Greetings from Australia

[DownUnder Gal]

I forgot to mention that I contacted Charlie from Sopris and he confirmed that he thought the Rookie would work well for the two goats in question. Nanno, he also recommended the intermediate panniers. OK, out to measure my goats now

[Sanhestar]

I think it's a good choice.

From my experience with the Rookie the saddle places itself on the back of the goat. Meaning, if you put it to far up on the shoulder it will slide back into the correct position just behind the shoulder no matter how tight you pull the cinch - btw, don't tighten the second cinch too much as it will restrict the goats breathing that way.

I don't know how other Rookie owners solved this but I get a good, snug fit of the cinches by working out the correct length with the still open cinch and then clipping it closed (you will see what I mean when you have the Rookie in hand). Clipping it shut and then tightening it has for my always ended in a girth that's slightly too loose and will cause the saddle to slip.

Again, make sure that the girth isn't too snug (you should be able to put two (flat) fingers between cinch and goat and feel slight pressure on your fingers.

[Nanno]

From my experience with the Rookie the saddle places itself on the back of the goat.

^ This has been my experience too. 

Here's a goofy photo of my packgoat bowing to a crowd at a goat show last year. He's wearing the Rookie saddle without panniers, and because of the funny angle of the goat you can really see how the saddle conforms to his back. It flattens along the bottom edge to a wider load-bearing surface and follows the curvature of the spine. I could use this same saddle on my double-wide, withers-less boy who had a fairly deep dip behind his shoulder.  

   

[DownUnder Gal]

Thanks Sabine and Nanno - I think the decision has been made

What a darling goat bowing - and it shows the Rookie saddle very well - thanks!

[Nanno]

Cuzco learned to bow after about two weeks of training when he was 12 years old... who says you can't teach an old goat new tricks??

You can also see from that photo how narrow he is nowadays. He used to fit a normal wooden saddle very well, but by the time he got to be around 11 years old he lost enough flesh and muscling from his topline that the front fork of a wooden saddle began to rest right down on his spine. I can lift it with extra padding, but I prefer to just use the Sopris and avoid all of that.

[DownUnder Gal]

Wow, only 2 weeks to learn that trick at 12 years of age - that's amazing. What method of training do you use? Clicker training or just treats and praise or something else? Can Cuzco do other tricks?

[Nanno]

Yes, Cuzco does several tricks. I train most of my goats to do basic tricks like "Shake hands," "Spin," and "Dance." All of the boys and one of the girls will also go down on their knees and "Repent!" (always a huge crowd pleaser). Cuzco is the only one who knows how to do the one-knee bow. This was tricky for him since all his life I'd taught him that he must go down on BOTH knees to get a cookie. He would sometimes try to be lazy and just do one knee and I never rewarded that, so it was confusing for him at first to be told I only wanted one knee down. That's why it took two weeks. Normally he can learn a trick faster if I work on it every day. You find that once they "learn to learn" they pick up new tricks pretty quickly if you are consistent.

I'm currently just using the treats and praise method, but I have a clicker which I should probably get comfortable using. I'm teaching the younger boys "Whoa" (same as "Stay" for a dog) and to ground tie. I just today started teaching my young boys to nod their heads "Yes". I'm hoping they'll be able to learn to answer Yes/No questions by watching my hand signals. We'd love to do little circus acts for birthday parties and such. My husband is also dreaming up magic tricks that we can do with goats. They can be his lovely and mischievous assistants.

[DownUnder Gal]

Thanks for all the info Nanno. I've just been devouring all the pics and information in your glamour photo thread for Cuzco. What an amazing animal. I've had mixed success with clicker training my goats. Some take to it and some are better with just the praise/treat method. And some have no interest whatsoever!

[rockman]

Hi There, where about's in Aussy are you. I'm Located in Timaru New Zealand and think I might be the only one packing Goats In NZ. I Took An Old guy out Hunting from Melbourne area and he has now got himself a couple of goats. He has got Some basic packs but don't think he has done two much with them yet.

[Charlie Horse]

Because everyone else down under is using packaroos.