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AMPHITHEATRICAL HORSES. 



JUDGING from what I have personally heard many 

 persons say, I believe it is a very current opinion 

 with the majority of the public that those horses that 

 are trained for stage and amphitheatrical purposes 

 undergo a great deal of suffering, and are subject to 

 much punishment in bringing them to the state of 

 discipline and subjection in which we see them at 

 such exhibitions. 



My suspicion that this is the prevailing opinion was 

 strengthened a few days since, when inviting two 

 ladies to go to witness the sagacity of the very 

 extraordinary dog then exhibiting at Astley's. They 

 declined, saying, that, " however they might be gra- 

 tified by his performance and that of the beautiful 

 horses there, the reflection on the sufferings these 

 animals were made to go through in the teaching 

 them took off all the pleasure of seeing the perform- 

 ance." 



On my assuring them that they were under very 

 erroneous impressions on the subject, they brought 

 forward a rather strong argument or case, more 

 properly speaking in corroboration of their opi- 

 nions, and one that they considered must silence me 

 at once : u Did I not consider it barbarous to fasten 

 red hot balls in the feet of the wretched animals in 

 order to teach them to dance ? " 



I admitted such a practice certainly bordered some- 

 what on severity, but was not worse than what Fanny 



