The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-04-19
O'BRIEN'S TRAINED HORSES.
THE FEAT OF THE moss HoRsEMA1
At THE CIRCUS


At THE CIRCUS.
Fifty-one Horses in a Fnrty.two Foot Rsua
thnt Obcv Their Mnster's Orders Pers
or Trnining-Tho Stass
lion that Dances tho Couoheo Coaches.
"How did you train them1" was asked Of
John O'Brien, the boss horsemah Of the Bars
mum & Bailey show. whose feat of handling
ffty-one horses Mt one time in a 42-foot ring
has attracted the attention Of all horsemen.
ut occurred to me- he replied. that a ring
full of horses doing some kind of Kaleidoscope
act would prove attractive to the people, and
so, having thought out a plan that seemed
feasible. / went 10 work as follows: A ring
forty-two feet in diameter was made that had
a substantial path fifteen inches wide for its
boundary. Then l took the ponies-eighteen
Shetlands In all-and began the work of teach
ing them to mount on that path in regular
order at the word from me. and when on the
path to stand still and 90 ahead Just as I Or
dercd them to do. Difficult as II seems at first
thought to get n band Of ponies like that to
work together, the handling of them was in
detail simple enough. I took two or three or
four of them at a time and got acquainted with
them personally, You may say-gave each one
a name. and by alternate petting and touch
Ing with the whip taught each one his name.
When each one had learned that he was to pay
attention when his name was spoken and not
to: pay attention when some other name was
spoken, ! put the group-usnaily three-on tho
little elevated path around the ring. A limo
wos attached to tho bride or each, and the
end or each line came to my hand as l stood on
the apex or the pedestal. of course at nrss
they had to be led carefully around. but AFTER
a time they would go ahead and stop at the
words forward and halt without any one az
the bride.
After working with one group until they
showed signs OF being weary or restless, l took
another group to 90 through the same process.
and then another and another. II was just SIX
weeks before ! had the eighteen ponies broken
in TO do their part. Meantime. of course. l had
been ut work with the horses, taking next tho
twelve Kentucky thoroughbreds that were to
form tho second circle. Tho chief work with
these. as with the ponies. was to teach them
their names. their order In their own process
sion. and to move or stand still at the word.
Next | took in hand the third circle OF nine,
whose training was ike that or the other two.
ana then ] came TO the fourth circle OF seven
light sorrels. These had to be trained to go
through other tricks, as we'll as to form in
line and march and halt. In fact. the third
tier OF nine have an extra trick or two. for you
remember they stand with their fore feet on
the RIM OF the ring while me seven have their
fore feet on the first tier of the pedestal in the
After ] had got rs far as the training OF
the fourth separate circle ! began on a combt.
nation of the ponies and the second circle. Up
to this point l had been handling each circle
OF animals by means OF what / call a plunge
string attached TO the bride of each.
but now | could net have etr,nrs to the
or,or ctrcla tho nortoa hooouoo
""''' NH' '' i''"o' ooe"use they were
to travel In one direction and the second circle
IN the opposite. But / Kent the strincs IN the
;n,or c,rc,. Eror, ,,ortIno az. s..-. -
h"e ."t', f'o" ""fh'hs .ho outer ana the
fourth circles. Meantime I was npttino tb.
four hloch starions whos. nr.o.,u,
~ n"'A WI" "hose gracelul actions
seem TO please the people so we'll. through
their course. BY the way. pconle of,sn ask
,na ,.1ich , oS ,hos. o.,
49, ~ .s .1ul naS oeen trainea
do moi work the dancer I'm ,bis combination
At nil ue hos bis o,n snao,oI..
~ "H' He u 10 '"H spe'l"itS'
Last or all l trained the white Arabian
stallion that | sit on to form the snex NJ m.
ny,onH -, I'll ~ nv
l oes"h WIN me outer circle. be-
from the centre of control, and az naoda, 49,
mac, oo,of,i o,,on.,nn :" oo ee''u mo
most 'ar'lul attention of course, after
training the first and second circles TO work
together md tho third and ,orr,h T., IT,
n,um, -, IA lheIr
p'",'' : """', ,he '"'ru 10 the INST and Sec
Ond and worked thee. Then worked the
second. third md rorrtb ,oroth wy
~ 80 -" '"N ''"''" 'osether ana then
All I"Ur NJ once ana so on until ! had the com.
binRtion complete i, was chiefly n mottcr
of uaticnt and Kind attention IN rho ,rnt,td.