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Posted by Loren NC on 8/15/2008, 6:32 am, in reply to "Instincts"
166.82.136.102
I have two observations concerning the behavior of our older females. They are ten now. As far as I can tell, there has been little change in their behavior as they have aged. If anything, they have become more mild in their relationship with us. However, I also admit that we spend a lot less time with them than we did ten years ago, so there is some element of wildness that creeps in when they are not handled regularly. To me, the lesser amount of handling is the larger issue. Here are two anecdotal stories that sort of support that idea.
When we were looking to buy zebras, we traveled many states and talked to a lot of owners. Outside of Indianapolis, we looked at "Skunk" Irving's herd of about 25. Mr. Phillips, his farm manager, pointed out one of the females, about ten years old, who had been a pet at one time, but hadn't been handled in years, so he wasn't sure she would still be tame. I was pretty stupid with regard to being around zebras at that point, so as the herd got nervous and made their way past where we were standing to put distance between us, I reached out to touch the one that he said had been tame. She made no indication of appreciating or rejecting my touch, but kept right on moving with the herd. That is completely understandable to me now, but she showed no agitation from me touching her.
We were later looking at three herds that James Cox had in Louisana. One of them was a small herd and had a stallion that had belonged to a Cowboys football player and reportedly could be ridden. There was one or two of the mares that were more tame than in his other herds, so he wanted us to see them up close. He drove into the field, got out an empty paper horse feed bag and rattled it. The zebras came, but as soon as they realized there really was no food, they just kept on walking. As one of the mares walked very closely past my wife, she reached out her hand to touch it. In a flash the mare kicked her in the chest. Fortunately, it just dirtied her blouse, because as we zebra owners know, zebras can hit what they want when they want as hard as they want. This older "tame" female wanted nothing to do with being touched.
Sue, with regard to the question about stallioins, I will repeat for you what I was told when we were looking at zebras. This might have been a quote from James Cox, although I talked to enough people that I am not sure it was him. The quote was, "If you have a bottle fed stallion, it is not a question of whether he will hurt you, but only when he will hurt you, because someday he WILL hurt you." It for sure changed my mind about how I wanted to start learning about zebras and I ended up with two females instead of one of each.
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