MULES AND ZEBRAS. 297 



and sympathetic to them. Many of them are fine natural 

 jumpers, and show particular care to avoid " chancing " 

 their fences. I don't think that mules are harder to make 

 quiet than horses. Of all asses, the mountain zebra 

 (see Fig. 122) is the most difficult to break ; as he is sulky, 

 stupid, and has an almost immovable neck. I have found 

 the BurchelTs zebra, which is more nearly akin to the horse 

 than any other ass, comparatively easy to break. 



Fig. 122. The mountain zebra. 



I did some interesting breaking in of zebras at the 

 Zoological Gardens last March. The first animal I took 

 in hand was Jess, a Grevy zebra mare, which was about 

 nine years old. She stands nearly fifteen hands high and 

 is a very powerful animal. The first problem was how to 

 get a head-stall or halter on Jess in her loose box. A 

 peculiarity about zebras is the extreme sensitiveness of 

 their ears, in which respect they are entirely different 

 from the normal horse. In South Africa and on the Rus- 



