Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1884 — A Horse Trainer. [ARTICLE]

A Horse Trainer.

Nothing is pleasanter or more entertaining than to witness the performances of trained animals, who seem to enjoy their exercises after they have become familiar with them, and to take delight iu going through the tricks with a master whose kindness has secured their affection. The Sacramento Bee gives an instance of this : Lieutenant H was always a great horseman —one of those men who could teach a horse anything, and make a spirited animal out of the sorriest plug. He was always up to some trick or other, in which his trained horse played a prominent part. When we were on a scout a favorite trick of his was to ride at full gallop into a town and drop his horse in a heap right in the street, and the intelligent brute would lie there as though dead. He would go and attend to his business, and come back to find a crowd around the horse almost ready to mob him for his cruelty. Flinging a leg over the animal’s back, he would come to life, spring np, and be away in an instant. Many a time in dangerous scouts has this ability to drop his horse in an instant stood him in good stead, and enabled him to escape capture. A peculiar thing was that his horses would never do their tricks for anyone else. Officers used to take a fancy for some of his trained animals and pay a large price for them, only to find that they were very ordinary and stupid brutes out of their trainer's hands.