I haven't always loved Zebras. This might be an unusual fact for a girl that grew up loving anything even closely related to a horse. I always thought they were interesting, but didn't give them too much thought. My affinity for zebras came several years ago. Halloween was coming and my friends and I were discussing what we could dress our horses up as for the Halloween Hunter Pace that we would be attending shortly. (For those of you unaware of what a Hunter Pace is, it's a timed event where people go through a "fox hunt" course and try to set the best time.) Anyone who knows horses will tell you for many horses, anything dealing with costumes is their worst nightmare, especially if it contains moving parts like capes. My friend, Taylor, had always loved giraffes, and suggested that she was going to paint her horse as a giraffe. An idea was born. Why couldn't we follow a Safari theme? Taylor and I arrived early that morning, white finger paint in hand. Finger paint, you ask? Yes, finger paint. It took us about two hours to create a giraffe out of her Thoroughbred, and a zebra out of my black Paint. The cheap sticky gel purchased to hold Guinness's mane straight up wasn't working, but that was no surprise. We stood back to examine our masterpiece, and we knew we had done well. This fact was further reiterated when both horses stepped out of the trailer at the event. They were two of the most popular horses there, photographed like real celebrities. We won the the "best dressed" horse contest, and a little pride knowing that everyone at the event was impressed. The memory was a happy one and after the event I found myself gravitating toward zebras. I don't carry all zebra print purses or anything like that. Every time, however, I see a picture, or hear about an African Safari, I wonder about these majestic animals. Maybe I'm associated them with Guinness. Maybe I'm coming to appreciate something I should have all along. Regardless of the reason, I smile every time I see those black and white stripes.
Guinness as the Zebra, Manhattan as the Giraffe, and Dee as the Tiger
After the event, some of the lines ran from sweat. :)