Training to Stand Gun Fire 111 



If he should acquire the habit of stepping forward, at- 

 tach the bag for a time. 



TRAINING HORSES FOR THE ARMY 



In preparing horses for use in the army, whether 

 for cavalry, scouting or artillery work, one of 

 the first lessons should be to train the animal to 

 stand gun-fire. Some horses are so nervous that 

 they seem unable to become reconciled to such noise, 

 and if the animal is of this class, it is of advantage 

 to know it at once, since further training is useless. 



There are two methods of training horses to stand 

 gun-fire, the Rarey and the Galvayne. In the 

 Rarey method (p. 212) the horse is laid on the ground 

 while firecrackers are shot off over his body, first 

 at some distance, but gradually approaching. After 

 he becomes reconciled to the noise, he is let up and 

 the use of the crackers continued; then a revolver 

 is used, and lastly the gun. If at any time the horse 

 becomes unsteady, he is laid down again and the en- 

 tire process repeated until he becomes so familiar 

 with the gun that he will stand while it is being 

 fired from his back. In the Galvayne method 

 (p. 219) the head and tail are tied together so that 

 the horse goes round and round until the excitement 

 passes away. Only a few crackers are used at first, 

 and as soon as the horse becomes familiar with the 

 noise his head is freed, and the noise continued as 



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