The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-25 00:00:00

MR. RAREY'S 110ESE-T-CIENG.

Amongst the numerous discoveries for which
we are indebted to our trans-Atlantic kinsmen
we know of none which ought to rank higher
,than the system of horse teaming introduced by
Mr. Rarey. Hitherto our Whole method of
training the horse to the performance of those
services that we require has been based upon what
is very aptly terated breaking. It would be impos-
sible to adopt a more significant expression. We
break the animal, it is true, but too frequently at
the expense, of his spirit, and courage, and good
temper. The heavy bit, the punishing curb, and
the cruel handling of the rough rider are the prin-
cipal means employed in nine cases out of ten. If
occasionally they rre dispensed with it is because the
horse is un usually quiet and tractable, or the breaker
more than ordinarily kind and patient. Now, the
defects of this mode of treatment are apparent. If
the horse has naturally a vicious disposition we
may temporarily subdue its manifestations, but we
cannot eradicate the animal's vice. If it be merely
of aspirited nature we spoil its temper, either cow-
ing it and entirely destroying its mettle, or deve-
loping all its powers of obstinacy. Mr. Rarey pro-
ceeds on very different principles. He trains a
horse as he would a rational being, by appealing
to its inteligence and affection. His experience,
the result of many years of study and thoughtful
observation, has taught him that where the treat-
ment is most cruel the horses are most vicious ; and
his theory is based upon the belief that there is
more of natural good than evil in the equine cha•
racter. His practice has so little iu it to excite
astonishment, except its unvarying success, that
those who witness it only wonder that it should
have been left to the strong common sense of one
man in the 19th • century to introduce it.
We had the pleasure yesterday of attending one
of Mr. Rarey's lessons at the Round House, when
that gentleman gave a full explanation as well as
practical Must rations of his mode of "approaching,
haltering, leading, bridliog, saddling, and subdu-
ing horses." At the commencement he entirely dis-
claimed any supernatural or even extraordinary
powers. He denied that there was any mesmeric
influence in his touch, any.fascination in his voice,
or eye, or that there was any trick of whispering
or inhalation, such as we have heard imputed to
horse-charmers of other times. He employed no
drug or chemical agency. In short, there is no-
thing in his system which cannot be put into prac-
tice to-morrow by any of our readers possessed of
ordinary nerves and a little experience in horse-
manship. Mr. Rarey's first patient was the notori-
ous Cruizer, the property of Lord Dorchester,
whose vicious and untameable qualities have been
so long known to the racing public. This horse was
sent away from the Rawcliffe stud on account of
his endangering the lives of the men who had the
care of him. He would rear and kick for ten mi-
nutes together in his futy, and on one occasion
snapped an iron bar, one inch thick, asunder with
his teeth. Mr. Raroy himself confessed that "he
, would do more fighting in less time" than any horse
1 he ever saw. Yet we witnessed this terror of the
Rawcliffe stud, docile as a lamb, following Mr.
Rarey at his bidding, and carrying a cap in his
mouth, which he deposited at the given signal in
his tamer's hands. The second animal treated was
a black mare; of a remarkably nervous tempera-
ment, which had defied .all the efforts of her owner
and groom to overcome her timidity and render her
tractable. Under Mr. Rarey's hands she never
shrank from the severest t:sts, such as the beating
of a drum at her back, underneath her, and behind
her, and the opening of an umbrella immediately
in front of her. Mr. Rarey sat on her shoulders and
on her quarters and knocked her hoofs together,
the mare all the time lying perfectly quiet, or now
and then lifting her head to regard the movements
of the operator with a kind of lisless curiosity. A.
zebra on which Mr. Rarey operated seems likely to
give him a little more trouble than was expected,
tcl
but that 'gentleman aunouncei his intention of tak-
ing him in hand on his return from Scotlanduall and
after his success with Cruizer and
for-
midable Stafford, of the
stables, stables, we cannot doubt that he 11
him under the yoke. At prasenwtithe animal is as
untameable a specimen of the brute creation as
could be well found. The vicious way in which he
chewed the huge wooien bit inserted in his mouth,
his angry screams, and the vigour with which he
lashed out, evince a spirit worthy of coping even
with Mr. Rarey's master-mind.
We cannot conclude our notice of the
new system without expressing our conviction
that to every breeder of horses, and to all
who are concerned in their training and
management, it will be found invaluable. Whether
we regard it as a means of bringing out the best
qualities of the horse, or of establishing a more
humane treatment of this noble animal, we believe
its adoption throughout the country 'will be at•
tended with the greatest benefit. Even if it had
been unattended by the speedy success which Mr.
Rarey's pupils have universally achieved in their
own experimtnts, its humanity would recomu end