Bloemfontein. 233 



thought she would kill herself. As often as I forced her on 

 her legs, so often would she throw herself down, the moment 

 I tried to put any restraint on her. Seeing that this was a 

 determined case of ' sulks ' which would be tedious to cure, 

 and not knowing how to get her into the breaking ring with- 

 out injury to her, I passed her over, and took another subject, 

 which, I thought, would make a better show. I frankly con- 

 fess that this mare defeated me ; for I had never before met 

 any animal quite of her sort. I may plead, as some excuse, 

 that the flooring of this yard was so hard that any attempt to 

 break her on it was quite out of the question. As my break- 

 ing ring was in an open field, I could not catch her in it. On 

 the other hand, although I was able to halter her in the 

 yard, I could not induce her to lead out of it without the risk 

 of her injuring herself against the trees and stones which were 

 in it. 



From Craddock, October and I went to Bloemfontein, 

 which is the capital of the Orange Free State. There I met 

 some very kind friends in Mr Rietz the President, Mr Williams 

 of Tempe, Mr Raafe the High Sheriff, and others. I was 

 now with the Boers, among whom news travels so slowly 

 that I thought it advisable to give a free show to His Honour 

 the President, Mrs Rietz, and a few representative gentlemen. 

 To test my skill, they brought me a horse which no one had 

 previously been able to handle, and which had been given up 

 as a bad job by the best Boer breakers. It was driven in 

 loose into the showyard, and I haltered it as soon as I got it 

 into a corner. It showed plenty of fight without any sulking, 

 and accordingly gave in after a short time, so that October 

 and also one of the local grooms could ride it about quietly. 

 As my audience were thorough horsemen, they greatly appre- 

 ciated the quickness and efficacy of my methods of breaking. 

 I got up a good class, which gave me a flattering testimonial 

 in Dutch. 



Although the Free State Boers helped their cousins of the 

 subsequently formed South African Republic, during the 



