The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1904-11-23
Sensitive Animals


- - - -
A noted trainer Of thoroughbreds. who
dropped into W Washington the other day
10 pick out stable ro0n Tor his string at
the Bennng track for ths forthcoming
RAN meeting, was talking of the sulktng
propensites Of certain clever race horse
now running ON the metropolitan tracks.
III the people behind that horse could
only find out what trning little thing he
is sulkng about, said the trainer. at
would be worth tens of thousands OF dOl-
lars to them They could easily remedy
whatever little matter it might be that
Is causing the horse to carry such q VAST
amount OF poutsnness about m ms
midfin and then, with his wrong redress
ed he d 60 right ahead and win good
races until the end OF the season.
you often hear the remark that thor
Ougnbred horses are as capriclous as
women. I'd rather put 1t that they re
as whimsical as children
Their likes and dislikes are formed all
Of a sudden, like a chids, and as often
as not a thoroughbred horse has the same
sort Of distinctive guidance behind his
whimsical notion that child has. For
example, a naturally sneaky, treacherous
man has no more chance 70 gain the good
viii Of a highly bred race morse IMAM
he has to gain the confidence Of enid.
There is something IN both the horse
and the child that tells them that the bad
hearted man isn't right. That something.
/ suppose Is pure instinct.
But horses of high callber nave an
even wider range of Whlms- IhaI why
every good trainer studies the kinks OF
every one of the horses in his charge.
About ten years ago trained q great
race horse-one Of the greatest OF hls time
who was as calm and self-contalneu as
a priest, except for one thing. He
couldn't tolerate the sight Of a man with
a beard.
1T was pure nervousness Of course,
but you can't tell me that that horse
didn't get that aversion somewhere. Ws
hear about children being marked with
some trait or Characteristic by their
mothers. Don't you believe that that I'M
mortal old four-footed boy I'm talking
about wasn't marked Just IN iMhe we 1i saaie
way that children are, before his birth,
| with that hatred for bearded man De-
lieve just as thoroughly as l believe
/ tat I'm wearing hat that that horse
] IA had been abused by some fellow with
~ beard, and that she transmitted her
feal of and haterd for bearded men
to the son, who made her name glorious
tihc and all that but know lot Of
plain old facts about horses and other
things that are not embraced in any
aMost race horses are devoted to wom-
en- Yet I've trained thOroughbreds that
had such an innate dislike for women
that It was dangerous FOR woman 70
get anywhere near them
I'VE got a swell horse in my string
now who Is dead gone on the young vete
of one OF the owners for whom l tram,
the frou-frOu of a silken skirt Ihen ne
won't tolerate her around him az all
THE hiss and the swish OF the silken
skirt startles him and finally drives nm
into a sort of frenzy Of nervousness or re-
sentiment or whatever you want 70 can
! it. When she isn't rearing any rusthng
siiken skirt to bother him, however, ne
is as gentle with her as a Newfoundland
dog with baby, and hends his ears Ior-
ward to her to have her rub them and
muzzles hef face and pair with the af-
fection Of a ohild.
sEarlv environment has pretty near as
much TO do with the formation or a
horses character as Of child 8. SOUTH
ern-bred race horses, for Instance, are
devoted TO their black caretakers and
when such horses are switched 70 own
ers whose stable employees are al whte
men the horses suffer severely from lohe-
someness for the negroes Tor long time,
, and they never become entirely used 70
the white stable hands. On the other
, hand race horses bred up North, IN
, \ New York or Pennsylvania or New Jer-
1 sey, say. and reared under the guardian
1 | shin OF white men, have an intense aver
4 sion for the black man,
E II recall the case Of hne handical
3 horse which had a sensational record a.
!. a twO-year-old and three-yeaf-old o.
3 the Southern tracks before he change.
" hands and was brought on to New forl
e tracks to show his mettle. his neN
d owner had tremendous expectations o
v that colt but the horse raced at leas
d thirty pounds below his true form iron
;. .sFrorn a manger glutton he became
u poor feeder as soon as he was brough
J. Fast and only munched enough oats I
K Keen himself from starvation. TWO 0
three expert veterinarians examined tn
e colt and found nothing the matter wit
f him. and vet he continued to NOPE an.
= TO lose flesh and to go about his work /
a hopeless, lackadaiscal way whic
made it out Of the question to get hir
to any sort OF a racing edge worthy hi
known grand capabilities. His peopl
'e couldn't make it out.
y "One day a negro stable hand fror
D. another barn wandered into that colt
Is stall As soon as the colt saw ana smel
IN the black hand, he almost ate him u
% alive with pure unrestrained joy. II
g licked the black mans hands and nun
n zled his shirt and whinnied and pave
De the dirt and danced around like a Graz
n horse. The trainer of the colt happene
ar to be standing by at the time.
IS - I know what ais that colt he saig
ID III light breaking on him. He was Dor
e. sue brought up with the coons, and he
~ ID ssonle for EN-.
d, 1.-THE trainer promptly engaged thre
ne black stable hands to devote their excit
2 sive attention to that horse. He bega
to gorge his oats as soon as he made U
y his mind that the darkies were aroun
a. him TO stay, picked up meat and muscl
e went at his work Ike an unleashe
rs hound and the next time he went TO tn
&c races he boWled over his field as If the
CT | We're dachShunds Washington Star.