Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-10-03
TRICK HORSES AT SCHOOL.
Dobbyn Works for His Dinner, NJ
Because He Has Great Deal of Sens

Dobbyn Works for His Dinner, NJ
Because He Has Great Deal of Sens
My word for it, the horse has Ie
brain power than any other ANNA
said Edward Shipp, a circus hor
trainer. "An ostrich has more sen
than a horse; so has an alligat
That curious, indefinite quaint.
known as instinct is at the bottC
Of all the tricks the horse lear
Just as he eats from instinct,
learns tricks. Usually the eating
at the bottom of his entire educate
He does things for the most part
cause he gets something good to
after the doing 1t is his natU
search after food that makes him
them, just as he paws away
snow to get at the grass. After
while the actions become habits, a
we say he is broken
Nothing Of the sort. There W
never anything to break. His
stincts were simply set in motto
Some men take months to teach
horse the simplest trick and wee
to make him bride wise. In a wee
can have the same horse respon
ing easily to my directions in simp
tricks. 1t isn't the horse; it is til
trainer. Some men exercise an il
fluence over animals which is almos
hypnotic. The man himself can
tell how it is done. In some mys
ferrous manner the horses instinct
make him do certain things in Ger
tain ways at certain times. He does
them just as he eats, and with nc
more evidence of judgment.
'It is no uncommon thing for a
horse to open a feed box to get at the
grain inside. Some people fancy
this is proof of intelligence. Really
it is natural nosing after something
to eat. Man is not the only animal
whose heart can best be reached
through his stomach. There is not
the slightest reason to believe that
a horse has a thinking mind Here
is an instances:
During the winter two of our
ponies that do a pedestal act and al
ways get lump of sugar for It, if
they make no mistakes. rehearsed
SO much their pedestal became dun
colored from dirt. When we came
into Madison Square Garden to per-
form the little platforms were re-
painted. What do you think those
ponies did? They refused to act.
When led into the ring and set at
their tasks they looked and shifted at
the new pedestals and didn't make
movement in the direction of their
usual performance. 1t wasn't intelli-
gence that made them act thus. The
same Jumps of sugar were waiting at
the end. They simply had not sense
enough to know their own nipple
ments in white paint. If horse is
taught to go through a red door he
will have to be taught all over again
to go through a white one. All doors
do not look alike to him. 3"
"But a. horse has nerves, plenty Of
them. Sometimes think it is more
these little electric wires than any
thing else that makes him amenable
to teaching. Imagine, then, the
skill trainer must possess to train
creatures with nerves but no logic,
so far as am able to see.
cit takes patience, such as any
man may own to- Also courage.
An enraged horse is redoubtable
foe as is any creature of temper with
no good sense to back it. Any one
who has ever seen a. human idiot in a
rage can understand the situation.
There is nothing more horrible than
blind, unreasoning, unguided temper.
Creatures of nerves are also Great
ures of fear. Kindness must be ex-
ercised at all times in order to over
come it. Until horse is unafraid
he is valueless.
Sometimes they never get over
their tempers. Not long ago one of
our nest thoroughbreds killed his
partner. 1t was in car. The
partner fell down. The other liter
ally trampled him to death. He
danced on him and refused to stop
long after he was dead They new
err dwelt in peace, these two. From
their first days together they quar-
relied. The end was inevitable. We
should have seen it. But the sue
cess of a trick horse is all in his
trainer. The public fancies it is in
the horse, but it is not. Without a
sensible trainer trick horse is
,7othin -