At the MayFest Arabian show this past spring, someone
brought a baby zebra [show mgt panicked b/c they hadn't seen a Coggins in it
yet!]. She planned to train it & ride it, and got it as an infant so it
would bond more to people than other zebras. It clacked its teeth to people like
foals do to adult horses.
They brought it into a Sport Horse in Hand class as a
joke ;-)
Kristen
From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
steelsidedown Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 1:48 PM To:
Ridecamp Subject: Re: [RC] Zebras
Someone rode a Zebra (I think his name was
Barcode?) at one of the OD rides a few years ago. The owner was kind
enough to write a nice article for the OD Newsletter with tons of info on
training, behavior, and daily life with a Zebra. Does anyone still have
that to share? What I remember; (again its been awhile guys) something
to the effect of having less chromosones than donkeys, thus a bit less
intelligent --he had difficultly retaining information, she said something
about having to ride daily to "remind him".
Hopefully someone will remember more, or have
gotten the chance to send some time with her. I saw her once at a
vet check, thought I was completely dillusional!
One afternoon, when I had nothing else to do (rare in this
day and age, I know) that silly film "Racing Stripes" was on, and I was
curious as to how and whether they really did train a zebra. So I looked it
up.
IN fact they trained and rode eight zebras. There were a couple
of problems that were noted. First and foremost, zebras don't run in
straight lines; They zig-zag. You will notice if you are forced to
watch this movie, that in the racing scenes the zebra is always boxed
in. Now I know why.
Also, they have smaller necks than a horse, which is apparently quite
disconcerting to the rider. It may have helped that the female lead,
Hayden Panettiere, had no prior riding experience.
-Paul
On Jul 28, 2006, at 8:20 AM, Dodie Sable wrote:
I'm no expert, but what I do know about Zebras is that their herd
heirarchy is actaully like antelope,
goats,
