Cool Vintage Photographs That Show People Riding Zebras From The Late 19th And Early 20th Centuries – Design You Trust

Cool Vintage Photographs That Show People Riding Zebras From The Late 19th And Early 20th Centuries

Mr. Hardy with zebra coach in London, 1898.

Zebras are beautiful, wild animals native to Africa. However, as many European colonizers learned in the early 20th century, despite their similarity to horses, zebras are just a bit too wild to completely tame.

h/t: vintag.es

In the year 1898, in one of the many mews just off Cromwell Road, Kensington, lived Mr. Hardy, who was a noted horserider and trainer, being one of the three men who had succeeded in riding the “French Rocking Horse”. This was a device used by the French Cavalry. It had every possible movement of a wild horse not in the best of tempers.

For European colonizers penetrating Africa in the 19th and early 20th centuries, local zebras’ resistance to diseases carried by tsetse flies made domesticating them an attractive alternative to importing horses.

Lord Walter Rothschild with his team of carriage-pulling zebras, 1895. Rothschild (1868 – 1937) of the global Rothschild banking family, owned his own zoo.

As it turns out, there is a reason Africans never domesticated them. Unlike horses, which naturally roam around munching on grass, zebras spend their lives cagily watching, evading and fighting savannah predators such as lions, cheetahs and crocodiles. Natural selection has bred zebras to be nervous, flighty and brutally aggressive if cornered. They have been known to kill lions with a single kick.

Carriage drawn by a zebra driven by Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild, founder of the Natural History Museum at Tring, now part of the Natural History Museum, London.

Though impossible to domesticate on a large scale, taming individual zebras to perform horse-like duties has occasionally been successful. Lord Walter Rothschild trained a team of zebras to pull a carriage, which he drove past Buckingham Palace to demonstrate their supposedly pliable nature.

A zebra cart, ca. 1890s.

As for riding, zebras are smaller than horses and do not have the back strength necessary to carry a person for an extended time. But that hasn’t stopped people from taking the occasional joyride at the zebra’s expense.

Mrs. Alice Hayes herself, as may be supposed, looks every inch a ‘workman’ in the saddle, ca. 1890s. Here, she rode a zebra at Calcutta which was broken within an hour by her husband sufficiently to be saddled and bridled.

A German soldier is riding a zebra in Zanzibar, ca. 1890s.

A zebra cart in Kenya, ca. 1900s.

A German colonial officer takes a leap on the back of a tame zebra in German East Africa, ca. 1910.

A zebra pulls a carriage through Brxton, London, 1913. It is likely that the zebra and carriage were the property of music hall artist, Mr. Gustav-Grais, and were used to promote his shows.

Mrs. Martin Johnson rides a domesticated zebra named Bromar, 1923.

Zebra team with man and cart in Golden Gate Park, ca. 1925.

A zebra pulls a carriage in Calcutta, India, ca. 1930.

A comic criminal tries to make a prison break on the back of an East African zebra which was stuffed and mounted by Dr. James L. Clark of New York for the University of Nebraska, 1933.

Laffin Leslie, an 18-year-old dwarf, guides Jimmy, the “only rideable zebra in the world,” across a road in Berkshire, England, 1935.

This photo is often captioned “Zebra racing”, but the zebras appear to be in a display with other horses.

If you want more awesome content, subscribe to 'Oh, Design You Trust,' our brand new Facebook page! Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

More Inspiring Stories

Japanese Viral Cat Photos Remind Everyone Of The Nostalgic Charm Of Phone Boxes
Amazing Vintage Photos of Françoise Hardy on the Set of ‘Grand Prix’ in1966
The Most Expensive Cat Toy That Your Cat Might Actually Play With
This Book Is Dedicated To Arcade Game Typography, And Only 1000 Copies Available!
Turbo-Reactive Diesel-Punk: Flying Retro Cars By Alejandro Burdisio
Chinese Cats Saved From The Cooking Pot
This Fox Thinks He’s A Dog
These Beautiful 16th Century Watercolors Illustrate the History of Comets And Meteors
Belfast in Amazing Rare Color Photographs, 1955
Polar Bear Came To Play
Head Back To The 80s With Chris Mcveigh's LEGO Retro Desk Kits
All Adverts In London’s Underground Station Have Been Replaced With Cat Pictures
The Pugs Of Westeros: Three Pugs Re-enact Game Of Thrones
The Visionary Austrian Engineer Who Gave Birth to a Housekeeping Robot in the 1950s
Amazing Black and White Photographs Capture Everyday Life in France During the Mid-20th Century
Design Studio Creates Stunning Retro 8 Bit Gaming Roller Blinds
Dreaming of Tomorrow At Alberta Vocational Schools, 1970
Not Only People Respect Social Distancing Rules – Animals Are Also Following The Recommendation Of WHO In Order To Stop Spreading The Coronavirus Pandemic
The Custom Shelving In This Home Keeps The Cat Happy
Clean Portraits Of Tiny Pups In Big Places
Unusual Animals: Hydrocynus Goliath
British Dog Lover Spends £30,000 On Her Nine Pets
College Professor Is Making Flower Crowns For Animals And They Look Majestic
Studio Schicketanz Have Designed A Modern Dog House With A Green Roof