Saturday, April 14, 2007

Zapashny Lion Jump

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW - Finaly ! Here is a Photo I have been subconciously wanting to see my whole adult life - EXELENT

Anonymous said...

How many times did he eat the landing pedastal learning to stay on ?!
A trainer told me about training this, the averages of landing still on the lion are very low. A lion's skin is very loose and difficult to hang on to

Anonymous said...

Is the landing barrel higher then the take off barrel? I can see how that might work. Looks like he has a tight grip with his shoes.

Anonymous said...

Wow is right... Just when I thought I'd seen everything! This is fantastic! Oh to be twenty years younger and give this trick a whirl. I agree with you Rebecca, that a little elevation for the landing barrel would make this workable. It would keep the lion's back fairly level upon landing. Larry, wouldn't you suppose even with the loose skin, the mane would be plenty to hang on to?

This is great- I love it! Bravo!

klsdad said...

INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't think any cat rivals a male lion in sheer
power..

- and beauty.

Let alone a cage-full!!

Regards..
klsdad@mindspring.com

Anonymous said...

I seem to remember that the 2 "barrels" were the same height. I was in Moscow a couple of years ago visiting the shows and became quite friendly with the two brothers and spent many a morning watching them practicing. Their father also used to perform this stunt.
Graham Chipperfield

Anonymous said...

Thank you Graham, for the first hand information.
I'm awestruck by this photo. Do you remember how many cats in the act?

Anonymous said...

I don't think there were more than 6 or 7 cats in the act. They had no side props, the cats each had a place on the ring curb. Amazingly, they fed during practice with each animal receiving a huge chunk of meat on the ring curb. Other training methods they used were quite different from ours. They are celebrities in Russia and are well known. Their showmanship was excellent, however, they also perform a baboon act which didn't quite fit their personas.
Graham