West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-11-09
A CIRCUS RIDERS SCHOOL.
MILE. rHRoUGHrHEHooPs's DAILY LES
SON.
A Mechanic to help her, Hostlers to
Cheer her, and Horses Whose Backs
will not Show Resin.


Cheer her, and Horses Whose Backs
will not Show Resin.
Scattered about through the
country hundreds of men and wo-
men are now hard at work Lrepar-
ING to amuse thousands of other
men, women and children, in tue
DAYS when the noisy but popular
circus shall begin its annual tentlng
season. All is glitter and tinsel and
iollity and a round of fun apparent
ly, when the circus season opens, to
spectator and performer alike. 10
the child nothing in the wide
world unless it be the festivities OF
Christmastide, equals it. 1t has a
slightly different aspect to the cir
Gus performer, who sees the danger
and knows the fatigue attendants
upon his efforts to MAKE ho!luay
for every one else twelve times a
week. He dearly loves the blare OF
the music, the glare of the lights,
the cheering rounds of applause,
and all the other excitement attend
ant upon his adventurous life
That is why he works so hard dur
inc these chill winter months, when
circuses are not in fashion in this
temperature. 1t is hard work he
has to do preparatory to his sum
mer triumphs
Slip into the circus schoolroOm,
for that is what the place of re
hearsal really is. There is the usu-
al circus ring in the centre of the
barn-like building. On two or
three sides of the rings are rows Of
narrow box stalls, in which the
trained horses have their homes
A score or more of the hostlers and
helpers are about the room, max
inc and keeping things clean and
neat. If the visitor is at the Bar
mum quarters he will find ''the mas
ter of the horse" and the "eques
trian director" standing about di-
recting the scores Of workers n
their labors. 1t is early morning,
for circus people keep early hours
and work harder than most people
imagine. A number Of riders are
to practice during the day, and an
hour or two only at most can be
allowed to each. Everything is in
readiness for the first conner, and
this morning that proves to be Il
lady.
With the cold blast that comes in
at the open door comes also tall,
rather slim, figure, wrapped in a
cloak of fur, and with such 4 hat
and such gloves, and such an outer
generally as one nigh: expect to see
on any lady taking her morning
walk on Broadway She is decided
" pretty as she trips in, closes the
door, greets every one with cher
ry good morning." and then trips
up a flight of stairs to her dressing
room. But before she disappears
from sight she says: "Please get
Bob ready"
$50 she's going to try that plug
again. is she?' remarks the master
of the horse. Il like her pluck, but
she'll break her neck before she'll
break that horse, I'm afraid" adds
he of the voluminous title, Well
rig the mechanic and trot ont the
horse"
Bob is brought out. He is Il big
horse, more white than gray, and is
taken from one of the stalls which
have number very like him in
color in them. That prompts an
inuuisitive visitor te ask one of the
titled people standing ronnd if
white horses are the only ones that
will train we'll for circus purposes.
Not bit, my boy; bays or
blacks or chestnuts would do equal
" well, but the riders like the
white ones best. They'd use only
milk white horses if they could find
them with backs broad enough,
| tempers mild enough, and the right
sort of gait? Why? Oh, because
they like to keep up the illusion OF
the ring. See, there's the reason
white horses are used so generally.
As he spoke this professor OF
horse education pointed to a young
man who was rubbing Bob's back
with lot of fine powder 1t was
powdered resin, and was applied
literally to the back of Bob and
carefully spread over all the broad
back ON which the fairy who a few
moments entered would soon be
dancing.
That's the reason why the white
horses are chosen by riders for
their uses. Unless you had seen
the resin applied yOu wouldn't
know there was any on the animals
back. Now, if the horse was black
or bay in color the powder would
lie in a great padlike block that
would be plainly visible to every
one Riders, male or female, dis
like to have any one know that
they use resin to help them keep
their feet on the animals back. So