The Pacablogger

There have always been breeders who blanket their huacaya alpacas to keep them clean for shows. Some are a bit better than others at blending in the line around the neck where the blanket ends and sometimes there is just no masking the abrupt change in color. But make no mistake, blanketing has been around for years.

At last November’s Fall Fest, the topic came up for discussion among exhibitors as one prominent breeder was proclaiming its benefits in enabling their alpacas to show at their best. They did go on to place highly or win their classes. So did blanketing help? And more importantly, is blanketing a violation of an animal being shown in “paddock condition”?

I do not blanket my animals, but I do indulge in wishful thinking that they might stop rolling in hay, mud, and sand of their own volition. So when I heard that the idea of blanketing had reared its head again, I had an instant negative reaction, similar to the breeders standing around me.

“Ridiculous.”
“Won’t do it.”
“No way.”
“Unnatural…like trimming.”
“Should be banned from shows.”

But after a bit of thought, I decided to approach this more rationally and think about what questions really had to be answered in considering blanketing as a tool for competition:

1. Does it actually improve an animal’s placement?
2. Is it harmful to the animal?
3. Does it present the animal in an unnatural condition and therefore a violation of the spirit of the show rules?

I spoke to a senior AOBA judge and she adamantly refuted that blanketing would influence the placement of the animal. Although the staple may be cleaner, she told me judges know to assess fleece at the skin, where it is clean.

Next up was my vet. As a full-time camelid vet for over a decade, she did not feel that it caused any harm to the animal. One breeder in Colorado had blanketed their show string and experienced cases of rickets; however, she felt this was because they were heavily fleeced down on the belly (logically, their show string was their most heavily fleeced animals). As sunlight only works its benefits on the bare skin of alpacas, she felt it was this fleece that caused the rickets, not the blanketing (which covers only the blanket and part of the neck). Her recommendation? A regular AD&E shot schedule.

Now to the question of “natural condition”. Trimming, as we all know, is an illegal practice for show animals but continues to be done, much to the ire of eagle-eyed breeder spectators. What about blanketing? Is a blanketed animal still “paddock condition”? At first, I felt instinctively that it was not – but then I thought about it again. If an alpaca’s blanket is clean, then couldn’t you argue that it is in its real natural condition, with all the detrimental environmental influences removed? Unlike trimming, everything that is revealed by blanketing is 100% natural. Looking at the sheep industry, blanketing is a well-accepted practice for show animals.

So what’s my conclusion?

My rational self has concluded that there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It doesn’t violate show rules, it doesn’t create an artificial attribute that an animal might not have, it doesn’t hurt the alpacas, and I have to have faith in the judges.

My emotional self still balks at any idea of keeping my animals in blankets. Sure, they get used to it, but I just don’t want to do it. And even though it does not violate show rules, I just know I’d feel rather shamefaced about it. Therefore, I have to face the fact that the only reason I don’t want other people to do it is because my competitive streak doesn’t want them to hold any advantage over me, whether real or imagined. Shame on me – because I enjoy showing and when I allow that enjoyment to be driven by ribbon-winning…well, then I’ve doomed myself to have my weekend mood determined by an AOBA judge.