Yes, You Can Ride Llamas!

 

Garry Richardson

 

Llamas have been ridden in South America for possibly as long as horses have been ridden elsewhere, and the short, stocky, native South Americans still ride them in places like Peru. I’ve even seen a hand-carved chess set in which the two sides were depicted as Incas and Spaniards; the Spanish knights were riding horses, the Inca knights riding llamas. As far as I can find out from searching the internet, llamas are not ridden in the United States except on a lead as children’s novelty rides, in spite of the fact that the States has a large population of them (and a relatively small population of alpacas – the opposite to Australia). This might be because llamas cannot carry too much weight, and Americans tend to be fairly heavy.

A little over three years ago I bought Patterson, my first llama, together with a couple of alpacas to keep him company. After about two years getting to know something of the nature of the animals – alpacas are a bit different from llamas – I decided to get serious about llamas. I let someone have my remaining alpaca and at the end of 2001 I bought seven more llamas: four juvenile males and three mature breeding females.

I had always been interested in the possibility of riding llamas, so after a few months I decided to put this to the test. Clare Graydon, who is very experienced with horses and who only weighs fifty kilograms, came several times a week to train Patterson, who was by then a little over three years old.

The whole thing proved very difficult, however. Patterson threw Clare a few times and eventually, after we had devised a way to get him to tolerate Clare on his back, it became apparent that he was just not strong enough to carry her weight. He was unsteady on his feet and became obviously tired after only a few minutes of walking with her. This phase took about six weeks.

At this point I virtually gave up. But then I found out what I had not known at the time: that llamas were ridden in Peru, and someone I spoke to had a video of a llama walking around a paddock in the States with a fourteen stone man riding him. He normally used this llama for carting, not for riding, and the llama was obviously making heavy weather of the load he was carrying.

As a result of all this I came to the conclusion that we had to train the llamas and strengthen them up if we were going to ride them, so I started to run them, up to four at a time, behind a four wheel ATV motorbike up and down the dirt road outside my place. We began over short distances at a walk and gradually built up distance and speed until they were capable of handling the whole four kilometres at about 12 kph, except for a couple of very short steep bits where we slowed to a walk. In addition, I obtained a pack saddle and some weights, and we slowly built up the weight Patterson was carrying at a walk over a couple of kilometres to forty kilograms. This program went on for about four or five months.

The result was startling. Patterson began to muscle up: his bones became thicker and his pasterns strengthened. Then we decided the time was right to try riding him again. It was immediately obvious that he could now carry Clare’s weight without any trouble but, to begin with, he was very unsure of himself – and so were we! However, after about four or five times on separate days, the penny dropped and he suddenly got the idea of what we wanted. He began to be controllable with the reins and respond to commands. A few days later we were all triumphant – Patterson included: he walked six inches taller after Clare had ridden him at a walk around the paddock under full control for about five minutes.

We continued to walk him for a couple of months, gradually building up distance to the full four-kilometre length of the road (there and back). By this time he would occasionally break into a little trot for a few seconds, but Clare could not keep him going at it. It was apparent, however, that it was time he was extended into a trot and a canter, but Clare could not see how to get him to do it. So we both had a little talk to him and I joked that maybe he would think about it overnight and then be able to do it. The next day, when Clare got back from the ride, she said, “Guess what, we’ve just been trotting and cantering – and under control”. So even llamas can sleep on things and work them out overnight!

We’ve been riding Patterson for about four months now, including some long rides of up to an hour and a half. Clare has been taking him up and down the steep sides of Mt Campbell at Burra as well as around the paddocks and along the road, which is quite hilly. He likes getting off the beaten track and exploring new places. All of this is good training for building strength and stamina. He has also learned how to enjoy learning and to think about what we ask of him. One particularly endearing trait is that he’ll hold his head around at an angle to make it easier for you to adjust his harness. Llamas, unlike horses, don’t need bits; the reins just attach to the sides of the headstall.

As a preliminary estimate, I believe Patterson, who at 10.2 hands is an average size llama, will be able to handle riders of up to seventy kilograms, while a really big llama of around 12 or so hands should, with training, probably be able to handle eighty.

We now have Grenada, the oldest of the juveniles who has just turned two, also riding under full control. We’re keeping him to a walk at the moment and we’ll continue to strengthen him slowly over the next year or so. Llamas continue to grow until they are three or more, and already Grenada is bigger than Patterson, but not as filled out at this stage.

Llamas are very intelligent animals who like interacting with humans. They can kick, but rarely do so, and their small, padded, two-toed feet would normally only cause bruising at the worst, and in any case inflict far less damage than a kick from a horse, which can cause serious fractures. Their feet are also much kinder on the environment than horses’ hooves, and they leave their droppings in piles. You can even take them into your living room with complete confidence, but you wouldn’t want to leave them there all day! ``                                                              

Llamas don’t bolt, or shy the way horses do though, of course, if a rabbit started from under their nose, it would cause them to start. They are very sure on their feet and can walk over a floor covered with tools without hurting themselves or making a fuss about it – they are much less likely to injure themselves than horses are. When they’re being trained, they don’t buck savagely as horses can, but tend to twist, trying to throw the rider off sideways. They can be stubborn however, and, of course, they can spit. They can get quite upset spitting at each other on occasion, and sometimes a human can get in the way, but it is unusual for them to spit at people. It’s a better way to settle quarrels amongst themselves than fighting, though males can fight over a female.

Altogether, llamas are excellent riding animals for people who are not too heavy, and they are possibly ideal for children. They are good at keeping the grass down, but have to be kept out of the garden, and they also double as excellent guard animals for sheep and goats. They can learn to draw a light cart, singly, in pairs or as threesomes. They’re also used for carrying camping equipment for bushwalkers. They’re an animal we’ll be seeing a lot more of in the future.