Llamas can range anywhere from 80" at the forehead in its fully upright position to as small as 60".  Because necks come in different lengths, it has become standard to measure llamas at the withers, or shoulder.  They can run from 50" at this point (extremely large) to 30" (tiny).  Classic-type llamas average around 42-45", as compared to wooly-type llamas who average 38- 43".  To the inexperienced eye, the two types can look to be the same height at the back due to excess wool, so it is important to place a hand on the llama so that you can tell the wool depth and figure accordingly.

 Balance is the overall proportion of one part to another.  An animal looks unbalanced if he has a short neck compared to very long legs or a long neck on short legs.  Llamas can also be hammer-headed, dachshund-like, have very short lower legs when compared to upper legs, and so forth.  For working excellence, we prefer a tall, leggy animal with a short back ("short" is equal to the rump height) and a long neck.  We also like a good depth in the rib cage, or heart-girth, which allows for lung capacity without making the animal wide in the chest.

 Perhaps the best indicator of a well-balanced animal is to look at the whole in motion.  (This is hard to do on a very woolly animal unless it is sheared---the motion you see is the graceful waving of wool, which has nothing to do with conformation.) Good balance makes for efficiency and economy of movement.  Well-balanced llamas flow effortlessly; off-balance ones bobble, drag or jerk.  The best place to train yourself is to attend a pack-llama race, or go on a hard trip with a string of equally-fit llamas with different builds.  The balanced ones will still be fresh when the poorly balanced are winded.

legs & feet
 The front legs carry the load of the head, neck, and forward half of the torso; when the llama goes uphill, he puts his long neck down to offset the slope and the front leg becomes the fulcrum point.  We look first at the angle of the shoulder joint (hidden beneath the wool at the top of the leg) Viewed from the side, the front leg should be properly angled at the elbow, which is hard to see.  You can get some clues by how the leg relates to the rest of the body, though.  If it has too little angle, the leg appears to be somewhat forward and is called camped out front.  An over-flexed elbow puts the leg too far under the body, called camped under in front.

 The "knee" on a quadruped is analogous to our wrist joint, but it has a much bigger job.  In addition to flexing with each step, it must also withstand the body's braking force, which makes it one of the most vulnerable joints.  The foreleg should be straight from the elbow to the top of the fetlock (the little springy joint above the foot which makes us think of an ankle, although it's really the same as the third joint of our fingers and toes).  If it's bent toward the rear, there will be tremendous pressure on the back tendons; called calf knee, this is one of the most painful faults.  A slight bend to the front is called buck knee and interferes with the ability to brace the joint, requiring more work for the leg muscles.

 Next, we move our eyes back to the hind legs.  Although these do not support as much of the animals' weight, they provide more of the motive power---you might say llamas have "rear wheel drive".  It is important to observe the mechanics of the walk---the placement, flexion and extension of the hip, "stifle" and hock joints.  To get a good look at these, you have to see the animal take several full steps and look at the "mean position" of the leg.

 The bones of the hind leg make a sort of stretched-out zigzag, which provides both shock absorbency in compression and power in extension.  For packers, this function is crucial.  Our experience is that nothing causes an animal more muscular distress under working conditions than a poorly conformed hind leg.  Trying not to get too technical, we'll examine this from the bottom to the top.

 The cannon bone is the bone between the fetlock joint and the hock.  In the mid-point of the walk, should be more or less vertical, with a slight slope toward the front, about a 10-degree angle.  The weight of the pack (or the pregnancy) is distributed to the foot on this bone, so it should be both upright and generally under the hip joint.

 Immediately above it is the tibia, the bone which goes from the hock to the stifle (this is where our knee would be---on a llama it's well hidden under wool, just a little higher than the calloused area where they rest their weight in the seated position).  This bone is the lower half of the hind leg's "mainspring piston"; the femur (which is attached to the pelvis) is the upper lever and the stifle joint is the center of the muscular action.  Although it is hard to see, a common problem is a stifle that is too straight or a pelvis at the wrong angle, which can result in one of three faults: sickle hock, post leg, and camped out behind.

 In sickle hock, the straight knee reduces the angle of the tibia, making it too vertical.  If the hock retains its nor- mal angle, the cannon bone will have too much slope, placing it too far under the body.  Instead of carrying the force along the bone to the foot, the tendons of the hock get some of the load.  A post-legged animal straightens the hock to match the stifle --- fine for distributing the load, but poor for generating force and absorbing shock, giving the joints an extra pounding.  Finally, some animals with less spring in the stifle are neither sickle hocked nor post-legged---their problem is too little forward bend at the hip joint, which puts the leg further to the rear and is called camped out behind.  Although less than ideal, the animals we have packed with this stance did not seem to be as adversely affected as those with the first two.

 Now drop your eyes to the feet.  The fetlock joint--- described above---is the last part of the shock absorbing system.  From the side, this joint should be somewhat behind the heel and about the same distance above it.  In dropped fetlock, the tendons are weakened and the joint is too low.  This causes even more strain on the back of the tendons; in its worst form the joint rests on the ground.  Any degree of sag in the fetlocks will show up in toenails that never wear down and must be trimmed often.  Even worse is the opposite fault, cocked ankle.  In this case, the joint is straightened---sometimes to the point where it looks like there is no fetlock at all, and no spring action is available.  The joint will eventually fail to the front.  A llama with a cocked ankle is essentially crippled.

 As long as we're on the feet, go round to the front and check the direction the toes are pointed.  On the back feet, the toes should face straightforward.  The front feet tend to spread a little more outward, which is normal, but it they are facing too much outward the animal is splayfooted.  The inside toe should be straight forward; and the outside one should not point further outward than two and ten o'clock.  The llama's walk will give you further clues; a correct animal moves the foot and the leg in direct forward to back motion; a splay-footed one has a degree of side-to-side motion below the cannon bone.  The reverse fault, pigeon toe, is often accompanied by bowlegs.

 Splayed feet can be caused by the fault of knock-knee, further up the leg.  To determine soundness from this angle, watch the motion of the leg as the animal approaches head-on.  The forelegs should be straight and vertical to best support the body.  If the foot is not directly under the knee, stress intended for the skeleton will fall on the joints, especially the vulnerable knee.  When the leg angles inward and then out again, its called knock knees a very common fault in llamas.  Legs that angle inward from the chest are base narrow; an outward angle is called base wide.

 The hind legs should also be straight as you stand behind it.  From the back view as the animal moves straight away, the less "play" of side-to-side movement, the better.  When there is an inward bend at the hock, the llama is cow-hocked.  An outward bend is bow-legged.  If the legs are straight from the back view, but not vertical, the llama is either base-narrow behind or base-wide behind.  It is interesting to note that pack llamas with perfectly straight, vertical legs will often assume a base- narrow behind stance when they are heavily loaded.

back & jaw
 After examining the legs and feet, check the back.  From an engineering standpoint, the back is designed to transmit forces between front and rear and support the load of a pregnancy or a pack.  From a load-supporting stand-point, a short back is to be preferred over a longer one.  The rear in llamas is slightly higher than the front; too much deviation should be a clue to look at the conformation of the legs--- under- or over-flexed leg joints can raise or lower either end.  An upward curve of the spine creates a humpback, which limits the flexibility of the animal; the downward curve at the ends of the hump may affect the pelvis and shoulder positions to give an overall "tucked in" stance on the humpbacked animal.  A sagging spine is called swayback, often seen in older or heavily worked animals.  Swayback is normal in the "wear and tear" department, but it is a serious fault in llamas under ten.

 If you have someone experienced present, such as a vet, it is a good idea to look at the llama's jaw.  Mismatched teeth and bite plates affect the individual's ability to graze, chew, and digest food and has a real impact on their health.  Look for undershot jaw (lower jaw too long), overshot jaw (lower jaw too short) and if possible, for a good match on the back teeth.  As in horses, teeth will tell the age and condition of a llama.  This is hard to judge from the outside because lip and face shapes are so varied and projecting front teeth that would be a serious fault in a four-year-old kept on pasture are to be expected on a fifteen-year-old kept on hay.  Watching llamas as they chew their cud can give clues to the trained eye.

reproductive equipment
 If you are buying breeding llamas, look at the reproductive organs.  The testicles should be adequate (small testicles are an indication of poor fertility), which in a llama would be from one to two inches in diameter.  The vulva on an adult female should be 2.5 to 3.5" ---we have noticed infertile females often have very small genitalia.  If you can, look under her and make sure the udder has four quarters.  It is usual for the udder to be nearly flat, unless the llama is currently lactating.