368 CIRCUS TRICKS. 



his teeth a handkerchief which is held in a convenient 

 position for him to take it. When he catches hold of the 

 handkerchief, we should gently remove it and should sub- 

 stitute some appropriate dainty, such as the usual carrot, 

 for it. In this way the horse will soon learn to recognise 

 the fact that he gets a reward for taking hold of the hand- 

 kerchief, and can then be readily taught to pick it up or to 

 take it off one of his legs, to which it has been loosely tied. 

 Horses that are naturally ticklish and inclined to snap are 

 the quickest to learn this trick in this manner. Instead of 

 getting the horse to catch hold by irritating him, the same 

 object may be attained by tying up in the handkerchief a 

 piece of carrot or other bonne bonche, and inducing the 

 animal to lift up the handkerchief in his endeavour to get 

 at the contained delicacy. 



When a horse has learned to catch hold of a handker- 

 chief, he may be taught to fire off a gun, placed on a stand 

 or on his back, by attaching a handkerchief to its trigger, 

 and by indicating with the whip or hand the object to be 

 seized and pulled. 



Jumping over another horse, etc. — Let us suppose that 

 we want to make one horse stand perfectly still and unheld, 

 while another jumps over him. We might then adopt the 

 following procedure. Take an enclosed ring, like that of a 

 circus, and close to its side, and on one of its diameters, 

 ■construct a trench about 3 feet deep and 2 feet 6 inches 

 wide, with a ramp leading down to it. Within this trench 

 place a clothes-horse or other convenient stand, with rugs 

 -over it, and teach the jumper to go round the circle by 



