HORSEMANSHIP
From page 29
built for riding, as they have
no withers, (ie, the bump at
the joint between the neck
and shoulders,) nor do zebra
have a dip in the back to
allow for a saddle to stay in
place. As a result, a saddle on
a zebra would slip dangerously up the neck.
In temperament, too, horses
and zebra are different. Zebra
are unpredictable, easily
stressed and tend to panic
under pressure. Zebra will
bite more viciously than
horses.
Both horses and zebra are
herd animals and herbivores,
although zebra will eat shrubs
and bushes if grass is
unavailable whereas horses
will not.
An interesting characteristic of
zebra is that they do not
appear to lose condition
when food is scarce. Even in
the harshest of conditions
their rumps and flanks will
look surprisingly round,
unlike a horse that quickly
looks gaunt and angular
when starved.
Mention should also
be made here of the
Quagga, indigenous to
southern Africa but
hunted to extinction in
the 18th Century.
With a Zebra-like front
Donkey
half and a horsehas a solid striped tail with a
coloured rear, the quagga is
tuft of hair right at the end of being bred back into
the tail like a donkey, while a existence in the Western
horse's tail is made of long
Cape using some advanced
hair.
genetic engineering.
The bone structure is
And then there is the donkey,
different. A zebra has a much also named the ass. It is quite
stockier build than a horse,
easy to distinguish between a
being shaped more like a
horse and a donkey, although
donkey.
there are some physical
A zebra is much stronger than similarities.
a domesticated horse of
Donkeys have visibly longer
similar size.
ears than horses, while horses
Zebra also have long ears that tend to have longer faces.
stick up, like a donkey, rather The hair making up donkeys'
than the shorter ears of a
manes and tails is stiff and
horse.
bristly, whereas horses' manes
Horses have long hairy manes and tails have softer and
that fall onto their necks;
more flowing hair. Donkeys
zebra have stiff short manes
have smaller hoofs than
like donkeys.
horses of a comparable size,
Zebra, unlike horses, are not
been made to use them as
carriage animals, notably by
Zeederberg's Coaches in the
old Transvaal Republic, zebras
have never been successfully
domesticated. Three species
of zebras are found. In South
Africa we have Burchell's
zebra, which is portly and
plentiful, while the Cape
mountain zebra is retiring and
rare.
There are a lot of distinguishing features between a horse
and zebra.
A zebra has a striped coat,
while a horse can have
various colours and markings
but is never naturally striped.
The stripe pattern on each
zebra is different. Scientists
think that rather than being
for camouflage, the stripes are
to confuse predators. In a
large herd of zebra it is
difficult for a predator to pick
out one individual from the
mass of stripes.
Zebra are really more like
donkeys than horses. A zebra
Continued on page 33
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