Could humans ride antelopes?

Hi guys, I was researching alternatives to horse-riding and was wondering if humans could ride antelopes. I haven't seen a clear consensus from what I've researched.

 

You're probably not getting a consensus because antelopes, as a group, vary wildly in size.

From Wikipedia:

For example, a male common eland can measure 178 cm (70 in) at the shoulder and weigh almost 950 kg (2,090 lb), whereas an adult royal antelope may stand only 24 cm (9.4 in) at the shoulder and weigh a mere 1.5 kg (3.3 lb).​

You need to hone your question down to representatives of the group that could at least physically accommodate something the size of a human as a rider.

 

There are books where people ride tigers, so why not antelopes? I don't know about the antelopes' behavior, but somehow I don't think they're less tameable than tigers. Then again, tigers are probably so cool that the reader doesn't even want to doubt the plausibility or them being ridden.

I have seen a movie where a man in a Philippine village was riding a bull-like animal. It was clearly smaller than the cows are where I come from. Aren't antelopes related to cows, at least distantly?

 

They both fall under the umbrella of the family Bovidae. But again, the OP needs to pick a kind of antelope that can at least physically accommodate a human. The typical animal a person pictures when the word antelope is used is a small, spindly creature made for great speed, nowhere near the size of animal a human could actually ride. But if one picks something like a Giant Eland, now you're in the range of creature that is at least large enough and sturdy enough to consider. This may take some description, though, on the part of the writer to steer the reader's inner eye away from something that's more like a gazelle.

T.d. Gigas (subspecies of Giant Eland, and looks very much like the animal Ashitaka rides in Mononoke Hime, though in the English dub of that film, the creature is referred to as a Red Elk, which in truth is a rather different animal with a rack more like that of a moose rather than an antelope.)



Yakul, as picture in the film Mononoke Hime.

 

Pick One and stick with it.

 

Also, just for sake of argument, assuming you could get a larger species of antelope to let you ride it, god help you if that creature as at full gallop and stops short.

 

Yes, I

You are right, I should have specified that my question was if there was a specific breed that could be ridden !

 

Have you considered zebras? A zebra would be a much sturdier beast to ride, and has been done, as is evidenced by the many pictures of people riding them, and even pics of people jumping fences on them in the early 1900's.

According to wiki, zebras have the same four gaits horses do: walk, trot, canter, gallop but aren't as fast as horses. Also according to wiki, when chased they zig zag from side to side to make it more difficult for a predator to attack. That would be a cool detail in an action scene.

 

This thread reminded me of an old thought of mine: Could humans ride a Moose? I was thinking about this as I watched a Moose destroy a car which he towered over and made his little jail bait bitch. Strong, powerful, pretty fast - a Moose would make a hell of a riding buddy.

Zebras would also be cool, like @Shenanigator suggested.

 

I have it on good authority that while a zebra is well within the range of possibility as regards physique, they do not have the temperament for it; hence, we don't ride them. This is not to say that you couldn't write a reason for why zebras would let us, but, you know, for the writer or reader who is particular as regards realism...

 

That was interesting. I'm wondering, however, if mental conditioning would work on a Zebra. For a fictional setting, it could work as mental conditioning is the act of tying neurons together via association. So, good behavior gets rewarded, bad behavior gets punished. But in a real world setting, that process would be quite arduous as we'd be going against evolutionary traits....so it'd be too much work for a creature we couldn't even ride. Eh.

Now I have to look up Moose riding. Which, in a real world setting, seems like suicide.

 

Yep. Having grown up on USAF bases, I knew tons of kids who, at some point in their lives, lived in Alaska because their parents were stationed there. Coming across a moose mommy with her moose baby is not an "aw, so cute" moment. It's a "holy fuq, where can I hide???!!!!!" moment.

 

As my wife said when she broke her toe trying to jump over an obstacle:

'I leapt as gracefully as an antelope. Alas, the antelope in question was a cow.'

 

Thanks, @Wreybies . I was definitely thinking of a zebra as a one-off thing, as opposed to a whole stable full. For a one-off, it could be interesting..a la Elsa the lioness in Born Free.

And yes, I can confirm from a friend who's had run-ins with them in Canada, moose are not to be trifled with. Among other things, when they're pissed off, they spit.

 

I'd let a Moose spit on me all day so long as it didn't ram or stomp on me, haha.

 

From what I’ve heard before, people have domesticated zebras in the past. It’s obviously not easy though, otherwise it would be done a lot more. Domesticating and training animals isn’t really as much about whether they’re mentally equal or not as one would think. Genetically, horses and zebras are similar enough to produce viable offspring, so their brains probably aren’t too different. People are also able to domesticate mustangs (horses born in the wild) easily. It’s not as much about the physical environment or major genetic differences as it is about the hormones. Zebras probably just have higher levels of stress hormones than their domesticated counterparts.

Even in domesticated horses, hormone levels make a really big difference between a safe horse and a crazy one. With male horses, we usually geld them (neuter them) unless they are going to be used for breeding. Stallions are basically unrideable unless you’re really experienced because their hormones make them extremely aggressive, which is beneficial if they’re going to protect their mares from predators and other stallions and if they’re going to pass down their genetics. Geldings, though, can be even more docile than mares.

As for mental conditioning, it’s not unrealistic to think that you could train a zebra the same way you would a horse. You might just not be able to teach them as much. Hell, you can teach a cow how to be ridden over jumps; it’s not that they can’t learn, it’s probably just that they aren’t as physically capable as horses and don’t have as long of an attention span. Same thing with zebras.

 

I dunno anything about horses (Only how they taste with soy sauce), so this was neat, thanks for the info.

Since Zebras are smaller than horses but have the same or perhaps more aggression than a Stallion, I can't help but wonder if it'd be worth it.

 

Damn, I had that one coming.

 

Well, there are a lot of different purposes for horses and their relatives besides work and riding. Let me put on my nerd glasses

Ponies and miniatures aren’t used as much for labor as they are for pulling really little carts, petting zoos, and therapeutic reasons. Donkeys and mules are better for carrying things and working in rocky environments. Even horses are sometimes only used as status symbols; rich people think it’s cool to buy a really nice looking horse just to say they own it. They won’t ride it or take care of it, but they’ll pay other people to do it for them.

So... I think when it comes down to it, supply and demand would be the thing that determines if it’s worth all the work to train a zebra. It’s not even about the fact that the zebra might be completely useless; if enough people want it, it has the potential to become more popular.

...I’m too focused on technicalities. I’m sorry.

 

Lol, what're being sorry about? This was an interesting way to look at it, even though the OP just wants to ride something exotic.

To add to all of that, Zebras could also become burgers. Bottoms up everyone!

 

I thought this guy said that it's not within the range of possibility, because of their backs?