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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



sky-high one minute, and desnrtcd the next. At the 

 same time we must say we think cither extreme would 

 be alike unfair. Divest Mr. Rarey of his so-called se- 

 cret, and he is still a wonderful man. His feats during 

 the short time he has been amongst us — the taming of 

 Cruiser, for instance —are such as no other man would 

 have attempted. It is all very well, now the egg is 

 broken, to proclaim that you and I could have done 

 this, and that people have been doing it for ages. 

 But they have not. They may have known the secret; 

 although what, after all, is Mr. Rarey's great secret ? 

 As we take it, Mr. Rarey himself. Just as Van Amburgh 

 conquered lions and tigers by sheer physical courage 

 and resolution, does Mr. Rarey tame horses. It is 

 well known that the experiments made by some of his 

 pupils in the art have been the most ludicrous 

 failures — little, if anything, short of what Mr. Briggs 

 has been doing in Punch. Let Mr. Rarey exhibit 

 here as he did in his own country, making no petty 

 secret of the business, but showing us what he can do 

 with the horse, and giving us useful hints and wrinkles, 

 and he will still find plenty of support. It will always 

 be a treat to see him bell the cat, and face a savage, 

 although the golden age of ten-guinea fees may be over. 

 As everybody but the tongue-tied subscriber has 

 long thought and said, the great move in conquering 

 a vicious horse is tying- up the leg. "There is some- 

 thing in this operation of taking up one foot," says Mr. 

 Rarey, " that conquers a horse quicker and better than 

 anything else you can do to him. There is a principle 

 of this kind in the nature of the horse — that by con- 

 quering one member you conquer to a great extent the 

 whole horse." Further on he gives us in full his 

 directions how to make a horse lie down. These are 

 his own words : — 



" Everything tliat we want to teach the horse must be 

 commenced iu some way to give him an idea of what you 

 want him to do, and then be repeated till he learns it per- 

 fectly. To make a horse lie down, bend his left foreleg and 

 slip a loop over it, so that he cannot get it down. Then put 

 a surcingle around his bodj', and fasten one end of a long 

 strap around the other fore le^^, just above the hoof. Place 

 the other end under the surcingle, so as to keep the strap in 

 the right direction ; take a short hold of it with your right 

 hand ; stand on the left side of the horse, grasp the bit ia 

 your Itft hand, pull steadily on the strap with your right; 

 bear ajrainst hi? shoulder till you cause him to move. As 

 soon as he lifts his weight, your pulling will raise ti»e other 

 foot, and he will have to come on his knees. Keep the 

 strap ti^ht in your liand, so that he canuot straighten his 

 leg if he rises up. Hold him m this position, and turn his 

 head towards you ; bear against his side with your shoulder, 

 not hard, but with a steady, equal pressure, and in about ten 

 minutes he will lie down. As soon as he lies down, he will 

 be completely conquered, and you can handle him as 3-ou 

 please. Take off the straps, and straighten out his legs ; rub 

 him lightly about the face and neck with your band the way 

 the hair lies ; handle all his legs, and after he has lain ten or 

 twenty minute?, let him get up again. After resting him a 

 short timemakehimlie down as before. Repeat the operation 

 three or four times, which will be sufficient for one lesson. 

 Give him two less'uis a day, and when you have given him 

 four lessons, he will lie down by taking hold of one foot. 

 As soon as he is well broken to lie down in this way, tap 

 Lira on the opposite leg with a stick when you take hold of 

 his foot, and in a few days he will lie down from the mere 

 motion of the stick." 



Wo have very little doubt in our own mind but that 



this is the main principle of Mr. Rarey's practice 

 amongst us : a process especially recommended for its 

 humanity and reasoning power. In reality it is not 

 so. There is no more nervous or less grateful opera- 

 tion for a horseman to witness. The animal appears to 

 suffer much, as well as to be in continual danger of 

 breaking a limb. Mr. Cooke, a most respectable man, 

 the proprietor of Astley's Theatre, illustrated the sys- 

 tem for some nights, until at length compelled to desist 

 in deference to the audience. He never failed in bringing 

 the horse down ; but the means looked at least so like 

 slow torture, that the performer was greeted with 

 continual hisses and such like marks of disappro- 

 bation. It is a grave question whether you may 

 not break a horse's heart in thus breaking him in. We 

 were present at one of the earlier of Mr. Rarey's morn- 

 ings — fortunately before the ten-guinea era, and when 

 the spectator was consequently not initiated — and the 

 dog-like quiet of the horse he had operated on was 

 something remarkable. We are told it is the same 

 with Cruiser. 



The now common topic is the case of the subscribers, 

 and what they will do ? A rather unfair attempt has 

 been made to implicate the Messrs. Tattersall, from 

 their having acted as a reference, and the horse-taming 

 office being on their premises. Mr. Rarey, at any rate, 

 came well recommended to them. He had been per- 

 forming with great eclat before Her Majesty, and had 

 whole columns of the Times speaking to his merits. 

 No man, indeed, was ever better puffed. He would 

 seem to have had an especial scribe or two to sing his 

 praises and record his doings. One thing, however, 

 is certain enough : if the main secret is out, it will 

 never do for the Messrs. Tattersall to be sanctioning 

 the payment of any more ten-guinea subscriptions 

 We must rest content with the martyrdom of a Barth- 

 I'opp and a Ransome. 



On the whole we are by no means disposed to under- 

 rate the advent of Mr. Rarey amongst us. As we said 

 when we first saw his exhibition, " there is something 

 in it." But this is not the country for secrets. They 

 seldom flourish here, and a man who deals in them is 

 soon set down for a humbug. Let Mr. Rarey honestly 

 announce what he can do with the horse ; let him even, 

 if he likes, continue the zebra experiment, and there 

 will be plenty of people ready to encourage him. Our 

 own belief is, that he can do more with a savage horse 

 than any man that ever yet tried. He is singularly 

 well qualified for the business — with physical power, 

 fine temper, and immense experience. By this time 

 he can well afford to be above the quackery of secrets 

 and whisperings. 



As for " the more fools in the fair" who paid their 

 ten guineas each, their loss or gain cannot much signify. 

 The majority of them, no doubt, did so because it was 

 " the fashion" — an excellent showing that carries with 

 it its own reward. 



