Greenbriar Farm Alpaca-MAM Consulting Assoc. Inc.

Cria Ricochet brings to mind Newton’s First Law of Motion: A thing in motion remains in motion until an equal or opposite force is applied, thus changing direction but the velocity remains constant. In this case the thing in motion is a cria who after being confined for 330 days in tight quarters celebrates with exuberance the wide-open spaces. The opposite force applied is the dams.

Let me describe the scene and perhaps this will help appreciate the title of this piece. First you need a fairly large pasture, approximately two to three unobstructed acres. Sprinkle in a few dams and like-minded cria and a sunny cool day. What triggers the event is not known but you may see one cria jostle another. This requires retaliation in kind. Now accelerate and add motion in sprints around the pasture. When maximum velocity is reached, and remember a thing in motion will retain that direction until an equal force is applied, meaning cria have no brakes nor turning ability.

They approach that force under full speed. That force are relaxed grazing dams peacefully munching their way across the pasture in a fairly compact group. The cria enters and bounces off the first dam which incites a raised head and a puff of spit and air. The cria proceeds to the next dam with similar results and continues on through all dams present each in their turn raising their heads and sending a puff of spit and air upwards.

Now let’s put this into real time motion and what you have looks like the gopher game at Chucky Cheese’s except the gophers spit and that starts to look like a half dozen Old Faithful Geysers.

The cria come to rest only to have a late arrival churn the whole works up again and they are off returning bouncing off each dam in turn. At some point the dams may try to join in but then we know age and joints don’t allow us to bounce as well as when we were kids but the heart is still in it.