OXFOKD HORSE. 



419 



to the blacksmith's shop that he never couhl be ridden near 

 one afterward, and was shod in his stable. 



Two traveling horse-taming parties, at different times, 

 had visited Oxford, and tried their skill upon this case, 

 both making a disastrous failure. When I visited the place, 

 it was made a condition of success that this horse should 

 be led, mounted or dismounted, in the street. And so it 

 became a matter of either giving 

 up the town, or taking him in 

 hand. I never had jumped a 

 to'wn for any such cause, and 

 concluded I would not now. As 

 a matter of experiment, I put 

 on him two War Bridles, with 

 over fifty feet of cord to each, 

 and with the aid of a strong man 

 led him out of the barn, wdien 

 such a desperate struggle com- 

 menced, he to get away and we 

 to hold him, as was, perhaps, 



never seen before. The moment he was outside he rushed 

 forward, but being restrained, he lunged into the air more 

 than fifty times, when we were glad to end it by running 

 him into the stable as quickly as we could. Explaining to 

 the class that he could not be successfully treated in a barn, 

 he was mounted and ridden to a field a mile outside the 

 town, follow^ed by the class. The halter was now put on 

 outside the bridle, and while still mounted, the rider ready 

 to jump off, the hitching-strap was cautiously tied to his 

 tail. When ready, the rider instantly jumped from his 

 back, when he commenced the most violent struggle to free 

 himself. As he went round wnth great rapidity, he struck 

 and kicked with intense fury. When entirely helpless, he 

 was quickly untied, the treatment reversed, and carried to 

 the fullest extent to make him submit. 



Fig. 286 —Oxford Horse. 



