Gazette and sentinel., 1861-02-02
IA rev, the Demon Horse Tanner.

When Mr.. Rarey, (who commenced
his lectures in New York on Saturday
last first reached England and %announc-
ed himself as willing and competent To
meet and tame the most savage horses,
he was received with more than the
tlmehonored incredulous English shrug;
he was poh-pohed, laughed at, tainted
and avoided. Owners of fine horses
Stunned him for fear hat he might APP
ply ~chloroform, opium; or other drugs
to his subjects; some said he was a
"whisperer," like the Irishman Sulli-
van, and that his horses would only
obey him; others asserted that he chok
ed a horse to the verge of apoplexy;
while not a few, lineal descendants, no
doubt, of Smithfeld witch burners called
him a sorcerer, "Oho y said the English
press, "a horse tanner, Ell? If you want
to show what you can do, so and try it
on Cruiser J" "OhO !" said the pit and
galleries at his lectures, "thesc horses
are all trained for exhibitions; go and
see what you can do with Lord Dorches-
ter's Cruiser !" Cruiser, a noble race
horse and last of the famous Venazons
of whole blood, was the most vicious
horse in England. Strong and power
full as a lion, and a very devil in fero-
city, he had bit and manned his grooms
until they had to shut him up in a sort
of prison stable, and no one had dared
to approach him for three years. The
very considerable English press and pub
lie then offered him to Rarey as a fit
subject to practice upon, feeling conf
dent that the ~"lunatic horSe-tamer"
might have about one chance in a thou
sand of escaping with his life.
Rarey, with true American pluck pick
ed up the glove thrown at him, wrote to
Lord Dorchester, and finally succeeded
in getting his consent to the expert
ment, not, however, before being eau
toned not to try it, for Cruiser was
more like a wild beast in temper than a
horse. Everybody knows the result
Rarey found the horse guarded with a
great ~iron-shcathed aud iron-barred
muzzle. and bound with chains. For
three years all his food had been let
down to him through a trap-door in the
ceiling, and for five years he had been
left to himself as perfectly uhmanage-
able. What nc n else could do, Rarcy |
effected, and, after a struggle of three
hours duration, this untamed monster,
this bitter and kicker of grooms, was
saddled, mounted, and ridden into the
adjoining yard, before a crowd Of gen.
tlemen whose hair had been standing
end with very dread for the result
By this one act Rarey leaped to popu-
courtly favor, world-w ide fame,
and a fortune. Nothing would do but
that he should perform on Cruiser and
other savage horses, before the Queen,
and, when nee he had done that, the
nobility and gentry rushed en- massc to
enrol themselves as his pupils, and near
ly all the more valuable vicious horses
of the kingdom were brought to him at
Tattersalls to practice on. After a while
he went to France aud gave the Emper-
or and French nobility ample proof of
his skill. Thence to Belgium, Prussia,
Norway and Sweden, and even to Rus
STA, where the wild horses from the
steppes of the Ukraine were conquered
by him for the amusement and instruc-
ton of the Gar. But although he has
practiced the art of kindness on savage |
horses in different countries, none of
his conflicts gave him half so much fame
as the subjugation of Lord Dorchester's
Cruiser.-Nep York Tribune.