46 



THE ART OF TEAIXIXG AXIMALS. 



To teach him this, have an assistant stationed at some distance 

 from you, and when the horse comes to you with the card, 

 instead of taking it from him as you have been accustomed to 

 do, turn his head in the direction of your assistant and start 

 him up. He will go to the assistant if the latter holds out his 

 hand, and, perhaps, whistles to him. Pretty soon the whistling 

 may be dispensed with, and he will carry the card in any direc- 

 tion indicated in search of some one to receive it. "When he 

 comes to perform in the ring he will go around the edge looking 

 for somebody to whom he may relinquish the card. The pro- 

 per person will probably hold out his hand to take it, but a 

 hundred others will quite as certainly do the same thing. Now 

 if the horse selects the right person in spite of the other claim- 

 ants to lead him astray, a round of applause is pretty sure to 

 crown his success. To insure this he should be taught to re- 

 linquish the card at some particular signal given by the trainer. 

 A cough will answer, or any word which can be incorporated into 

 a sentence addressed to him, without being detected by the 

 audience. We have given sufficient instruction on this point 

 in preceding pages, we believe, to enable the trainer to use his 

 own discretion as to the manner of associating the signal with 

 the giving-up of the card, in the horse's mind. 



TO FIRE OFF A PISTOL. 



In performing this trick the pistol (unloaded) should be firmly 

 secured to a post or some other convenient support, as high as . 



FIRING OPF THE PISTOL. 



