Zebra Whisperer, Nancy Nunke
New vocabulary today... I saw the phrase "google up" used to mean look up something on Google. So I google upped "Zebra Training" and found some really exciting websites. They were exciting for me because they seemed to be breaking into new realms of equid training, just five notches on the other side of donkey training. Lots of bridge and target training with positive reinforcement.
Then, I found Spots N Stripes Ranch.com. Check out the Zebra Whisperer's clinic coming up. I would love to go (but I am virtually broke at the moment). I am hoping the universe will decide to send me anyway. Anyone need someone to take their zebra for training???
Interestingly in England there is Zebra Training which is some kind of technique to deal with anti-social homeless people. You can google up on zebras to find out these things or you can just go to Spots N Stripes, where Nancy has links to almost all the other zebra-the-animal webpages. You will note that there is a Zebra forum on her site..... I plan to check it out.
- Working towards the protection and understanding of a neglected species;
- Stimulating interest in bridge and target training;
- Providing a community for zebra affectionados.
Speaking of communities and forums, The Hinny Whisperer Forum (not just for Hinny Whisperers) is almost finished. I have a few finishing details like the graphics and limiting a few of the forums to active members, and only letting the lurkers see a fraction of what will be there. You can sign up now and have a say in the final details.
4 Comments:
Allen wrote this on his Imagine A Horse Forum:
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Hi Patricia,
We met with the owner or Spots and Stripes Ranch last February at
the Equine Affaire in California.. Nancy came to every one of our
clinics and helps groom and move the horses around.. She is quite
competent..and is perhaps the most experienced and knowledgeable
zebra trainer in the world.. She teaches a 'certification' class for
potential owners from around the world..In some countries you cannot
own a wild animal unless you are a certified trainer.. after the
event closed on Sunday we went to Ramona and spent the night and most
of the next day a day with her.
Her horse is a very curious place to be.. zebra rugs, zebra picture
frames, zebra towels, zebra clocks, zebra plates, zebra handles on
the silverware, zebra place mats , zebra pictures on the wall,
etc.. everything is faux-zebra except the hide on the couch..It came
from a zebra that had been bottle fed as a baby.. something that
Nancy teaches all of her students NEVER to do.. the reason is that at
sexual maturity ( around 6 yrs of age) the zebra reverts to more of a
wild state and this particular zebra was sent to her for
rehabilitation.
It attacked her savagely causing massive damage when he grabbed her,
took her down and was kneeling on her in preparation for ripping her
apart.. he was distracted by Nancy's helper long enough for her to crawl away.. a couple weeks later he dove under a chain link fence and grabbed her by the foot and tried to pull her back into the pen under the fence.. it was at that point he was put down.
Allen
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WOW!
Sad news from Spots and Stripes Ranch. I heard that their house burned down in the October wildfires. They got the livestock out, but lost some small animals that were near the house. I hope to be able to talk to Nancy this weekend, but she is probably really busy running around trying to get her life back on track. I lost my place in the 2003 wildfires, so I know what she is going thru now. She is a really strong woman, so I suspect she is doing well, but this would be devestating to anyone. I also heard that most of the property including the barn and most of the corrals were spared, so I hope she has been able to move back onto her place, even if it is just into a trailer. That in itself will give her some piece of mind.
Purplewhip/Lakeside, Ca
From: The Spots 'N Stripes Ranch....Hi Folks...we JUST got our telephone line hooked up last night...and this is my first time back on the web at 'home'...which is, yes...a large, 4 slide 'coach' which we have installed on our ranch, while we begin this huge undertaking of rebuilding the ranch.
So sadly, we did lose about half of our exotic fowl, all our beautiful doves, and most of our finches in the fire...they felt they would be safer in their pens than outrunning or outflying the fire...it was so heart wrenching that we could not save them all...we were evacuating the equines for many hours and were still doing that when the fire overtook us and we had to make a wild dash through the wind, the blackness, the embers and the fire as it overtook our last 5 trailers in our convoy out the driveway. It was licking the sides of our trucks and trailers as we left the ranch for the last time before it ate our home, garage, RV garage, RV, and all our pens that had any wood attached to them on the back half of the property, as well as the large barn at back.
We had to quickly open the doors of the stalled equines that we just didn't have any more time to evacuate...the police would not let any more horse trailers down our road as the fire was jumping our road and was on both sides, so one by one our rescue horse trailers were turned back as they tried to return for another trip.
...When we returned to the ranch we were very surprised to see our little barn standing, and absolultely thrilled to sobbing when we saw that every equine we were forced to leave behind had made it. When we planned and created our ranch, we had fire in mind, so our evacuation plan was not random, but was well planned long in advance and well executed, as it was during the '03 fires.
However, because of the incredibly strong winds, upwards of 100 mph, with the Santa Anna winds plus the fire creating its own wind storm, we had 2 yearlings with ember burns, but they are both recovering very well, and it doesn't appear as though they will have white hair scarring, but their natural color is coming back.
The after effects of all the smoke inhalation and soot carrying winds resulted in several minor eye issues and a few coughs and a couple of fire 'colds', both with the equines and humans, but almost everyone has now recovered fully.
I will be publishing the entire story of what happened here on our website very soon, now that I have a computer and web access back. I hope to share with you, moment by moment, some of the most frightening and potentially deadly events of that day and several that followed. Perhaps our experiences will help others in the future who have to endure the killer onslaught of fire, to both plan for and survive an event of this magnitude.
We still don't have electricity on the ranch...well...we do...but it is from a generator that we brought in...
Our home and all our possessions are gone, and some of our beloved birds...we were unable to save anything from the house, even David's wallet was in the house...all our wedding photos, my wedding dress, and everything that we loved to look at to remind of us our beginnings together....and so many irreplaceable items from David's great grandmother, many valuable antiques, family memories, things that David and I handcrafted together that can never be duplicated, but we are so grateful that our equines, our friends that risked their own lives to help us, and ourselves are here to tell the tale.
Thanks for all your concern, and we thank all our old friends, and so many 'new' friends, who appeared from nowhere, and from many miles away, to both lend physical and financial support during this time of need.
No thanks to Allstate insurance which continually discouraged us in so many ways from increasing our coverages. We were horribly underinsured, both for our home itself, and for our contents, and even at that Allstate is working their hardest at denying us our rightful premium paid coverage, and are so difficult to work with. We are finding that almost everyone we talk to who also has Allstate is having the same issues we are with them, where most other insurance companies are are doing the best they can to work well with and help their insureds. We were so disallusioned into thinking that an insurance company is there to be your 'friend' when you have a devastating loss, and to provide you with what you believed you have been paying for for so many years in premiums...but now we find out along with so many others that this is not the case. It appears their 'job' after you suffer a loss is to try to deny you as much coverage as they possibly can, over and over, until you just 'give up'. After talking with many '03 fire victims, we now know what we are in for with respect to Allstate.
The chores ahead created by this fire storm seem so overwhelming most days...but one day at a time with the help of our friends we are accomplishing small tasks that will lead us back to a semblance of our previous lives, while we try to understand that we need to return some of our days back to what we did before the fire...loving and spending time with our precious equines and each other, and rebuild our lives, one precious moment at a time.
Thanks again to you all.
David & Nancy Nunke
Spots 'N Stripes Ranch
Ramona, CA
Pardon the blog borrow, but following my tete-a-tet with the 2003 wildfire my priorities including my budget took a sudden detour, so access to my computer at work during lunch will do me just fine while I continue to recover.
Nancy, good to "hear" from you. If you need to get a hold of me my email at work is ehoag@rickengineering.com, and, incase you didn't take your personal phone book with you, I know I didn't, my numbers are still cel 619-993-5076 and home 619-443-8902. Let me know when you are going to have your ashes sifting party, or maybe you have already started. From past experience, don't expect alot, put sometimes you can really be surprised. In the meantime, cover the mess with a tarp if you can to keep any rain or heavy dew off of it to protect what might be there. My little rental was all wood, so I came up pretty much empty handed except for several clumps of melted coins. Still, don't abandon all hope. On my day two of sifting I found a bronze horse sculture fully intact, with the exception of a major patina shift. Maybe I should take it on Antiques Roadshow and see if it lost most of it's value. As I suspected, it sounds is if you have been charging about facing down more than your fair share of desk bound demi-gods, and discovering alot of reality above and beyond what you have already gone thru. Hook up with one of the 2003 fire surivors groups to tap into their wealth of information, and take advantage of every bargain they have found during their rebuilds. Sorry I wasn't able to come up and help, but I was stuck down at the stable where my ponies are, across the street from where I used to live, with the truck hooked up to the horse trailer waiting for the evacuation order. The valley next over was cleared on the first day, and we were put on stand by for two more days. I slept at my former neighbor's house across the street from the stable, which is still only partially rebuilt from the 2003 fires. We hosed it down about 6 times each day. Mr. type A personality was in a major stress out as you can imagine. The third day I bounced back and forth between the stable, the neighbor and the Lakeside Rodeo Grounds where I watered and poop scooped around the hundreds of horses tied to every available railing. Sure wish the news agencies could have reported better where the fire was, and where it was going so I could have been freed up to trailer about and do livestock pickups like I did during the 2003 fire. Well, running out of lunch hour, let me know what I can do to help.
Purplewhip, Lakeside
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