Robot Claw

Many years ago when we went to Hawaii we were driving to the volcanoes on the big island and drove right past a paddock with a Zebra grazing in it. It seemed to be kept just like a horse, and it had some sort of equipment (a bridle?) on it. We were quite fascinated, didn’t take a photo (this was pre-smartphone), and had planned to stop and take a better look on the way home. However on the way back… it was gone.

Was it a pet? Did someone ride it? Apparently that’s unlikely… but not impossible.

That’s a photo of German soldiers riding Zebra over 100 years ago in Africa. In some german colonies in Africa horses were a luxury, and soldiers would sometimes ride Zebra instead. Apparently this wasn’t common (and some of the several photos may have been posed) but there are records of the beasts being trained and used as mounts. Here’s another photo from that era:

Zebras are not ideal mounts for several reasons:
– They are smaller and have weak backbones compared to horses
– They are very aggressive, even to the point of attacking humans
– They are very difficult to train
Basically, zebra aren’t domesticated, and training and riding them is a novelty. It’s difficult and expensive and often futile. But that hasn’t stopped people over the years, and there’s a wealth of curious images online if you search around.

Such as these:

That’s Baron Walter Rothschild, who famously trained Zebra to draw carriages. In the 1920s he even used them to drive him to Buckingham Palace to show them off! (He also had a galapagos tortoise mount, but thats another blog post…)

That’s another zebra carriage, this time in India in 1930. It’s a beautiful photo, but could that tiny fake horse have been happy drawing a gang of Thuggee cultists around at the end of a whip?!?

Another photo from early-20th century British colonial Africa, in which a stereotypical explorer dazzles the public back in England with photographs of his derring-do as his zebra mount jumps a stick held 10 cm from the ground. These photos seem to counter the claim zebra are unrideable, but those that have researched the topic say that methods of training in those days were brutal and cruel and cared more about the (typically wealthy) owner showing off the beast than it being an effective work animal.

That’s not to say the practise has faded away…

That was taken only 5 years ago in Texas, and you can find many similar photos online of people in America and around the world that take the time and patience to train zebra for either riding or dressage. It’s neither easy nor as effective as training horses (apparently their aggressive streak is hard to train away…) but if you’re the sort that likes to show off…

So back in 2007, that zebra we saw may have indeed been for riding! Maybe when we drove back and it was gone it was because the owner had saddled up and gone for a trot! And since zebra are very long-lived (up to 40 years!) there could be a zebra-rider trotting around Hawaii even today!

When I return to Hawaii I’ll keep my eyes peeled…