EQUESTRIAN DRAMAS. 55 



torn on top of the horse the only danger would have been the 

 risk of striking against some projection, for the horse could 

 not fall upon his back. As it was, her leg slipped under the 

 horse as he fell, and his weight coming suddenly upon it, the 

 thigh was broken. It is said that as she was ccmveyed to the 

 boat the horse followed with every appearance of sorrow, 

 whinnying softly, as though striving to express his sympathy. 

 Many months after the accident, when the rider mounted him 

 for practice previous to resuming her profession, an eye-witness 

 related that it was really wonderful to see how gentle were all 

 the horse's movements, and how, of his own accord, he would 

 check himself whenever his motion extorted the slightest cry of 

 pain, almost suppressed though it was, from his rider. 



In these plays very little training is required by the horse. 

 After the ordinary breaking he is frequently exercised in going 

 over the run. Owing to the restricted space it is very difficult 

 for the horse to display any degree of speed, and as this is the 

 main thing to be accomplished, he is therefore taught to start 

 instantly at a rate which an ordinary horse could not by any 

 means attain within the prescribed limits. We have seen Ma- 

 zeppa played where the stage was so small that while the horse's 

 tail was against the wall of the theater his nose was barely 

 prevented protruding beyond the scenes, previous to his starting 

 to rush before the audience, from an imaginary journey of some 

 score of miles. When he did come before the public it was dif- 

 ficult for them to see the whole of him at one time even with 

 the scenes run back as far as possible. How the poor animal 

 managed to travel over the diminutive run which was provided 

 we cannot imagine, and yet the sight from the body of the 

 theater was quite respectable. 



After ascending the run the horse and rider must remain high 

 up in the lofty region of the " floats '^ until a change of scene 

 permits them to descend unobserved, or the play requires their 

 descent in public. A perilous, and consequently attractive, 

 feat has been introduced into this play by one or two unusually 

 reckless and daring riders, consisting of an extension of the run 

 around the gallery of the theatre. Over this narrow road above 

 the heads of the spectators, some hundred feet or more from the 

 ground, amid the glare or the lights, the banging of the orches- 

 tra, and the thunders of the multitude, dashes the horse, bearing 

 in triumph " the sensation rider of the world." A single mis- 

 step, the displacement of a single plank in that frail support, 

 and horse and rider would lie a mangled mass below. And this 

 is the very reason the house is jammed with eager throngs — not 

 that they wish the rider to meet the horrible death thus 



