The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-11-21

When the late MIR. Rarey, the horse
trainer, visited England, I listened
with much attention to the prelimi-
nary discourse, and watched his mode
of dealing with horses which were sup
posed to be incorrigibly savage. After
the performance l called upon him,
and after giving the need of praise
which was due to his treatment of the
horse, took exception to his discourse.
He told the audience that he conquered
the horse because he possessed reason,
while the horse possessed only instinct.
pointed out that his practice and his
theory were Numerically opposed to
each other, and that if the horse did
not possess reason. that of the man
would have nothing to act upon. In
fact, he conquered the horse not because
it had no reason, but because the
reason of the man was superior to that
of the animal.
His first move was to assure the
horse that he was not afraid of it, and
was not going to hurt it. so that it
need not be afraid of him. His next
move was to make the horse believe
that he was the stronger of the two
Therefore, he never shouted at the
animal, nor attempted to drag it by
force. Still less did he beat it, or in
fiict pain upon it. He scarcely spoke
above his breath, and always in gen
tie and soothing manner, and no mat
ter what the horse might do, never lost
his temper. But he so contrived that
the horse found itself obliged to do
anything that Rarey required from it,
without knowing how or why. When
Rarey strapped its fetlock to its knee, the
horse found it could not release itself.
Its intellect was not able to discriminate
between the strap and the hand which
fastened it, and so the animal believed
that the man was stronger than itself,
and yet would not hurt it. This i'm
portant lesson having been learned.
and the horse having placed absolute
confidence in him, the next lesson was
to teach it that it need not be afraid of
other objects which might terrify it. 1
have seen horse fly at Rarey as if he
had been an Infatuated tiger, screaming
with fury, swapping with his teeth,
striking with his forelegs, lashing at
him with its hind feet. In twenty
minutes Rarey was running about the
area, with his hands in his pockets, and
the horse trotting after him with his
nose on his shoulder.
The horse is q curious thing. 1t is
at once the most timid and the most
courageous of animals. A horse which
will shy or balk at feather blown by
the wind, will charge battery without
flinching, simply because it has been
taught to face cannon, and the feather
is strange to it. Acting on this princi-
pie, Rarey then taught the animal that
it need not be afraid of the most alarm
ing sights and sounds, and in short
time he could open an umbrella in the
horses face, fire all the chambers of
six-shooter revolver close to his head,
or beat drum under his nose, without
causing the slightest alarm. So rapidly
does the horse learn under good in
structor, that scarcely half an hour
was occupied, first in tanning the horse,
and then in teaching these lessons.
Not long ago | witnessed an inter-
esting scene at one of the great june
ton stations in England. Three of the
principal lines converged upon it and
carriages are perpetually being shunted
from one line to the other. This task
is mostly performed by horses, and the
animals know their business so well
that they are not even accompanied by
drivers. One of these horses was
standing alone in the middle of the
tracks and facing a locomotive. Sud
denly the engine blew off steam in
front, enveloping everything in vapor,
and producing roar loud enough to
startle even a strong-nerved man.
When the vapory cloud was dissipated
there was the horse standing in his
place. He was perfectly calm and had
not moved foot.
Country-bred horses are always
afraid of railway-trains when they first
see them. But, when they find that
the noisy, rushing monster does them
no harm, their reason tells them they
need not be afraid of it, anil in day
or two they will Craze close to the
track, without even lifting their heads
as the train rushes by. When bicycles
first came into use horses were sadly
frightened by them, and in England an