goats generally dislike water, but that’s not the case for these p.e.i. paddleboarding goats
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keegan saila, takes baby goat joy and her mother hope out on the paddleboard.
kristin gardiner
/
journal pioneer
st. chrysostome — ten years ago, a handful of goats in the evangeline area did something unexpected: forgetting their innate distaste for water, they stepped past the shore and hopped atop a windsurf board.
keegan saila was around seven years old, down at the shoreline on a calm summer day. a few of his family’s small herd of goats had followed them.
one goat, daisy, was playing on top of the board while it was still on the sand, but when keegan set sail, it was another, rex, who walked out and joined him.
“i didn’t expect it at all,” he said.
it’s not even something their dogs have done.
his mother, devon saila, remembers him calling out to her. immediately, she was amazed by what she saw.
devon saila, owner of beach goats, said goats are like cats, in that they have a natural aversion to the water. that’s not the case for many of her own.
kristin gardiner
/
journal pioneer
this was a few years before saila created beach goats, a year-round operation where visitors can come hang out with or partake in scheduled events with her nigerian dwarf goat herd.
but once the beach goats were formed, going out on a paddleboard with a goat became part of the experience.
it wasn’t anything devon had taught, and it didn’t appear to be a shared trait among related goats. instead, she jokes that the goats from which this quirk originated, “told their friends about it, and then told their babies, and now everybody does it, basically.”
joy, left, and her mother hope set out on a paddleboard. baby goat sarah runs through the water, hoping to join.
kristin gardiner
/
journal pioneer
self-directed hobby
at devon’s home, the goats run the show; they don’t do anything they don’t want to do. some goats love mounting the paddleboards and going for a paddle on the water, but others won’t, which devon never forces.
it just so happens that for many, it’s a chosen, self-directed hobby.
“sometimes we have to take them off the paddleboards,” devon laughed, “because they’ve had too long of a turn, and others want to have turns.”
hope is one goat who can’t get enough of the paddleboard and loves being out on the water. but she has myotonia — also called fainting goat syndrome — which means, if startled, her legs freeze and she tips over.
devon saila was blown away by the first time she saw her goats go out on a paddleboard, all of their own free will. she’s even more surprised that it wasn’t a quirk of one goat, but something that has passed on to many more of her goats over the last decade.
kristin gardiner
/
journal pioneer
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that’s why she has her own life jacket. she hasn’t fallen in yet, but devon wants to ensure safety first.
as for the rest of the goats, the shallow water means that even in the event of lost balance or capsize, they can still find their footing in the sand.
while these days, keegan prefers to paddleboard solo, going out with a goat provides a different experience.
“they do throw it off a bit, especially the bigger ones,” said keegan.
some goats are passive, like hope, while others, like tinkerbell, move about freely, weaving between the paddleboarder’s legs.
devon saila’s goats, like joy, left, and hope, weren’t taught to paddleboard. it was something they took upon themselves.
kristin gardiner
/
journal pioneer
out on the water
the premise of the beach goats is simple: book a time to see the goats or go for a walk on your own, or join in on paint nights, yoga, nature walks with biologist kate macquarrie, campfires at sunset, or, in the spring, just come see the baby goats.
the business has been operating for several years and is a popular attraction for visitors looking for a unique experience in prince county.
paddleboarding was one of the first activities available.
“we have all sorts of different things,” said devon. “and we also are open to doing, if you have this weird idea that you want to do, i’m like, ‘ooh, we’ll give it a try! we’ll try it out!’ that’s how some of this stuff started, too.”
keegan saila rewards hope’s time on the paddleboard with a froot loop.
kristin gardiner
/
journal pioneer
if the goats want to do it, devon is more than happy to let them, especially if it challenges their minds. paddleboarding, a balancing act on the water, which they’re not meant to like — devon noted they’re like cats in that way — provides that.
“goats are considered to be bad if they don’t have their brain stimulated,” she said. “that’s when you hear about, goats are nuisances, they’re troublemakers. if they’re stimulated all the time, then they don’t get bad! you just have to have a million activities for them, and then they’re happy.”
even without a person, they’ll gladly go off on their own adventure while devon supervises; it’s another reason hope has a lifejacket.
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“she’ll nap on the board,” said devon. “we have to take her in for pee breaks because she won’t get off the board; we have to force her in. i think her daughter’s gonna be the same way.”
keegan saila, left, and his mother devon saila walk their herd of goats down to the beach.
kristin gardiner
/
journal pioneer
as a reward for their good work and behaviour, the goats always get a helping of froot loops.
as keegan gave some to hope, just before he gently pushed the paddleboard away with her on top, one goat, daisy, came over, and devon jokingly chided: “no, daisy, you must float to get a froot loop.”
right after, joy — hope’s baby — chased after her mother and the paddleboard, right through the water. devon stopped herself mid-thought, excited at the new milestone.
“this is something they have chosen,” she said, still perplexed by how all of this began with one goat with a quirk. two young goats that love to paddleboard, for example, were born to a mother who doesn’t.
“it’s just, they all started doing it. just like joy did.”
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kristin gardiner is a reporter for the journal pioneer in prince edward island. she can be reached at kgardiner@postmedia.com.
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