The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Pets & Working Animals => Horses, ponies, donkeys & mules => Topic started by: princesspiggy on October 07, 2012, 08:13:06 am

Title: fancy a change?
Post by: princesspiggy on October 07, 2012, 08:13:06 am
http://www.zebrasrus.com/zebras-for-sale.html (http://www.zebrasrus.com/zebras-for-sale.html)


 :excited: :excited:
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: Bionic on October 07, 2012, 09:24:18 am
Not cheap either but interesting
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: princesspiggy on October 07, 2012, 09:29:01 am
they selll them at 30 days old, thats quite sad.
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: sabrina on October 07, 2012, 09:39:32 am
Is this going to be another fashion animal. Poor babies, 30 days is far too young to be taken from mum.they are wild, leave them where they should be.  :rant:
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: jaykay on October 07, 2012, 09:55:59 am
Oh, poor babies, 30 days is ridiculous  >:( Who are these people  :rant:

They're wild animals, so I thought the received wisdom was that they could be 'trained but not tamed'?

Domesticated animals, even mad ones like my Shetlands, have had centuries of breeding out the wildness.
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: Victorian Farmer on October 07, 2012, 10:02:22 am
princesspiggy haw about rain deere the rent at christmas is massive the caingorm rain dere herd lots of shopping centers
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: bangbang on October 07, 2012, 10:08:51 am
Typical yanks! ::)

Are they black with white stripes? or white with black strips?  :thinking:
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: darkbrowneggs on October 07, 2012, 11:27:05 am
Arggghhhh  >:(   that is the second time I have lost an answer when trying to us the spell check    >:( >:( >:(   I thought I didn't know how to spell tsetse fly - but I did.  Anyway what I wanted to say was. 
 
Whilst I wholeheartedly disapprove of keeping zebras when there are so many neglected horses ponies donkeys and mules in the world, there is a long standing tradition of using zebras as working animals
 
Captain Hayes writing at the end of the 19th C. in Points of the Horse says
 
I once undertook to saddle and get ridden an old entire zebra... whose feet were becoming gradually deformed, on account of the animal not permitting them to be pared down. In less than an hour after I had turned it into the ring of Frank Fillis's circus, which was then in Calcutta, I had its feet rasped down to a proper level, and had it saddled and bridled for the first time in its life. It was then ridden by Steve Margaret ( a brilliant Australian rough-rider) and by my wife. This was certainly the first occasion a lady ever rode this variety of zebra, which had the reputation all over the world of being unridable. Although I was able quickly to teach it to carry its unwonted burden quietly, I made far less progress in giving it a "mouth" during the two days I had it in hand, than I would have done in half an hour with any wild horse in the Dominions caught for the first time on a "run"; the reason being that the zebra's neck was so stiff and strong that I unable to bend it in any direction. I soon taught it to do what I wanted in the circus; but when I rode it outside it took me wherever it liked. In fact, I had not the slightest power either to stop or guide it' ('Points of the Horse' by Captain Hayes, writing ca. 1899)
 
And one particular type were particularly valued in areas with tsetse fly populations as they, unlike horses, were immune
 
Lots on interesting old piccies here of all sorts of unusual working animals -
http://www.messybeast.com/history/working.htm (http://www.messybeast.com/history/working.htm)
 
And if there are any typos - bad luck  ::)
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: shetlandpaul on October 07, 2012, 03:07:19 pm
please remove this thread. really do before Rachel sees it. being serious selling a foal at 30 days what are they doing. do the yanks not have welfare groups.
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: princesspiggy on October 07, 2012, 06:05:46 pm
is selling at foal at 30 days old, and presumably still on milk, much different from selling dairy bull calfs at one day old?
it would be purely down to tameness and cute factor tho.
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: jaykay on October 07, 2012, 06:47:18 pm
No, it isn't. That's a pretty rotten practice too. Any taking very young animals off their mothers for our own benefits I don't like, though I know it's standard practice in many dairy operations.

I sometimes think we separate ourselves too much from animals and treat them on a whim, like playthings or machines, 'commodities' rather than other, not so different, sentient beings. I don't have a problem with respectful farming or pet keeping - but respectful and necessary it should be.
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: sokel on October 07, 2012, 09:59:16 pm
There is someone in Co Durham had a Zebra for years.
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: jaykay on October 07, 2012, 10:11:00 pm
Do they ride him/her?
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: sokel on October 08, 2012, 12:31:19 pm
Do they ride him/her?
It is broken to ride but its been a long time since it was ridden as the kids are now adults
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: jinglejoys on October 08, 2012, 05:07:33 pm
Charlie the Zebra competing in driving (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_HsFj4jMNI#ws)  wish they'd take the blooming blinkers off he'd go much better!
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: Small Farmer on October 08, 2012, 07:08:14 pm
The second Lord Rothschild took a coach pulled by six zebras to Buckingham Palace to prove they could be tamed.  He didn't mention that they'd killed a groom in the training!   
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: jaykay on October 08, 2012, 08:30:28 pm
Well, what the odd servant in the scheme of things  ::)
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: Sylvia on October 09, 2012, 07:13:14 am
I find this a bit sad, like watching elephants and bears dancing for man's entertainment or lions jumping through hoops.
Animals like horses and dogs seem to really enjoy showing off but animals that should be living in the wild? :-\ :-\ :(
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: Small Farmer on October 09, 2012, 08:52:59 am
I agree Sylvia though the zebra is a member of the horse family.  We went horse riding in South Africa some years ago and the zebras allowed the horses to mix in with them.  Amazing.


Lord R through his fascination with nature effectively founded the Nature Conservancy.  Wood Walton Fen exists only because of him.  On the other hand the Balfour declaration was addressed to him.  That's had some rather less positive consequences.
Title: Re: fancy a change?
Post by: Hermit on October 09, 2012, 01:31:57 pm
Zebras are beautiful creatures and I agree with the not selling as pets and not taking away at 30 days etc. thats disgusting to me. I would think you need a special licence to keep one  so probably not a pet situation anyway, more a specialist thing. Those Americans can be mad about animals literally. ::)
Paul there are Zebra clips on a lot of forums and on utube, I am sure Rachel has seen them by now.