The movie “Racing Stripes”

I am a big fan of the movie “Babe” and was in absolute heaven when “Racing Stripes” (using a similar concept with the animals talking), was released in 2005. It has become one of my favourite films. I was however, initially perplexed that a Zebra had been able to be trained for the part. From my own research into Zebras, I was under the impression that they are a difficult animal to train, and in fact in some literature I came across, it was suggested that it was virtually impossible to train a Zebra. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a Zebra HAD been trained and the trainer was not only an Australian, but grew up in Queensland. What a small world we live in.

Not long after the film was released, there was an excellent interview with Ian Bostock and Laura Haig published in my local newspaper, the Gold Coast Bulletin on 27th January 2005 which you can read for yourself. It offers a fascinating insight to their training of this wild animal:

Trainers get their stripes in Africa

By Juris Graney

Ian Bostock and Laura Haig have earned their stripes, their ‘racing stripes’ that is.

And even though you won’t see their names on the big screen, they were the key to making the smash hit movie of the same name.

Shot in South Africa, “Racing Stripes” is about an abandoned zebra who grows up believing he is a racehorse and – with the help of his barnyard friends and a teenage girl – sets out to achieve his dream of racing with thoroughbreds.

Laura, a former member of the Currumbin Valley Horse Club, and Ian, a rodeo clown for the past 12 years, were called to South Africa in the middle of 2003 to help train the zebras for the movie.

It took them six months, and they returned to Australia on Christmas Eve the same year.

“I’d never even seen a zebra before,” said Ian with wry bushman’s smile.

“I shut my eyes, got on the plane and hoped for the best.”

“I knew it was going to be a challenge, and that is why I went.”

Best known for performing at rodeos throughout the country with his shetland ponies and mechanical bull, Ian knew that training a zebra to obey on command was going to be difficult.

“We had to catch zebras that were not quiet and not trained,” he said.

Within days of touching down, Ian had rounded up five zebras to work on the film and the three months of pre-training began.

“In a few days, some of the zebras were quiet and they bonded very quickly,” he said.

“We had to be able to ride them, we had to teach them to stop and turn and to walk or trot on to a mark from 50 feet away and right on cue.”

But Ian had to be very careful with the iconic animals because, with a crew of more than 200 people, the simplest mistake could have caused havoc.

“You have to remember that these are wild animals with real animal instincts,” he said.

“You could be with them for three to four months and a leaf could drop in front of them and they would spook and jump 10 foot in the air. These animals have a very long time avoiding lions.”

Not only did Ian have to coach the zebras, but also the cast.

“We had to do everything very carefully around the actors.” he said. “The main thing with dealing with these animals is that you need to be gentle and inoffensive.”

That is where Laura came in.

The shy 22-year-old was used not only as a  ‘guinea pig’ when it came to dealing with the zebras’ reactions to different stimuli off camera, but was also used in many of the scenes in the movie.

“I did a lot of the work where the zebra is riding away from the camera,” she said.

“It is a totally different feel to riding a horse. They are like a big, round, rickety pony.”

Ian agreed saying: “They are like a little, roly, fat pony but you are riding a time bomb that is ready to go off at any stage.”

It did not faze Laura, however, who took to film work with ease.

“It was pretty stressful at times because of the amount of people that you were working with,” she said.

“They trust you but when changing the lighting or cameras we had to make sure the crew didn’t spook the zebras.”

You can read more information about Ian Bostock in an interview conducted on 10th December 2007 with ABC Queensland.

This interview which I found online with the main character in Racing Stripes, is also enlightening from the actor’s point of view:

Hayden Panettiere Discusses the Challenges of Riding a Zebra in “Racing Stripes”

Interview from the World Premiere of “Racing Stripes”

By Rebecca Murray

Hayden Panettiere at the World Premiere of "Racing Stripes" © Richard Chavez

According to director Frederik Du Chau, Hayden Panettiere did 95% of her own stunts, including racing around the track riding a zebra, in “Racing Stripes.” With a decade’s worth of TV and movie credits to her name, “Racing Stripes” is really the first time 15 year-old Panettiere has had to get physical in a film and Panettiere relished the opportunity to work with the animals and to do her own stunts.

In person, Hayden Panettiere is a real beauty. Enthusiastic and articulate, Panettiere seems much more mature than most young actresses her age. Strolling the red carpet at the January 8, 2005 World Premiere of “Racing Stripes,” Panettiere spoke about the fun she had working with zebras:

INTERVIEW WITH HAYDEN PANETTIERE (‘Channing’):

How do you train to ride a zebra?
You don’t. You can’t train to ride a zebra (laughing). I went through six weeks of training in South Africa and it’s really about developing your muscles. To hold that jockey position for that long is like excruciatingly painful. And I had to learn what’s called holding pace because when we were on the track, we would have the camera car and the camera coming off of it, and I would be racing along side of it. Either in a pack of horses or when it’s alone, I would have to hold my horse back. When horses race and race and race, their mouths get very tough and they have the will to run and run and run. They get sort of crazy. So you have to build up your body strength in order to be able to hold them back so that the camera can stay with you.

That’s crazy.
(Laughing) It’s a little crazy, but it’s fun. I have guns [flexing].

Knowing what you know now, would you do it again?
Oh my God, yes. It was one of the most amazing films that I’ve ever done in my life.

How do you compare riding a zebra to riding a horse?
There’s no comparison. A zebra is short and wider, and they sort of seem to zigzag. They’re pack animals and they’re hunted in the wild and so they run in zigzag lines. They’ve got very hard mouths so in order to be able to hold them, you have to try very hard to get them to go in a straight line.

Did you ever get bucked off?
No. No, we had some good zebras. We had some really nice zebras. Out of five months, we did pretty dang well.

Source: About Com

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