Trying to Ride A Giraffe

Photo by Donald Weller

I've thought about it.  I look at their backs.  Long sloping shoulders taper off to a straight backside that could possibly hold a saddle.  They seem sturdy enough to hold 200 lbs.  The girth might need to be one of those cut so the front pitches forward to reach in front of the pot belly.  I'd make the saddle with either a cut out or drawn back pommel or a high tree for the climbing shoulders.  I'd want to be right where the withers meets the back so I wouldn't be sitting on a kidney or liver.  Knowing about their shyness I wouldn't put a bit in their mouth.  Besides can you imagine the length of those reins!  I'm betting on their shyness that they're really sensitive and I'd use a free-style loop (AKA a hula-hoop) over their withers to steer them.  We'd need special boots or polo wraps but not too big-- surprisingly they have skinny legs.  I'd have a very small crop to help me enforce the steering and lots of eucalyptus leaves.  They like eucalyptus.  We'd have to make the trailer topless so they could ride to shows.  I think I'd have to leash train them, with eucalyptus leaves of course.  But if you saw that extended trot and long strides canter you'd be thinking how to get your mount to do that too!  Wow, I wonder what the buck feels like.  They seem too top heavy to rear.  But what to do with all that neck?  Long neck no back.  They seem more balanced with a high head and you could grab onto the wiry stubs of mane.  I wonder if they like alfalfa.  The barn would have to be modified.  Have to feed them from the second story.  Imagine how that canter feels?  You could do your taxes in between strides.  At the end of the day though, they have sweet temperaments and a shy reserve that makes them all the more alien and intriguing.  To win the heart of a giraffe would be like knowing how to give an abused child confidence.  Maybe I'll stick to horses.