Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1878-04-11
Queer Pupils at School.
The Methods Of Educating Wild
Horses-Reason, and not
Fear, Necessary.

= Hardly any one can have see.
0 the remarkable performances O
: the bronchos now at the Aqua
. rum, without wondering hoy
) the animals could possibly hav,
been taught them. Trained an
imals we have seen in the past
but none like these--so endowi
, ed with almost human intelli
gence. Are they especial,
gifted brutes, or is all the cred
it of their performance due tc
the better methods Of trainingi
"Almost entirely the latter
said r. w. Fryer, their trainer
who, being in a communicative
mood, told the story of thcil
student life during the past three
years.
"Bronchos," said Mr.. Fryer,
fare q cross between the wiry
little mustang and the ordinary
large American horse, and their
distinctive name comes from the
-
Spanish broncho, wild horse. /
do not think they arc more in
telligent than our commonAmer-
lean horses, but they are,you sec,
handsomer and more spirited,
and they have the great adyan-
tage, for purposes of training,
of being thoroughly wild. Each
of these was picked out Of a
drove selected simply for beau
ty. Not one Of them had ever
been broken to saddle. When
they were bought they had to
be lassoed, and dragged, one by
one, into stout pens, where We
were welcome to make the best
of them that We could. There
was where ny work of educa-
ton began. When you enter a
pen where a horse is confaed,
if be is tame, he will either he
either Indifferent to you or dis
posed to attack you; but if he
is wild, his oyerpowering i'm
pulse will be fear--a mad desire
to get away from you. He will
retreat as far as he can, and will
watch you with the kcenest ter
ror. You have his entire atten-
ton. There is all the secret of
horse-training = command the
whole attention Of the animal.
The man who cannot do that
has no business TO attempt
horse-training, and the horse
that cannot be so commanded
is no good.
"We will suppose that you
have your wild horse in the pen.
No fear but that you will catch
his eye, and keep it while you
are there. The next thing is to
know what to do With it, how
to make it the medium of COM
munication between your mind
and his. And remember that
the one thing above all others
to avoid is terrifying him. Let
him feel that you are his friend,
and mean only kindness to him. |
There is where the modern sys-
tenn of training essentially diff
fers from the old. We know
more about horses than we used
to know, and do not think it
necessary to beat them almost
to death to break their spirit.
Fear was what traiEers used to
rely upon. Ihave seen magnif.
icent horses crippled, manned,
ruined for life by the brutal Sc
verify of trainers. A horse
would be afraid to make a leap;
beat him until in mad terror he
made it. He could not un-
derstand that he was wanted
TO kneel down; crack his shin
with mallets and clubs until he
dropped in agony. He wonld
bolt to get away from the merci-
less torture; lash him until the
blood came. He could not UNI
lerstand that rearing up was
what was expected of him;
wrench his jaw with a cruel bit.
Either take the fight out of him
Or kill him. That was the old
way. 1t took a mighty good, !
powerful horse in those days to
stand an education. il
'Now, our sytem is the re-
verse Of that. We train alto
gether by kindness; make the