A Long Way From Africa

looks like a horse and he walks like a horse, but there are several dissimilarities. Their manes are made of short, erect hair, their tails are tufted at the tip, their coats are striped, and their skin is very thick and tough. Zebras communicate with one another using facial expressions and sounds. They make loud braying or barking sounds and soft snorting sounds.

One of the most-asked questions about zebras concerns his stripes-white with black stripes or black with white stripes? Zebras are generally thought to have white coats with black (brown when they are young) stripes. That's because if you look at most zebras, the stripes end on their bellies and toward the insides of their legs, and the rest is all white. However, some zebras are brown with genetic variations that make them all black with white stripes. They actually have black skin underneath their hair. So it kind of depends on how you look at it. Another question that has been debated for many, many years is why didn't the zebra become Africa's domestic horse? They can exist on the coarsest of grasses that are inedible to many other animals. They are resistant to Africa's dreaded tsetse fly. They are fleet footed, very powerful and very courageous. For many, the answer is that zebra could not be domesticated and was virtually untrainable. They are bad-tempered. They grow increasingly antisocial with age, and once they bite with their two incisors, they tend not to let go. A kick from a zebra can kill. According to evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond in his thought-provoking book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, American zookeepers suffer more wounds from zebras than tigers.

Why is it so hard to train a zebra? It comes down to survival of the fittest. Zebra and other African game evolved characteristics to help them survive the harsh environment in which they lived. They shared their habitat with some of the most dangerous predators on Earth, including lions, cheetahs, hyenas, and crocodiles. In order to live and breed, they had to evolve clever survival techniques. Throughout history, there have been scattered attempts to domesticate and train zebras. In 1894, Lord Walter Rothschild harnessed a team of four zebras to pull his carriage through the streets of London. In 1907, a doctor in Nairobi made his house calls on a zebra. There was no continuity. Everyone usually gave up, saying they were wild animals and would never be controlled by man.

Recently, I was talking about zebras with my veterinarian. He told me there was a woman in Comus, Tricia Tripp, who was raising and training a young plains zebra named Zipper. Last week, I visited Tricia at her Fox Hollow farm, and I met Zipper. I brought my camera with the telephoto lens, as I didn't know how close I could get to him. I soon learned - as I petted Zipper's head - that I didn't need it. Tricia introduced me to Zipper's trainer, Tony Eyler, an equine behavior specialist, and Maria Anselmo, Tony's apprentice and Zipper's rider. The Three-year-old zebra was quietly standing in his stall, wearing his blue and green plaid Rhino blanket. Knowing what I thought I knew about zebras, I asked Tricia how she came to own a young zebra. She said that she had always loved them, and while on a recent trip to South Africa, she explored the idea of owning one. Originally, she had hoped to get one from a breeding farm, but she decided that she did not have the staff to take on such a project. Serendipitously, a friend told her about a zebra advertised on the internet. The seller had bought him from a wild animal farm with the intention of breeding him. She lost interest in this when she discovered that she could not breed him right away; zebras do not mature until three to six years old. Tricia bought him and brought him home to her farm, a little bit skeptical about what she was getting into.

Maria brought Zipper out of his stall and led him into the round pen in the indoor arena, where she saddled and bridled him. He stood quietly, suppressing his desire to take a good roll in the pen's footing. I was very impressed with this "dangerous equine." Tricia bought him in the latter part of September and training began in December. I asked Tony about Zipper's training program. He had spent thirty days working with him in the round pen, gaining his trust, training him to be handled, saddles, and to tolerate having a person on this back. Tony remarked that it took him two to three times longer to get to this level of training with Zipper as opposed to a horse. I was very impressed that he had achieved this much in just thirty days, It was critical, he said, not to start a battle with Zipper, for there would be no backing down on the young zebra's part. He was in for the long haul, so your had better be too. The more Tony worked with him, the more Zipper settled into a stable, positive attitude. His atavistic ways were still evident just below the surface, and he was "tough as nails," but every day he started to show more direction.

From the round pen, we went to the outdoor riding ring, where Zipper was going to show me his skills under saddle in walk, trot, and canter. Maria mounted him, and they proceeded around the ring. Zipper quietly and obediently followed and listened to Maria's aids. I asked Tony how often he is ridden, He said that he had been in consistent training in December and January, but he had not been ridden now in a month. I wish that my horse was that consistent and manageable after a month off. I was extremely impressed a the level of training that Tony had reached with Zipper in such a short amount of time, especially with an animal with a reputation of being cantankerous, impossible to catch and train, and downright dangerous and mean. I complimented Tony on his good work, and he said that it was a special opportunity for him. He has trained hundreds of stubborn and dangerous horses all his life, but training Zipper was something else. With modesty you don't always see in horse trainers, he said, for him, Zipper was a great teacher. "I have learned as much from him as he has learned from me."

Zipper's training and riding is not confined to the outdoor ring. Tony is a firm believer in exposing his equine students to all different experiences. Zipper has been on trail rides and and off the farm. He has played in the farm's pond, and he has delighted and surprised motorists as he trots alongside the traffic on Comus Road.

Tricia, and Tony and Maria have made liars of the naysayer who said that zebras can't be tamed, trained, and ridden - but Tricia is quick to add that she could not have done this without the professional guidance of Tony. She also cautioned that as good as Zipper is, he still can be dangerous, if not handled properly. Zebras are not cute backyard pets. Professional help is mandatory if you want a relationship with a zebra. Tony's hours of patient training are showing now, but Zipper still has the wild instincts of all his forbears. The connecting ties to Africa are still in place.

What are Tricia's future plans for Zipper? She wants to continue his training and see where it might take him. She would like to see him attend some parades, Who knows, he might become a star for a small dressage diva. Go for it, Zipper.

-The Monocacy Monocle - Story by Marueen O'Connell, March 7th, 2008