Jasper drives us to despair
Temperature - Day (maximum):
approx. 30 degrees
Anna Plains Station – 11.05.2001
In the meantime, new staff have arrived at Anna Plains. Tourists also get the chance to prove themselves as Jilleroo or Jackeroo. Two Dutch women, a Dutchman and an Englishman are on the homestead alongside Australians. We welcome them, show them the camels and wish them lots of fun and enjoyment working on the farm and rounding up the cattle.
While an exciting time begins for the new employees, we continue the training. So far we are well on schedule and if things continue like this we could keep to our departure date.
Today we start by leading Jasper and Edgar through the training enclosure on the neck rope. Edgar gets on much better with the hobbles than Jasper, who is quite clumsy. After a few laps and several exercises putting down and getting up, we leave Edgar in peace for the time being. Jasper, on the other hand, doesn’t want to walk. It sticks into the ground like an anvil and doesn’t move an inch. “My God, what a camel,” I curse. “If he doesn’t want to walk, how are we supposed to get him into a caravan?” I continue to grumble and wonder what step we should take next. “We’ll tie him to Sebastian,” I suggest. Sebastian willingly comes to his first assignment in months. We loop Jasper’s neck rope around his neck and let him run off. At first Jasper wants to resist, but Sebastian simply pulls him on. “Hooray, we’ve won,” I cheer loudly, but only minutes later the cheers get stuck in my throat. Jasper simply pushes himself into the ground with all fours. The rope tightens so tightly around Sebastian’s shoulder that he yells and stops. Perplexed, I try to persuade Sebastian to continue walking, but without the slightest success. Tanja and I now go for plan C and get a two meter long plastic pipe with a diameter of about 5 centimeters. While I pull on Sebastian’s guide rope, Tanja swings the pipe in the air. Startled by the black thing, Jasper jumps forward. “Well, we always have an idea ready for the rebellious,” I cheer, but as soon as the sentence has passed my lips, my cheer turns into cursing. Jasper simply sits down and poor Sebastian screams and whines. “We’ll get Goola, he’s capable of pulling a jumbo,” I suggest. In fact, a few years ago its then owner harnessed it to a troop carrier capable of carrying whole tanks in its belly for an Australian Air Force commercial. It was supposed to be a joke. A rope was placed around Goola’s neck and attached to the large airplane. The camel man had Goola walk a few meters forward to tighten the rope, because the shot had to look real. Suddenly Goola got it into his head to pull on the rope a little and as the machine slowly moved forward, panic broke out. Those responsible were afraid that the camel might pull the plane off the runway.
In fact, it works very well with Goola. I refrain from cheering or rejoicing this time because I have the feeling Jasper is making a fool of us here. Goola manages to drag and pull him about 20 meters until he also gives up. Soon I’m desperately struggling to keep my composure. My control has reached its limit and I feel like Daniel Gyro Gearloose is about to blow up at any moment. “Tanja, I think I have a brilliant idea now.” “What are you suggesting this time?” she asks dryly. “We tie Jasper to Goola and Sebastian. Together they’ll have no problem getting this stubborn guy to work.” “If you say so. But we have to make sure we don’t hurt Jasper.” “Sure, but I’m sure it will work.” As planned, we hitch Goola and Sebastian to Jasper. “Camel, walk up!” I give the order to start walking. This time Jasper is dragged across the course with his legs spreading until he runs a few meters. Then he simply drops off in the middle of the action, leaving Goola and Sebastian powerless. Even the plastic pipe whizzing through the air no longer upsets Jasper. He simply remains seated and has obviously beaten us with his method. We give up helplessly and are devastated. Up until today, everything was going well and then, all of a sudden, we hit an impenetrable wall. We tie Jasper to the post, set him down and tie his front feet. Then we sit down at the gate, drink water and think about what to do with him. “It’s been running so far. What could be the reason for that? Is he really just being stubborn?” I ponder aloud. “Maybe he has a blockage in his brain and doesn’t think he can move with his hobbles?” “Who knows?” Tanja replies, also looking for a solution. “We’ll try it without hopping,” I decide, because I can’t think of anything else. Tanja takes the hobbles off him while I fetch Sebastian and tie them to his neck. “Camis, walk up!” I shout and start running. We make very slow progress for the first few meters. Then Jasper realizes that his front feet are no longer tied together and takes a lunging step, and suddenly he is running without causing any further difficulties. Afraid he might stop at any moment, I am quietly pleased this time. After we have completed three laps, we stop the exercise for today.
