Mandala, or Mandy, is very different from Gimli. For one thing, she's not a paranoid runt. For another, she's got herding in her blood.
Now, bear with me; the story of the ranch is a dog story, so I have to tell you about the dog.
For about a year after our father died, my brother kept his (Dad's) ashes waiting for inspiration as to what to do with them. Finally, I think he decided it was unseemly to dawdle any longer. He had me meet him in Albequerque from where we drove to the Escalante region of Utah where some friends of his had a llama ranch. I brought Mandy (much to the distaste of the llamas). The day before we took Dad on his last hike, Mandy and I were up before anyone else (we were on East Coast time) walking along the creek. Mandy started barking at a clump of river birch and out trotted a yearling bull. Mandy went into a frenzy. She ran around and around that bull until he started moving. She had him up in the corral before she lost interest. Of course, by the time anyone else got up, the bull was long gone. Mandy was no help the next time we tried to get him (being just as interested in the horses as she was in the bull) but it was clear she had the right genes.
So I figured I had to get her some animals to herd. But what animals and where and how? The way I see it, sheep are just too much work. Cows are too big. So goats. Turns out, goats don't really take to being herded very well, but how was I to know?