Zebra that thinks it's a horse is show jumping contender

The six-year-old black-and-white striped wonder was always jumping out of his paddock, said his owner Sammi Jo Stohler - so she decided to curb his naughty behaviour and teach him to hurdle.

After some initial hesitation Zack, who lives on a farm in Texas, began to feel comfortable with a rider on board, to the point that when Sammi lined him up to jump over a fence he didn't even think twice about it.

'I could see Zack was very athletic so I thought I'd try him on some show jumping fences and he loved it,' Sammi said.

'He can now comfortably clear a 2ft 8inch fence with a rider. I take him to shows and he loves it.'

We're no quite sure whether Zack is fit enough to make the Olympics, but if Zara Phillips needs a new mount for her equestrian event then the Zack could be a winner.

Zack the Zebra isn't the only odd animal to begin a show jumping career - a 15-year-old girl from Bavaria in Germany couldn't afford a horse so she trained a cow called Luna to jump instead.


/Metro.co.uk/