The Harrison times., 1911-05-27

without the corn, knowing that 1t
would be fed at the end.
In the training Of horses some very
wonderful things have been accom-
plished by DR.. Martin ]. Potter, a
New York veterinarian, who prepares
practically all the horses that appear
in special acts on the American stage.
Everyone will remember the Hippo
drome plunging horses, that leaped
overheard with their riders on their
backs In the course Of battle, and
swan to the other shore. 1t took
Doctor Potter six months to prepare
the horses for that act. He began by
leading them gently into shallow wa
ter. Then they were made to jump
into It from a small platform. Grad
ually the height OF this platform was
raised to four feet When the horses
had gotten accustomed to jumping
from this, they were taken into the
empty tank and the water raised until
1t was so deep they had to swim.
The last stage was to make them
lump into the tank with dummies In
the saddle and swim for the other
| shore.
The hardest thing Of all to teach
a horse" says Doctor Potter, rs the
one that appears easiest-that Is, to
make him stand still" Many persons
will recall the aerial horse that made
ascensions at one OF the big circuses.
This horse had no wings, like Pega-
sus, and so had to be lifted skyward.
He stood on a small platform with
nothing to prevent his Jumping off
On his back sat woman. AS the
animal was hosted slowly upward
the audience sat breathess; for had
the animal taken single step, he
would have plunged with his rider to
| the earth below. Doctor Potter trained
that horse, and 1t took a world OF
patience to do It. Time and again
the horse leaped from the platform
sometimes when II was fifteen feet In
air But the stage was thickly padded
and the horse was never injured. In
the end patience won,
Monkeys. because Of their agility
and their natural habits, can be
taught tricks that would be impossi
BILE for other animals.
Dogs, as everybody knows, can bt
taught multitude OF tricks, Blu
dogs are so easily trained that usually
a dogs owner Is It's trainer as well,
A dog will naturally sit up to bet
for tldbit. II takes but a little
training to get him to sit up at com
mand. Dogs are trained to walk OF
their hind or front feet much as {
baby is taught to walk. The traine
takes tho legs not In use and sup
ports the animal II soon learns 4
balance itself. OF course II Is Away
rewarded at first by bite to eat,
Cats can likewise be trained-if yo'
know how There seems to be some
thing in the feline nature averse Z
compulsory work; and the house ca
Is usually as unwilling performe
as her larger cousins. "A cat will d.
anything for piece Of liver" sat
Mr.. Powers when pressed for the sc
cret OF training cats. and the wors
punishment you can give a cat Is Z
hit Il on tho tail, That's all there |
to training n cat. Keep at It until
does your bidding, then give II som
liver II the animal won't leap throug
a hoop or through your hands, tap
on the tail near the body, and 1t wi
Jump quick enough"
Perhaps the most remarkable AZ
compllshment In the history OF anims
training was Mr.. Bostock's prepar,
tion for the Buffalo exposition. II
was under contract to have a nun
ber of wonderful animal groups read
for the opening Of the exposition
, May. On tho twenty-ninth Of Januar.