The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-08-19
FIRE HORSES EASY TO TRAIN
System That VIII Turn an Average
Horse Into a Fire Veteran In Day
Tricks the Fire Horses Learn For

about the mode of training Fire De-
partment horses stood in front of
fire house the other day just as an
alarm came in. He saw the big
horses jump from their stalls the
moment the gong sounded and take
their places beneath the harness. He
saw the collars fastened in less time
than it takes to tell and noted by the
watch he held that the five ton truck
was leaving the house within nine
seconds after the alarm came in.
the fire horse" he said to Fire De-
the fire horse" hesad to Fire De.
partment official standing at his side
1T must be big job to get the right
sort of horse in the first place, and a
still more difficult task to train him"
DO you see that old horse hauling
the crosstown street car by the
door," replied the official. 81 can
take that car horse or any truck
horse you will bring me, if he is not
vicious, and make a well trained fire
horse out of him In a few hours. The
system by which we take a green
horse and make a veteran out of him
Is so simple that | have always
wished that we could make a good
fireman as easily as we can drill
fire horse.
I'm the first place, the rules of the
department require that a green
horse must be between 5 and years
old. He must be sound and not
vicious.
THE horse comes to the door OF
the fire house absolutely green He
is even worse than the new fourth
been through a course of sprouts at
the school of instruction and knows
little about what is expected of
him.
"As the green horse looks inside
the door he sees the cleaning brass
and shining nickel on the fire APP
paratus, and directly in front OF his
eyes the harness is suspended over
the pole of the truck or engine. The
horse looks around the interior and
and strange, and it is no wonder that
he stands in the door trembling.
This moment is critical. The
driver who knows his business let's
the horse stand in the door until he
has found that none of the strange
things has made a move to molest
him, and then he is coaxed gently in
side a stall
"Then the driver leaves him for a
few minutes and let's him stand until
he learns that nothing is going to
harm him. When the driver sees the
animals ears resume their normal ap
pearanoe he knows that he can go on
with the training. al
"Then the real training begins
The horse is bridled and the driver
leads him by the bit out to his place
underneath the harness and the col
lar is fastened around his neck. This
process is tried few times until the
horse goes out without hanging bach
in the least.
"Now lead line about four feet
long is fastened around his neck anC
as the chain across the front of his
stall drops the driver steps toward
the horses place under the harness
and the animal now goes willingly
He is led out by this strap maybe
forty or fifty times until he begins
to learn what is expected of him.
up to this time the gong hasn'
been rung, and now the driver set
out to make him understand tha
when the gong rings he is expected t
move. A man is posted at each sid,
of the stall and one at every otheI
avenue of escape. The driver get
behind him with a whip and when tn,
gong rings and the stall chain drop
he gives the horse cut over tn,
| flank with the whip.
This Is so unexpected that thu
animal gives a snort and jumps for
ward. He looks both ways, but ther
is man on guard who raises hi
hand. The horse sees that there i
no place he can go except right unde
the harness where he has been led al
the time. He goes there and the ma
in front clamps the collar around hi
neclneck before he can make anothe
move.
"It may be necessary to persuad
the horse to move by means of tn
whip across the flank few times
but inside of a day any green hors
can be thoroughly trained so that tn
next morning at the stroke of tn
gong he will take his place a
promptly as a veteran. This on
days training increases the value
the horse just about 800. The cit
buys most of the Fire Departmer
horses at $3.50 each
"The average life of the fire hors
is only about ten years. It is sa
commentary on the manner in whic
the city treats the fire horse that a
! the end of the time he is almost
wreck, good for nothing but pulling
street car or junk wagon. think tn
time has come when some human
Mayor will decide that 1t will pay
have far INTO which all the horse
owned by the city can be sent for