The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1884-01-05

OF the several training rings about New
York, Philadelphia and other cities where
circus people put in months Of hard work
during the winter preparing for the summer
tenting season, the largest and most COM
plete is Barnum's, in Bridgeport, Conn,
At each of the other establishments the
visitor will find two or three riders going
through monotonous round, day after
day, of the same posturings, jumpings and
"Hi His" to perfect themselves and
their horses in the routine Of ring per
formances In Barnums ring, however,
three varieties of training are going on
from daylight until dark, each having its
allotted hours. Performing horses must
be broken in for new tricks and kept in
practice on the old ones; ring horses must
be trained to that steadiness of gait and
indifference to all sublunary things that it
is desirable they should possess; and the
performers must have joint practice for
themselves and their horses in the feats
they are preparing for the coming season.
So there is constant and varying work in
the THY, WHICH Il NlSleOl uHuo NlulIC do III
teresting as public performance.
Among the acres of car sheds, shops for
building railroad cars, cages, wagons and
triumphal chariots; blacksmiths, harness
makers carvers and painters shops; storage
warehouses and stables, the most conspic-
uous building in these winter quarters is a
huge structure some 300 feet long by 80
feet wide, and about 60 feet high, This
is divided into three parts-the horse
training ring, the menagerie and the ele-
phant house.
In the centre of the horse-traiGipg com
partment is a ring ~ feet in diameter,
floored deeply with soft earth and sawdust,
and surrounded by curb of regulation
height, but padded on its top, so that falls
upon it may not involve broken bones.
%hirty- eight roomy stalls are ranged along
the sides and one end of the great square
space about the ring. In them are a
number of already well broken horses, the
private property of leading performers;
several horses under training for ring riding,
half dozen magnificent black Trakene
stations, some manege horses carefully Sc
lected for their grace and perfect beauty,
and several fine blooded race horses, in
tended for the exciting hippodrome con-
tests. A dozen grooms, hostlers and ring
hands busy themselves about the place all
the time, and several dogs slumber close
around the big stove in one corner. Over
the centre of the ring bangles from pulley
fixed up among the roof beams what looks
like a clumsy one-armed gallows. Enor-
nous shapeless bundles, composed of sec
tions of tents, swing by stout ropes from
the beams aloft Hundreds of chains, to
be used in securing the canvas during the
tenting season, dangle so thickly along the
walls as almost to conceal them. On the
floor are piled many carloads of tent poles,
amphitheatre stuff, tools, lumber, trappings
and furniture, in seeming chaos, but really
in orderly arrangement. The light that
straggles in through the windows, high up,
is always dim.
After the early grooms the first person
to appear on the scene in the morning is
Mr.. r. W. Freyer, the equestrian director.
who comes to see that due care has been
given to all the horses, that the ring is
clean, smooth and ready for work, and that
all whose duties require their presence are
on hand. Soon after him comes Herr
Neygaard, who begins the training of the
day,
Taking his place in the centre of the
ring, he gives the word of command, and
the six Trakene stations, already loosed ii
their stalls by his two grOoms, dart out
rush into the ring, and gallop around him
The dust rolls up in clouds that obscure
everything, and Jumps of earth are flung
out on every side The trainer carries two
whips, long and short one, to signal with
not to strike Very seldom does he oper
his mouth to speak, which saves him from
getting his mouth full of the dirt thai
showers around and over him. A Sigh
movement of one of the whips restraints thu
ardor of one of the fiery stations that il
pressing too close upon its file leader An
other movement hastens one that lags. A
loud crack of the whip is heard. Instantly
each horse pivots upon his hind legs, wheel
once clear around, and gallops in direc
ton opposite to that first pursued. The,
move with the precision of machine
Another crack of the whip and they al
dash at him in the centre of the ring, stol
short just as they seem to be convergin;
upon him, and, rearing up on their hin,
legs, paw the air over his head. Sigma
after signal follows, and the intelligent ami
mails in prompt obedience charge, reverse
form tableaus, sit, lie down, and do variou
other things until their practice lesson Q
half an hour to an hours duration is ovel
Then Herr Neygaard goes through tn
evolutions of menege act with one an
afterward with two very handsome horse
They have not forgotten their higf
stepping prance or their dance step
or any other of dozen graceful equine az
complishments, and their work is brie
Finally. the trainer oives brief lesson