Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1903-09-09
THE TRAINING
OF A HORSE
Valuable Pointers May be Gained by
Horsemen From the System EN-.
ployed in the Circus.


Nowhere else Is the mean or unre-
liable horse so utterly uncomfortable
even for a day as about a circus. The
baking brute may throw a parade in
to confusion or cause the most ex-
asperating delay in loading a train.
Fhe beast that shies at some trivial
alarm to his eyes or ears may inspire
a disastrous runaway at any moment.
and the vicious bitter or kicker in the
dressing tent Is liable to lame a per-
former for life. In other conditions of
life men may have time to waste on
the whims Of such ill-regulated beasts
and gradually ean them from their
evil ways, but a big circus is like an
enormous piece OF clock work in
which the arrangement OF a single
wheel makes all go wrong, and any
thing not exactly right must be fixed
at once.
Horse sharps have classified under
nearly a hundred names the partic-
ular follies OF vices demonstrated by
horses, the melting causes of which
may be either excessive nervousness
or Inherent c~ussedness, and cases
are ~infreQuent in which an animal has
more than two or three of them. Gen
orally, a horse has only one fault.
Correct him Of that and he becomes
a good horse. II II cannot be correct
ed he should either be got rid of or
killed. Circus men are difficult to per-
suade that any horse Is too bad for
reformation, so successful have they
been in handling bad ones.
Choosing the Horses.
There are of all classes nearly 500
horses employed by the Barnum &
Bailey show. OF these about $50 are
what are known as fancy draft
horses" big, powerful young Percher-
ons, Normans, and Clydesdales. The
others are finely bred performing.
racing and ring horses, many of them
of as good blood as is procurable in
this country or England. James A.
Bailey personally inspects and pur-
chases every horse belonging to the
show.
Normally, the horse is one of the
most timid animals, perhaps not less
so than the deer. Imagined things
alarm him and his first impulse, when
frightened, is to run from the suppos-
ed danger. But no beast alive Is ore
placidly Indifferent to surroundings
and adventitiOus circumstances and
less liekly to be affected by fear than
the circus horse after he has gone
through a tenting season He walks
calmly owe piles of exploding fire
crackers, stands ~sereneiy enveloped
in a cloud of steam beside a locomo-
tive, and II its whistle emits a screech
he merely looks up as If with mild
curiosity as to why such a fuss is
made. Brass bands blaring and bang
ing all about do not concern him, he
pays no more attention TO newspapers
whirled by the wind than to flying
dust, bites only when food is given
him, never thinks of kicking W
when men sit against his hips or pull
his tail, regards elephants as uncon
cernedly as IL they were dogs, and If
he should happen to see some fool.
ish horse baking, would no doubt be
genuinely surprised. In brief. the ex-
~perienced circus horse Is as tame and
reliable as the hobby horse.
Whip Is Never Used.
II he is something different when
he first joins the circus, as soon as
he declares himself the trainers take
him In hand. Upon two things in his
mental makeup reliance can be plac-
ed, whether he possesses the high de-
gree of intelligence by some ascribed
to him or not, he has the capacity TO
readily associate, rs aus and effect,
something he Is doing with any pain
full or disagreeable sensation concur-
rently happening to him. and he has
an excellent memory. These are the
bases upon which the trainer builds
his methods. hampered here possibly
by the inflexible rule that under no
circumstances may a whip be used
upon a horse in his show.
II the horse Is a kicker a line is
rugged from the ankle of one forefoot
or both, through a pully attached to a
surcingle and back to the hand Of the
trainer, who also holds a pair of driv-
ing reins sufficiently long for him to
stand well back out Of the way Of the
animals flying heels. Then a miscel'
laneous lot of jingling, jangling. rat
thing tin cup copper utensils are made
fast to the horses back and dangling
behind his rump. Kick? OF course
he kicks, madly, but every time he
does so one or both OF his forefeet
lifts, despite him. He finds 1t difficult
II not impossible to balance himself
on a single foreleg and do any salts
factory kicking with his hind ones,
while II he has to drop OF his knees
he must keep his hind feet on the
ground. These helpless conditions re-
cur every time he kicks. Possibly he
has a sense of making himself ridicu.
lous. At all events he is effecting
nothing. The pans are still there,
but he observes 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 no
tice them, p~retends to be looking fol-
a wisp of hay on the saw dust. Per
haps II they try him again the next
day he may, in a moment OF forget
fulness, throw up his heels. but, find
ing the same cause and erect still
operative, quits for good.
Learns That Kicking Is Foolish.
Sometimes a horse is only inspired
to kick when something touches his
rear, be 1t ever so lightly. That viii
not do at all, for in the crowded dress
ing room, or indeed anywhere abouI
the circus, somebody is likely to brusl
him every minute. So they make NJ
a great bunch of newspapers, ligh
and loose, which is so hung upon hin
that IL drops against his hind legs