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

| ~ morse Illdl Is SOoo loi any ehiiiS -
almost always take pleasure in doing whal
is wanted Of him, if he only understands
what it is" says Herr Neygaard. Only
brutal and incompetent trainers beat horse:
and hammer their shins with loaded
whip butts. Patience and kindness vii
teach horse to do anything that is in hi
power, and the proprietors of this show
would discharge a man for cruelty to
horse sooner than for anything else. In
few weeks that horse will come to me anc
90 away, gallop, reverse, kneel, lie down
rear, sit on his launches, fetch and carry
dance, and various other things, all without
beating him."
Mr.. William Dutton, the somersault and
bareback rider, is next to take possession
of the ring. Before he does so, the gal,
lows-looking thing up aloft is let down and
set in place in the centre of the ring Ii
is the contrivance technically known as the
''mechanic," and consists of an upright
pole, about twenty feet high, with astrongis
! braced arm, of almost equal length, carry
ing strong rope on two pulleys. One end
of the rope is held by man in the centre
of the ring, while the other is made fast to
belt about the performers waist. No
matter how skillf4l they may be, riders gen
orally use this machine in practice. 1t
may not once be needed in whole lesson,
but at any moment, if horse stumbles, OF
interferes, or changes his gait, or SHES, it
may save the rider from an ugly fall. He
has TO take the chance of breaking his neck
when performing in public, but avoids all
danger in private practice. \ second rope,
attached like guy to the first little above
the riders shoulder allows the main one to
be drawn by it out Of the way when the
rider is practiciRg slmersapltsi yet leaves it
taut enough to catch him should he fall,
Mr. Dutton, clad in rough old practis-
ing suit, and looking very unlike the gor-
geous creature he will appear before the
public, mounts his horse at a bound, and,
at the crack of Mr.. Freyer's whip, starts
off on the regular lope of the ring, but at
more rapid gait than most ring horses are
trained to. Men throw banners across the
way, and Mr.. Dutton jumps over them;
they put hurdles in his path, and the horse
does the jumping they hold up half "bal-
looms" and Mr., Dutton turns somersaults
above them. The horse seems perfectly
indifferent to what is going on upon him.
"But he knows it all, y says Mr.. Dutton,
stopping by the ring curb to give the ami
mai a breathing spell. 'He can tell whether
his rider is risias for leap or somer-
sault, and shows that he can, even though
the rider is himself unconscious Of the
slightest difference in his motion. When
man turns a somersault he comes down
on the horse with something of thud.
Until the animal is thoroughly broken he
is liable to give way under the rising motion
apprehensively, or else make a little start,
out of bis gait while the man is in the air.
In either case the rider is apt to be thrown
off and hurt when he finishes his somer-
sault. But the well trained horse will
simply harden his muscles so as to take the
shock when the man comes down, and never
finch under it. And when the man is
going up on simple leap he will not even
do that for he knows that the alighting
will be gentle"
After an hours hard work Mr.. Dutton
leaves the ring, which is then taken pos
session of by Mr. Freyer and Mr.. Frank
Morgan, who is one of the pad riders in the
Hippodrome Roman races during the sum-
mer, but is now aiding the equestrian di-
rector in breaking in some new ring horses.
A big Norman mare, dappled-gray, is led
in, powdered resin is busted over her back.
Morgan rubs the soles of his soft, heelless
boots in tray of resin, and, buckling the
mechanic belt about him, bounds upon
her. What he does seems very monoto-
nous to the undisturbed locker on. He
simply stands up and rides, occasionally
taking dancing steps, and now and then
making little leaps in the air. Mr.. Freyer
narrowly watches the mares gait, and takes
care to keep it as exact as possible.
Meanwhile, half dozen men are doing
a variety of apparently purposeless things
about the ring. One walks quickly toward
the mare, meeting her. Another jumps
suddenly across her path, a rod in front
A third stands up on the ring curb and
then walks leisurely along it. He stops,
and a man in the ring stands up on pc
destal opposite him, where the mare must
pass between them. 4 snowy banner is
thrown down on the dirt where the fare of
its color will catch the mares eye. After
a while the banner is lifted and held for
her to pass under it while Morgan jumps
over She goes under it, but hurries her
pace and leaves him dangling in the air.
Men carrying poles and balloons and hur-
dies suddenly appear before her. Surprises
and new subjects for apprehension meet
her every moment, and one by one she
learns that nothing will do her any harm.
When nothing surprises her any more, her
gait gradually becomes steady, and she be-
gins to take an interest in what her rider
is doing and to work with him as far as
she can.
1T takes week, says Mr.. Freyer, as
during one of the rests he sits down by the
stove, "to get horse to lope or gallop as
he must for ring riding. He cannot learn
to keep the gait steadily in so short time,
but simply to acquire the gait, and some
horses never catch it. Then they must be
accustomed to seeing strange objects about
them and people running around them, and
learn to see whip without fearing it, all
of which depends on the nervous organiza-
ton of the horse. Then they must be
ridden on standing for at least week be-
fore the rider begins little jumping on
their backs. When they get over their
temporary astonishment at that they are
accustomed for another week to the rider
jumping on and off while they keep steadily
galloping. And SO week after week the
work of tuition goes on.
at takes whole winter to get horse
fit for the ring, and even then, after all the
work on them, some can never be used
There are horses that are as certain to shy
all their lives as women are to squeal when
they see mouse. No, the music never
seems to frighten them in the ring. Ii
only excites them and puts life into them
Very often we have much trouble in train.
ing horse in consequence Of the bruta
habit some wretch of driver has had oi