What age to start "saddling up"?

[Cmaentz]

Dear Camel lovers,

Boris is doing so well! I've moved him from one pasture to another (which still leads to a barn stall) because he was sharing the main one with Pygmy goats that recently had kids. Boris is such an oaf I was afraid he'd casually step on a little one.

In any case, I've started to "desensitize" his back by making him wear a blanket and also by rubbing his hump when he's cushed. I've straddled him (without putting weight) and he agreed to that. Once I accidentally put a little weight on him while scooting over him and he quickly got up and set me flying!

Boris turned 2 this past July. I've read somewhere that you shouldn't try to make them bear weight until they are 3.

What are your comments on this?

[Cmaentz]

Hey everyone!

I don't get this.. 47 views on this post & not one response? C'mon, I'm sure one of you knows the answer to this. Please help me out!

[camelsinfrance]

I'm guessing there are no replies as it's a long answer and everyone is getting ready for Christmas... so thought I'd put my penny's worth in here to try to help!

Looks like you're doing all the right things in terms of getting a blanket over him - are you making him walk with the blanket.

First off, it's good for him to experience a saddle and a girth done underneath his belly

Next... try two baskets, I used grass woven baskets, until one day I left them out and the camels decided they tasted nice.. but those big blue Ikea bags will do - tie the handles together with some twine and sit them each side of the camel over the saddle, ( attach to the saddle if you can) they'll flap around perhaps, but no more than when you're riding with a kagool! Start to fill them up - we used 2 litre coke bottles filled with water and had about 4 each side - so they start getting accustomed to the weight. By the time he's old enough to weight bear he'll be completely accustomed to the bags.

Sitting light people on him on the ground isn't going to hurt either, make sure he stays cushed, as the last thing you want is a panicking person jumping off as he goes to get up.

Good luck

[camel2]

I vote don't put any person on him til his 4th year. But thats just my personal opinion. I've seen camels started in their 2nd year...of course, I've also seen them breakdown early as well. Heck, I know of someone that started a camel as a yearling. Then they end up with joint problems and all sorts of stuff you don't want to deal with.

I wouldn't even straddle him since that will likely just teach him to get up fast to get rid of a person. In the cush and standing, I'd acclimate him to all sorts of stuff being put on his back and rubbed on him. Don't always do it slowly either. You want to get him so use to new stuff being presented to him that when a body comes along and hops on...he could care less. One of the 'stuff' items you can introduce is of course the saddle but work up to it. For desensitization you can use blanket, tarp, feed bags, horse or pony saddle (lighter than drom. saddle, its purpose is just to be another object), heck you can put milk jugs along a short length of rope.

Before you start introducing stuff in the cush, be sure that he stays down and waits for you to cue him up. If he doesn't, you may want to actually introduce stuff while he's standing. That way he's not learning to hop up to avoid an object thus increasing a behavior you were trying to eliminate. If you go to introduce and have to still deal with the initial problem of hopping up before being cued, he's basically winning. Because, he made the scary object go away for awhile and all he had to do was stand up. Scare object stays away until he recushes.

Also before introducing a rider be sure is ground manners are really good. Don't let him hop on lead as that will cause problems for later training.

The best and easiest camels to ride train are those that have had the most ground work.

Just my opinionated two cents

[Cmaentz]

Merci, CamelsinFrance!

I was worried that there might be a growth issue. For instance we have a beautiful pair of Brazilian Mastiffs and we had to be careful not to give them strenuous exercise until they were about a year old because of the bone platelets in their legs. I was concerned of a similar issue with camels.

Again, thank you for taking the time to respond!

Joyeux Noel et Bonne et Heureuse Année!

[kjay]

I don't own any camels but I have heard that one should wait at least three years before riding a camel. No doubt more scientific responses than mine are provided here, but I did want to respond rather than just reading your question.

[3droms]

I was one of the people that viewed this thread but didn't post anything. The reason... I don't know the answer :-)

[kjay]

good answer, 3droms. I suppose that's why most people don't respond.

[macknnc]

yep..in those immortal words..sometimes attributed to Benjamin Franklin, sometimes Mark Twain.."It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt."

[camels]

But does anyone know how much weight they can safely bear at two years old?

[camelsinfrance]

Sorry - that will teach me for responding prior to too much festive local red wine - I certainly would not back a camel before 4 years, but as I mentioned, would get in all the ground work first, as well as the work with light baskets so they're used to "things" ontop!