"Why can't you ride zebras?"

When an animal can be ridden

Humans have always tried to ride all kinds of animals. People have often sat on an ostrich or a cow. These two animal species are actually not intended for riding. But when can an animal actually be ridden?

• In order for an animal to be ridden, it must be domesticated by humans. This means that a wild animal has to become an extremely good, affectionate animal. Furthermore, this animal has to build a lot of trust in the human being so that it can accept the unfamiliar weight on its back.
• Likewise, a rideable animal should be so good-natured that it unconditionally does what a person wants. But a good portion of intelligence must also be present so that the rider aids can be understood and also stored in the brain.
• Of course, the physique must be designed in such a way that it can carry the rider's weight. And can carry it in such a way that, viewed in the long term, there is no damage.

Zebras are wild horses

A very banal answer to the question of why you cannot ride zebras is: These are wild horses. Now many will say that horses used to be wild. So why does the zebra behave like this?

• In the past, the wild horses were also shy and fled from humans. But he managed to hunt them down, lock them up and ride them in. In the past, breaking in was done relatively roughly and was therefore also called breaking. The will of the horse was broken here.
• Zebras live mainly in the steppes of Africa (there is also a breed that lives there in the mountains) and are extremely shy. Perhaps this was one reason why people did not hunt them and tried to ride on them.
• Furthermore, zebras are relatively small. They reach a height of 1.10 to 1.50 meters and, depending on the breed, a weight of 250 to 400 kilograms. Logically, with the low weight of 250 kilograms, the back could not be stressed so much.

The animals are not favored for riding

If you only look at a zebra in terms of its physique, then it becomes clear that you could very well ride them, since they are related to the horses. Why humans do not ride these animals is due to the following facts:

• Like horses, zebras are herd animals and need a strong leader. With horses, humans could assert themselves as herd leaders, with zebras this never succeeded. One of the reasons for this is that these animals are very shy of humans and always move with a certain distance from humans.
• Furthermore, they can be very aggressive and can also bite. They lack the good-natured gene that causes horses to be ridden. You can call them indomitable or not trusting.
• However, as some individual cases show, one could ride this animal species if the person tries very hard and manages to gain trust in the individual animal.