CONCLUSIONS 201 



Rarey may be considered as Having been eminently succe;.sful in pro- 

 pounding a system of hovse-tamiiig ; but it by no means follows that his 

 process is equally, or even at all, useful in \\ov&Q-hreaJdng. There are 

 other questions, also, which remain to be considered in relation to the 

 method which I have described. First, Is it permanent quoad the indi- 

 vidual who has cai-ried it out? Secondly, Does the vicious horse who has 

 been subdued and " gentled " by one man, show the same absence of vice 

 towards others ? And thirdly, Is he injured in any way by the operation 1 

 On the first of these points there appears to be strong evidence that, if 

 the operator gives occasionally a very slight reminder of his powers, the 

 effect of one, two, or three lessons, repeated at short intervals, will con- 

 tinue for at least a year or two. There are numerous instances which 

 have come to my knowledge of horses resuming their vicious habits 

 within two or three months of receiving such a lesson from Mr. Rarey 

 that they would allow him to do what he liked with them ; but in the 

 case of the savage Cruiser, there is reason to believe that he never once 

 rebelled a.gainst his master from the time that he first gave in. In his 

 case, however, the operation was repeated hundreds of times ; and there- 

 fore it does not go so far as I have stated to be the rule, but others might 

 be adduced which keep strictly within it ; and there are also private indi- 

 viduals who have practised on horses which have never been exhibited in 

 public who have kept up their control unimpaired. The evidence in 

 favour of the lasting nature of the controlling power, when exercised by 

 the operator himself, is too strong to be gainsaid : and the first question 

 may, I think, be safely answered in the afiirmative. But in reference to 

 the second, the evidence is all the other way ; and on putting Cruiser into 

 the witness-box, he would tell us that he has several times turned against 

 liis groom, and put his life in danger. Still, it must be remembered that, 

 prior to his treatment by " Rai'eyfication,'"' no man dared enter his box ; 

 and on comparing his two states, before and afterwards, it may be truly 

 said, that though not absolutely cured of his vicious propensities, he is 

 comparatively so. Probably the same conclusion may be arrived at in 

 those cases which are related of relapses from virtue to vice ; but, at all 

 events, such instances are numerous enough, and attested in a manner so 

 resj)ectable, that every possessor of a coerced horse should be always on 

 his guard. The last question is somewhat difficult to answer, because the 

 injury, if real, is not apparent. The chief means of testing the efiect is on 

 the powers of race-horses, several of which have felt Mr. Rarey's straps, 

 and been controlled by his master hand. Now, I believe, there is no 

 instance of a horse which had gone through the operation, doing any good 

 subsequently on the turf. All have shown either a want of speed or 

 heart ; and whatever has been the cause of this, they have run behind 

 those animals whose form was considered by good judges to have been 

 previously inferior to them. Thus, Mr. Merry's Miss Finch, when she 

 first appeared, beat several fields of first-class two-year-olds ; and it was 

 generally believed, when she afterwards was beaten, that it was only 

 because her temper was so bad. Yet when this defect was so far remedied 

 by the process I am considering, that Mr. M. Dawson could ride her 

 constantly as a hack without much inconvenience, she never recovered 

 her racing powers, and neither in private (as I have been informed), 



