3 2 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



that summer and the autumn following. My 

 success was everywhere of the most gratifying 

 character, and exceeded my most sanguine ex- 

 pectations. 



In bringing my system to the attention of the 

 public, I employed that great engine of power, 

 the Press to call attention alike to the cruelty of 

 most of the previous modes of training the 

 horse, and the superiority of my new and rational 

 system. As an illustration of this, it may not 

 be out of place to give a single one of my many 

 addresses to the public through the medium of 

 the press: 



PROFESSOR O. S. PRATT TO THE PUBLIC. Probably 

 not one person in a thousand has any adequate idea of 

 the wonderful- intelligence displayed by the noblest of 

 the brute creation, the horse. Patient, affectionate, sensi- 

 tive and faithful, possessing wonderful powers of endurance 

 and a capacity for education far exceeding any animal ex- 

 tant, a study of his characteristics is ennobling, and com- 

 mands the attention of every intelligent person* But how 

 often do we see him abused, through ignorance, compelled 

 to draw tremendous loads for hours on a stretch, whipped, 

 clubbed, and cursed, until patience ceasing to be a virtue, 

 and through sheer exhaustion, panting, trembling, and dis- 



