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Katie Hodgen earns llama/alpaca success despite recent surgery
As any 4-H’er would tell you, success at the fair is contingent on the preparation long in advance. It is the time spent working and bonding with an animal and figuring out how to get around the arena.
Doing it with crutches on a bad leg adds another element of difficulty. But Katie Hodgen did so during the llama/alpaca show Friday evening, and her dedication paid off with both a grand championship and a reserve championship.
Katie, a four-year 4-H member, was born with one leg shorter than the other. It was only last April that she went through a procedure to stretch it, in which an expandable rod was placed inside the shorter leg. Magnets are then used to gradually lengthen it.
The lengthening process was done three times a day over eight weeks. As such, Katie recently had her second six-week checkup two months after completing it. In the healing phase now, she could begin to put weight on the leg within the next month.
Katie has worked with her llama Jim for 15 minutes a day over the past year on commands and obstacles. While this may not seem that time-consuming, it is enough to get them used to the training — and to each other.
“Most llamas will love you. You will most likely get a bond even if you just go out and feed ‘em,” Katie said. “Give ‘em food and work with them and give them attention, but let them have their own free space and don’t let ‘em depend on you overly.”
She said working with a llama or an alpaca is like training a dog. While they are intelligent, they can certainly have their own personality as guard animals. One she has is named Sparty (the Spartan) because he can be grumpy sometimes.
“But he has learned that if he does the obstacles right the first time, he doesn’t have to do ‘em again,” Katie added.
Katie said that even though she could not walk on it, the leg itself was not painful. She was able to do what she needed to though she is effectively re-learning to walk.
“It’s a little harder to do the obstacles with crutches,” Katie said matter-of-factly about pushing or picking up items, besides needing the animal to follow directions. “It’s a bit harder but practically the same.”
While she did not have as much control as others would and lost some points, Katie came out as the grand champion in pack and the reserve grand champion in public relations.
“It was practically being like a normal person, but only having to use three legs instead of two,” Katie said. “If you put your mind to it, you can do practically anything.”
Katie’s father Paul Hodgen related that she was adamant about showing at the fair. Add in that two weeks beforehand, she competed at a national event in Iowa while on the crutches and did well.
“It’s been tough, because it just adds that next level of difficulty,” Hodgen said, emphasizing that Friday’s competition in general was at an advanced level.
It might be fair to say that Hodgen knows what it takes to succeed as Katie wants to. Noting that he and wife Jennie are both 10-year 4-H members, he also won Supreme Showmanship in 1995 representing beef.
Ultimately, he believes 4-H’ers have got to want to do it. This being necessary, for him, the camaraderie and dedication in each of the barns prove that competition breeds success.
“It’s just how much she enjoys it and the focus to get here, I couldn’t be more proud of her,” Hodgen said of Katie’s effort. “To me, I don’t think you can find a better example of what 4-H can do for young people than that right there.”