Horse/Not a Horse

I'm always interested in the way horses respond to almost-horses that they encounter. My old horse Turbo had an intense fear and dislike of donkeys, and brought shame upon himself at his former boarding barn by beating up the pet donkey.

I've been lucky enough to ride in areas with game in Africa...this picture of zebras was taken from horseback in a game reserve in South Africa, during a six-day riding safari. I was riding a young horse who was so amazed at what he was seeing that he stood stock-still, so I was able to get a pretty clear picture. Though he stood so still, he was shaking all over. What was going through his mind?

J. and I did our first-ever cross-country course at a farm in Naivasha with loads of game. On a hack around the property the day before, J. had quite nearly lost her mind at her first close encounter with a giraffe, so I was worried about what might happen on course. No worries, though...she was so thrilled about the course that she just focused on her fences and went for it, paying no attention to the zebras, impala, etc. running off to either side. As for me, amid the terror of that first time, I had a distinctly fun feeling of being in the middle of an "Out of Africa" out-take.