this helps!
take rope and hold it in a U shape that fits around the face near the mouth and pinch into an oval. each pinched end at the cheek on either side. now add about an inch of rope and at the bent part tie/sew a loop. now tie/sew the cut end to the measured spot on the long end of rope. now take the long part of rope behind the head to the loop on the other side of the head and push it through the little loop. now you have a halter with a lead rope at all times. this helps with stubborn goats (i think so anyway) because if the goat stops the halter tightens and will be uncomfortable on the nose so the goat will follow to keep pressure off their nose.

hope you understand my directions!


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## ali pearson (Aug 12, 2009)

I really like the halters made by Butthead packgoats for the alpine type goats. Mine take the medium and the large. The Boer goats do better with the miniature pig harness I found for them, but they have really weird heads.


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

I got the large ones from Northwest and use them on all my goats including the yearlings. I just burn't an adjustment hole where I needed to make it fit them. 

They haven't gotten out of them.


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## ryorkies (May 4, 2010)

I got the rope ones from pacific pack goats.
I love them. Easy. Just slip them on and tie a knot.


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## sanhestar (Dec 10, 2008)

Hello,

I agree on the rope halters. I've used mini pony halters for years and before that the "haltis" made for dogs and always the fit wasn't perfect.

You can adjust the rope halters to fit snugly around a goats head which you only can do to some extent with the other halters.

As for the sliding neck strap: try adding a small forehead strap, f.e. made from a soft leather cord to hold it in place.


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## Nanno (Aug 30, 2009)

I LOVE this halter:
[attachment=0:b1ib59o0]Cuzco_Bling.jpg[/attachment:b1ib59o0]

A friend gave it to me after she sold her llamas, and it fits Cuzco better than any other halter I've tried. It does slip down the neck a bit, but not enough to bother him, and the leather is amazing! It came from Sopris Llamas. I just looked them up and apparently they're still making halters (although I can only find the nylon on their website). They even have a line of halters for goats now! 
http://www.soprisgoats.com/goatx.html

I would ask if they still make them in leather because this halter looks really sharp, doesn't chafe like nylon, and has held up extremely well in the six years I've used it--and we've used it regularly and in all kinds of weather. It is exceptionally thin and light weight, yet it's held up to the hardest pulling Cuzco can dish out (and he's no wimp!). This is really soft glove leather, tripled so the smooth side is also against the face, and stitched for strength. The matching lead is also a delight to use. I don't think I could go back to rope or nylon after being spoiled by this tough yet buttery-soft leather!


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## IceDog (Aug 1, 2010)

Thanks for all the feed back on halters. They all look like they fit well!

I love leather too!

I used to tie rope halters for my horses, maybe I can size one down for the goats!


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## Nanno (Aug 30, 2009)

Here's another halter we recently got for Cuzco, and I really like it.
[attachment=0:29457bzr]Nylon_Halter.jpg[/attachment:29457bzr]
It's a Weaver brand nylon miniature horse halter, and it adjusts under the chin and over the crown. If Cuzco didn't have a horn I would love the throat snap feature (I use the snap feature all the time on my horse halters). I like to keep a nylon halter around for those times when it's wet outside or when we're in a situation where the halter might get chewed on by other goats or horses. That way we don't ruin our nice leather halter.


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## IceDog (Aug 1, 2010)

I took Phoebe & Artois on a training hike today. Phoebe carried two gallons of water. Artois just wore a saddle for the first time. We hiked about a mile along the spring run-off swollen creek. Phoebe & I were both winded! I carried back branches for the goats that stayed behind.

[attachment=0:fdmjwn30]DSC06838 Pheobe & Artois 5-15-11 PSC8-750x600.jpg[/attachment:fdmjwn30]


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