The Fiduciary featured in Llama Life II, issue 59, as “Most Prolific Sire”:

“Probably no other name in the short annals of llama breeding evokes the image of money and success as does The Fiduciary. Even beyond the fact that his name itself is a banking term and seems synonymous with wealth, he began his breeding career at the zenith of the financial pinnacle of the industry and was intelligently promoted. Even the newest members of the llama community have seen the photograph of the proud and woolly grey male standing on his hind legs looking over a fence.

The Fiduciary was first featured in Llama Life’s Legendary Herd Sire list in 1990 (Issue No. 13) with 90 registered crias. He was then the youngest of the top 10 sires. Today, The Fiduciary has 342 registered offspring (150 males - 26 of which are registered as geldings - and 192 females) and he still is breeding.

Those who preceded him in initial celebrity, most or all of whom have since passed on, never exceeded, or even reached his production. They were: Dr. Doolittle, Sitting Bull, Errol Flynn, Poncho Via, Fortunato, Eclipse, Zorro, Great Gildersleeve, Monsieur, Macho Camacho and Gabriel.

Closest to his record was Eclipse, a Dr. Doolittle son, who was born in 1980, and has 336 offspring listed in the registry.”

When Fidoosh passed away in 2005, his owner, Paul Taylor, wrote an obituary which appeared in Llama Life II, issue 75:

“In writing a tribute to The Fiduciary, a llama considered by most to be the top stud in the species in modern times, I find myself thinking about his personality and character more than his records and fame. He was a gentleman and a great friend to us.

From the day we came home to find him lying beneath his mother, a very athletic and beautiful black and white tuxedo pattern female named Tif any, we knew he was special. That was not just because he was a rare light gray color and well conformed, but because he had a presence and an awareness that we had never seen before. He was a unique animal and he commanded respect and admiration from the beginning. There are many memories for us to treasure now that he is gone, but these few will help you to know who he was.

Photogenic

Almost from the beginning Fidoosh had a following among the llama breeders in the US. We had promoted him in Llamas Magazine, and he certainly was photogenic, but more than that, he just loved having his picture taken. Maybe producing beautiful babies, more and better babies than any other male in North America, was his most important contribution to the gene pool, but posing for photos was his real joy in life.

Whenever a visitor to the ranch entered his pen he would stop grazing, move out into the open and strike a pose. You never had to make noises or flap your arms or throw your hat to get his ears up. He never turned away or lost interest while the camera was on him. He soon learned that most people wanted to see him up on the rail fence in his signature pose, so he would oblige with very little coaxing.

As with almost any stud that is being used a lot, Fidoosh was fiercely jealous and aggressive toward other males. We had to keep him in a pen by himself, and though he was adjacent to the field where the main herd of females and babies spent the night, it must have been a lonely existence.

A Friend

When he was about 10 years old we took in a barn cat. This was just a scruffy gray female cat that someone had dropped off, quite wild and self-sufficient. For some reason, this cat adopted Fidoosh, and he adopted her. They were seldom apart. When he was grazing on the hillside his cat, Barnice, would be nearby or even under him. He gave her shade and protection from eagles in the summer and when he bedded down in winter she would snuggle in under his wool until you couldn’t even see her. They were inseparable for several years, until one day she was gone, likely the victim of a coyote or an eagle or great horned owl. Fidoosh pined for Barnice, went off his feed and seemed listless for weeks afterward.

His Fans

For many years we went to every Celebrity Sale, usually with one or two Fiduciary offspring and usually we sold them for big prices. In October of ’97 we decided to take Fidoosh along to Oklahoma City so the folks could see him in person. He had a pen on “Stud Row” and while we were busy with grooming or schmoozing potential buyers for our consignment llamas, we pretty much left him to himself.

To our surprise, he seemed to love this chance to interact with his public. He stood at the front of his pen, even letting kids touch him. To keep him occupied we began to allow people we knew and even some we didn’t know take him for walks. By this time his attitude toward other males had mellowed considerably, maybe because he knew he had no real rivals, so there was never any snorting or screaming as he passed by other stalls. Every time he was led back to his stall there would be someone else there waiting to take him for a walk. It got so we didn’t even have to be involved in scheduling. We would see him pass by from time to time with some new admirer at the end of his lead.

Spontaneous Ovation

When it came time for our consignment to sell (one of his daughters) we arranged for Fidoosh, as the sire, to be led into the sales ring behind the sale animal as was common in those days. Sally led the young female in when her lot number and name were announced. There was some confusion about who was the buyer of the previous lot, so Tom and Tim were a little distracted and didn’t get organized to announce the entrance of The Fiduciary. I was leading him, and I decided to give him a slack line, just walk along beside him and see what he did.

He walked straight out to the front and center of the stage, pushed his chest against the velvet rope and scanned the audience from one side to the other. Still nobody had announced him, but a few people in the audience recognized him, were riveted by his presence, and began to applaud. Fidoosh stood stock-still and watched as the applause swelled.“The Fiduciary, ladies and gentlemen,” Tom Simmons finally said as he realized what was happening. The audience rose, everyone, really, giving him the only standing ovation I ever saw given to a llama at Celebrity. When it was over, he turned and led me off the stage without looking back.

A Real Tonic!

Toward the end of his life, Fidoosh began to lose condition and weight. He seemed listless going into last winter, and there were many cold days when he never stood up at all. We were quite worried about him and even began talking about putting him down before he deteriorated further.

Since he couldn’t breed anymore because of arthritic hips, we thought maybe it would help him if we put him in with the ‘special needs’ group, females about to deliver and those with new babies. This proved to be a real tonic for him. His appetite improved and he was always up and interacting with the babies. He even followed some of the new moms around orgling and bumping them and occasionally getting spit on by one that had lost patience with this old fool. We had him on special supplements and vitamins, but it was the interaction with the babies, I’m convinced, that caused him to rally.

Finally this summer, inevitably, he began to fade. By this time we had him right in with the main herd of females and babies, but one day he asked to get back into the pen where he had spent so many years in splendid isolation. He staked out a position halfway up the slope and lay down where he could see the whole ranch. There he stayed, unable or unwilling to rise or even to eat or drink. It was obvious to us that he had chosen this place and this time for the end of his life, and so it was.”