Breakin^-in a Zebra. 28 



6 



of fury. Not being able to move her in the saddle, he at last 

 ' gave in.' As such a fine riding feat by any man, let alone a 

 lady, had never before been seen by the assembled Boers, 

 their habitual stolidity gave way to enthusiasm, and they 

 warmly cheered and praised the Englishwoman. 



The Boers were so well pleased with our first show, that 

 we had more than double the number of them at our second 

 one. As the payment of an entrance fee is a product of 

 civilisation but little understood among these primitive 

 people, the policemen whom I had engaged and I myself 

 had a desperate struggle to keep at bay the army of would- 

 be ' deadheads ' who stormed our gate. When the battle was 

 at its height, General Joubert, the hero of Laing's Nek and 

 Majuba Hill, came to my help, and by voice and hand so 

 vigorously aided the defence, that the tumult subsided, 

 and we opened to a paying ' house.' The only part of this 

 performance worth noticing, was the breaking to saddle of a 

 young Burchell's zebra, which I accomplished in a short time 

 without any difficulty. This animal belonged to a Dutch 

 gentleman, a resident of Pretoria, whose name, if I remember 

 rightly, was Mr Ziervogel. A few hours before the show 

 began, he very kindly promised to let me experiment on it. 

 As I knew I could easily break it in, and as I was anxious to 

 take it with me to England, I wanted to buy it then and 

 there ; but he put me off by saying that we could settle that 

 afterwards. When the show was concluded and the zebra 

 was quiet to ride, Mr Ziervogel's ' afterwards ' became like 

 unto St Patrick's ' to-morrow ' which never came to the last 

 snake in Ireland after my patron saint had inveigled him 

 into his strong box. 



Several gentlemen attended my class in Pretoria. The 

 most of them had a good deal of experience with horses, 

 and were keen to learn everything about breaking. In the 

 Transvaal, to say nothing of Cape Colony, Orange Free 

 State, or Natal, I certainly left behind me several expert 

 pupils who were capable of breaking-in any Burchell's 



