Could Elk or Reindeer be ridden by human or humanoids?

Question

One of the countries in my world, Izisbesi, is located in the far south and is home to Reindeer and Elk. I was thinking it would be really neat if the locals there traditionally rode those kinds of animals instead of horses like on Earth and the rest of the planet, at least until horses may be imported into the area.

When thinking about the idea, I immediately figured that antlers would likely be in the way or possibly strike a rider's face. I'm considering if the antlers would be or if maybe they would be routinely cut off.

One thing about my planet, Tala is that it does have half the gravity of Earth, which I'm hoping could maybe increase the load that any given animal could carry.

Side note: this culture often incorporates animal horns and antlers into their attire, meaning if that's the case, this could be where some of their antlers come from.

Answer 1

Absolutely. Moose have been ridden and Sweden had plans in place for a Moose cavalry and apparently they were used for couriers at one point.

The Russians used them as draft animals in WWii and Santa Claus used them to pull a sleigh and may have ridden them in emergency/fun situations.

The point is that they ARE rideable, just not utilised much as they're not the best choice of mount. But people still ride reindeer even today.

Answer 2

I believe it is worth pointing out that moose and reindeer have quite different sizes. A moose appears physically absolutely able to carry normal adult humans. Reindeer not so much, since they are less than half the weight of moose.

However, with large reindeer and lightly-built people it works and you can easily find photographic evidence on the internet, e.g. here. Not sure how practical and comfortable it is when compared to other species.

Answer 3

Already happens with reindeer.

you will note reindeer antlers don't hang backwards much.

They are small but it is worth noting the first horses were not much bigger than reindeer, they are bigger now because we bred them to be bigger which we would also do to riding reindeer. It also helps that humans were also smaller back then. Just like horses your reindeer will not stay small they will be bred larger for riding. Also this is for most reindeer, be aware different herds of reindeer have different length antlers. For some of the largest males among the largest herds the antlers will be a problem, but the solution is the same as elk, and you should expect breeding for smaller antlers just like with did with oxen.

Elk is more of problem, you would either have to cut the back part of the antlers (not hard or problematic) or stick to females. of course you would quickly breed for smaller antlers so it would not be a problem for long.

Answer 4

Moose and elk are large enough to ride. There have been cases of moose being habituated to humans and being ridden. I don't recall ever seeing an elk being ridden, but I don't see why they could not be. Reindeer and caribou are too small, but in teams they can pull carts or sleighs.

Answer 5

Here is a link to an article about the species Alces alces.

Males (or "bulls") normally weigh from 380 to 700 kg (838 to 1,543 lb) and females (or "cows") typically weigh 200 to 490 kg (441 to 1,080 lb), depending on racial or clinal as well as individual age or nutritional variations.[38][39]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose

The word for that species in the USA and Canada is "moose", but in Eurasia they are called "elk". When I was a child I read a scene in Bambi where Bambi looked with awe upon a passing group of elk, but was surpised to see that they looked like moose in the illustration.

The elk (pl.: elk or elks; Cervus canadensis), or wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The word "elk" originally referred to the European variety of the moose, Alces alces, but was transferred to Cervus canadensis by North American colonists.

Elk have thick bodies with slender legs and short tails. They have a shoulder height of 0.75–1.5 m (2 ft 6 in – 4 ft 11 in) with a nose-to-tail length of 1.6–2.7 m (5 ft 3 in – 8 ft 10 in). Males are larger and weigh 178–497 kg (392–1,096 lb) while females weigh 171–292 kg (377–644 lb).[21]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elk

The reindeer or caribou[a] (Rangifer tarandus)[5] is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America.2 This includes both sedentary and migratory populations. It is the only representative of the genus Rangifer. Herd size varies greatly in different geographic regions. More recent studies suggest the splitting of reindeer and caribou into six distinct species over their range.

The females (or "cows" as they are often called) usually measure 162–205 cm (64–81 in) in length and weigh 80–120 kg (180–260 lb).[146] The males (or "bulls" as they are often called) are typically larger (to an extent which varies between the different species and subspecies), measuring 180–214 cm (71–84 in) in length and usually weighing 159–182 kg (351–401 lb).[146] Exceptionally large bulls have weighed as much as 318 kg (701 lb).[146] Weight varies drastically between the seasons, with bulls losing as much as 40% of their pre-rut weight.[147]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reindeer#Size

So perhaps they should be described by their scientific names Alces alces, Cervus canadensis, and Rangifer tarandus, so everyone knows which species is being talked about and can picture how large they are.

Other answers point out that people have sometimes ridden Alces alces and Rangifer tarandus.

This article has two photos of Cervus canadensis being ridden.

https://www.zoochat.com/community/threads/which-ungulates-are-rideable.467512/

So apparently members of all three species have sometimes been ridden.

I give no advice about which would be the best - or least bad - to be domesticated and ridden.

If your world is a different planet, are we supposed to assume that the people and animals are all imported from Earth, or are they actually non Earthly species which have evolved separately from Earth life and only resemble Earth species to a degree?

Answer 6

I once traveled to Tala for business. I ended up in a real podunk town, so there was nothing to do at night. Naturally, that left me scrolling through talabuilding.stackexchange on their planet's internet. There, I came across the following question asked by the user "Izisbesi is Besti":

Could horses or camels be ridden by humans or humanoids?

Apparently, Izisbesi is Besti was confused about how one would steer a horse or camel. After all, they don't come with handlebars! This user suggested outfitting some sort of hat with long handles, but others responded that neither horses nor camels like to wear hats, and that there are plenty of regions on Tala where horses can be ridden just fine.

Of course, if you just saw the horses, camels, reindeer, or elk, you would be shocked if they could carry anything without collapsing. They're all long and spindly due to Tala's low gravity. But then you'd see that Talans themselves, being built like Tim Burton characters, could down countless sandwiches before inconveniencing their mounts.