Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 April 1893 — TEACHING THE HORSE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TEACHING THE HORSE.

A FAMOUS TRAINER DESCRIBES HIS METHODS. .. . T-'V. Professor George Bartholomew Gives Details of His Scheme of Equine Instmctlon—Tells How Many Amusing Tricks Are Successfully Taught. A■ 4 ■ / An Ingenious Instructor. A horse to be susceptible to training must be spirited, full of sensibility, quick to understand and to pat his conceptions into action, writes Prof. Gqarge Bartholomew in the New York Press. It makes no difference as to the age or sex of the animal; pf course young horses are E referred to old ones. But old horses ave been trained as successfully as young ones. For some time I don’t

request the horse to do anything. I pursue this cpurse until the horse feels at home with me and looks upon me as his friend. Ido not use force in training—nothing but kindness. Sometimes” I give the new comer a lump of sugar or a handful of grain. Then he will come to me 'of his own accord for these things. That is a point gained. I have taken the most Ticious horses, runavthys, “man-eaters,"

and by mjvmeljhipds trained them so that they cbtwl be driven with perfect safety. Kindness and firmness will acconjp ish wonders in training horses. “Where is a great difference between Urmness and cruelty. Ido not believe iq.being cruel, but I do in beingilrm. To make a.horse stand on a pedestal,of all I teach the animal to stutfd stilMn one place. Then I call him, step backward,

to step forward. I may lead him, but when I give him the word It . must be obeyed at once. Next I take hold of his foot, keeping it for a few moments in my band. 1 continue that lesson until he begins to think that all I want to do is to hold his foot in my hand. I practice that until he knows it perfectly. Next I take a small box about a foot high and place it in front of him. 1, lead him up to lb 1 take up his foot and try to place it on the box. He will pull it away. I take up his foot again, hold it awhile, rubbing his leg gently with one hand. After a few lessons he will allow :hi»'foot to remain on the box. After he consents to put one . foot,,on the box I raise the otherfoot and hold it Mn my left hand, so as to keep the other in posi- - the box.) If he pulls down the'foot on the box (which he is likely to dp)\l plafle.,the other one on the box. When I have trained him to bear bis weight on the foot which is on the box I have made great progress, for then he will allow the other one to be put up. I keep both hands behind his legs. If he attempts to take down either one I catch it- and give it a light rap, at the same time pushing his head forward so that he raises it and allows his weight to reston both feet on the box. Being taught gradually, he finds experiment quite easy. After awhile he will approach the box and put up one foot. Then you tap him on the other foot, and in a few more lessons he will consent to get up on the box. 'flu gradually ijiise the height of the box. In the same way you teach him to place his fuot on an .untight bar, placed on the corner tqf jttipk)* I can take a new horse and in three days so teach him that strike a position with his foot on a pedestal. But. of course, a- .«ov}ce in horsetraining could not dfintSib . _ A New SehoUir. I Tiave to add a stranjgft to the. group. By talking and pantocaine I give the others to understand thah the newcomer is to be a member of And in this, as in other respects, the horses behave a good deal like boys in school

when‘a strange hoy comes into the dam. The horses look critically at the Tisitor, and, as boys do, sometimes persecute him. They will bite him, and he, seeing that he is not welcome, will make an attempt to

leave. If he does I put him back In his position. I pat the others on the back and make them understand that they musW allow the newcomer to remain. He will gradually become

acquainted with the rest. And then, with the others, he, too, will “pick” at the next new horse. After the horses have been trained to perform various tricks they not only enjoy taking part in the exhibition, but sometimes when a horse is negligent or reluctant in going through his act, those next to him will urge him, and, by biting or crowding, seek to punish him for not performing promptly or properly. Teaching a Horae to Fire a Pistol. To teach a horse to fire a pistol»ls a long and difficult piece of work. First, I teach, him to hold a small, flat piece of soft pine wood, about half an inch thick, in his mouth, or, rather, between his front teeth At first he will spit it out. I put It back again carefully, without hurting him. Finally he will relax his grip to allow the stick to pass in easily betwiSfeta his teeth. After a while he will shut his teeth and hold on to it. Then I let go of It If he drops It, I pick it up and gently replace it. When he has learned that you wish him to hold the stick, and that it does not hurt him, he is willing to do it The next step is to hold the stick down below his head; make him lower hts head a little and then put the stick in his mouth. That drlll'is followed until the stick Is placed on the ground and he consents to take hold of it and pick it up with his teeth. You can finally throw the stick on the ground, say “pick that up; give it to me,” and he will obey. I now take a strap of leather, and so arrange a pistol that it can be fired off by pulling the strap. The pistol is not loaded at first. He must be taught that the strap is the object he is to take. Next you load the pistol with a blank cartridge from which two-thirds of the powder has been extracted, then let him pull

the strap. The report of the pistol makes a slight noise and the horse will probably start back. Without reloading the pistol let him pull the strap a few times to convince him that he is not going to be hurt. After an interval try another cartridge. Gradually show him that the cartridge will not hurt him any more than the strap. Reduce or increase the sound according to the way he

behaves, until finally you can use a full cartridge. Tha Most mmculfc Lemon. Probably the most difficult thing to teach a horse is the meaning of words and sign language: I am careful when I utter words to make a physical movement to indicate their meaning. Give the horse the word, and at the same time in some way show him the movement you wish him to make. Yob want to teach him to obey the command to turn to the right. Each

time you give the order turn him to the right, pat him approvingly, go away, and again tell him to turn to the right- Continue turning him to the right until he knows the meaning of the command. It is by this process that one horse will learn another horse’s name. In the presence of the animal I call another horse, which may be standing over in a corner, by name.' He comes to me. The horse who is learning his lesson knows it is not his name that is called, and that he is not called for. He hears me continually call the other horse “John,” and he learns that “John” is the other horse’s name. In this way my group of twenty-four horses have each learned to know the name of the other. Punishing a Hone. When I am trainings horse for any particular trjck and he does not go through his work in a proper way, I tap him gently with the whip, but only enough to attract his attention to the fact that I am not exactly pleased with his conduct. I never “lash them into submission," for I do not believe in that theory of training. Such a course only tonds to scare the horse. If a horse has successfully gone through a difficult performance I pat him encouragingly, as much as to say, “That’s good, old boy; you’re all right.” After such acts a horse, just like a gymnast or an acrobat, will draw a long breath and seemingly say, “Well, I got through that without making a break. ”

firing the cannon.

PLATING SCHOOL.

TURNING BACK TBS BANDS Of THE CLOCK.

The bell binubbs.

WILL IT COM* TO THIS?