The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-10-08


is too bad for reformation, so successful
have they been in handling bad ones.
There are of all classes nearly FIVE
hundred horses employed by one large
show. Of these about three hundred
and fifty are what are known as fancy
draft horses big, powerful young
Percherons, Normans and Clydesdales.
The others are finely bred performing,
racing and ring horses, many of them, of
as good blood as is procurabIe in this
country or England. Normally the
horse is one of the most timid animals,
perhaps not less so than the deer. I'm
agined things alarm him and his first
| impulse, when frightened, is to run
from the supposed danger. But no
| beast alive is more pIacidly Indifferent
| to surroundings and adventurous cir
cumstances, and less likely to be affect
| ed by fear, than the circus horse after
| he has gone through a tenting season.
| He walks calmly over piles of exploding
! fire-crackers, stands serenely enyeloped
| in cloud of steam beside a locomotive,
and if it's whistle emits screech, mere
| ly looks up as if with mild curiosity as
TO why such a fuss is made. Brass
bands bIaring and banging all about do
not concern him: he pays no more at
tention to newspapers whirled by the
wind than TO flying dust, bites only
when food is given him, never thinks of
kicking even when men sit against his
hips or pull his tail, regards elephants
| as upconcernediy as if they were dogs,
! and if he should happen to see some
foolish horse baking. would no doubt
be genuinely surprised. In brief, the
experienced circus horse is as tame and
reliable as the hobby horse.
| If he is something different when he
| first joins the circus, as soon as he de-
| clares himself the trainers take him in
| hand. Upon two things In his mental
! makeup reliance can be placed, wheth-
| er he possesses the high degree of intel
| ligence by some ascribed to him or not;
| he has the capacity to readily associate,
! as cause and effect, something he is do
| ing with any painful or disagreeable
sensation coneurrently happening to
him and he has an excellent memory.
These are the bases upon which the
| trainer builds hts methods, hampered
here, possibly by the infiexible rule that
| under no circumstance may a whip be
used upon horse in his show If the
horse is kicker, a line is rugged from
the ankle of one forefoot, or both,
| through a pulley attached to surcingIe
| and back to the hand Of. the trainer.
who also holds a pair Of driving reins
! sufficiently long for him to stand well
4 back out of the way OF the animal S
flying heels. Then d miscellaneous lot
of jingling, jangling. rafting tin and
copper utensils are made fast to the
! horses back and dangling behind his
rump. Kick? Of course he kicks mad
ly, but every time he does so one or
| both of his forefeet lifts. despite him.
He finds it difficult, if not impossible, to
| balance himself on single foreleg and
do any satisfying kicking with his hind
ones, while if he has to- drop on his
knees, he must keep his hind feet on
tn ground. Those helpless conditions
recur every time he kicks. Possibly he
has a sense of making himself ridieu-
| lous. At all events he is effecting Moth
| ing. The pans are still there, but he OBJ
serves that they do not hurt him. In a
| few minutes, with an air Of disgust, he
abandons his efforts. They poke the
| tins with poles, making them rattle
loudly. He affects not to notice them,
pretends to be looking for a. wisp of hay
ON the sawdust. Perhaps if they try
him again the next day he may in a.
| moment of forgetfulness throw up his
heels, but, finding the same cause and
effect still operative. quits for good.
| Sometimes a horse is only inspired 10
kick when something touches his rear,
be it ever SO lightly. That will not do
at all, for in the crowded dressing roogl,
or indeed anywhere about the circus,
somebody is likely to brush him every
minute. So they make up a great
bunch of newspapers, light and loose.
which is SO hung upon him that it drops
against his hind legs. He lashes out
furiously, frantically, sending the ball
high in the air. ony to llavei it each time
fall back in place. The exertion wear
| les him, the fruitlessness of it disgusts
him. He stops kicking and tries to turn
his head to see what the thing is. Then
| they take it off, and let him touch 1T
with his nose and smell it. In vain
| they put it on him again. 1t has oc-
Cured to his mind that kicking is fool
ish and his memory Is good. The biting
horse is corrected by means of an in
geniously constructed bride which
| gives him no pain. or even annoyance,
so long as he behaves himself properly,
but hurts so suddenly and sharply as to
arrest and Ak his attention upon the
sensation the instant he attempts to
| bite. In little while the conviction is
established in his mind that attempts to
bite people are always productive of
pain to himself, and he abandons the
practice. "
| The baking horse balks more than
once or, at most, twice in his service
with the big show, or even after. They
put on his head, with a sort of crimp
about his lower jaw, cord halter,
which has something of the effect of the
biting horse bride. 1t doesn't hurt him.
He looks with obstinate Indifference at
the man teaching him to be good, and
braces his legs with a sullen determine
ton to stay where he is, whatever may
! befall. The man walks little distance
away straight in front of him, and
swapping his fingers, says, Come" He
says to himself, "Ill see you further
first Then the man pulls on that cord,
and the resultant sensation IN his law