RAREYFYING HORSES. 175 



means, as described on page 165, for forcing the horse to 

 "fight," when, from sulkiness, he refuses to do so. His 

 refusal to fight, in such cases, is a " defence " which we have 

 got to combat. 



Mr. Norton Smith adopted, from " Professor " Gleeson I 

 beheve, a modification of Rarey's system, by attaching a 

 long strap or cord to each fore pastern, passing these lines 

 through the surcingle (or through rings on the surcingle), 

 and then carrying them back behind the horse, so that the 

 operator, while keeping out of harm's way, could pull up 

 one or both fore legs of the animal, as he deemed fit. 

 When I saw Mr. Smith performing, he made the horse lie 

 down by pulling both legs off the ground at the same time. 

 I need hardly say that, although such a method might do 

 for a show, and especially with a horse that had been 

 taught to '^ go down " in this way ; it is unworthy of 

 serious consideration from a breaking point of view, 

 on account of the danger there is, by it, of the animal 

 injuring himself by coming down violently on his knees 

 or on his head. I may observe that a breaker cannot be 

 expected to be provided with ground softer than an or- 

 dinary grass field. 



Sample tells me that Denton Offett taught Rarey the 

 system which now goes by Rarey's name. I see from a 

 leading article in the Evening Standard oi lO'Cci. June, 1893, 

 that *' This horse-taming business is very, very old. 

 Mortals who have been privileged to view the glorious 

 collection of Greco-Scythic art in St. Petersburg will see it 

 there in practice — exactly the same twenty-five hundred 

 years ago, as that with which Mr. Rarey made such a pro- 



