RAREY'S METHOD. 139 



There are other questions, also, whicli remain to be con- 

 sidered in relation to the method which I have described. First, 

 is it permanent quoad the individual who has carried it out? 

 Secondly, does the vicious horse who has been subdued and 

 " gentled " by one man, show the same absence of vice towards 

 others ? And thirdly, is he injured in any way by the operation ? 

 On the first of these points there appears to be strong evidence 

 that, if the operator gives occasionally a very slight reminder of 

 his powers, the efi"ect of one, two, or three lessons, repeated at 

 short intervals, will continue for at least a year or two. There are 

 numerous instances which have come to my knowledge of horses 

 resuming their vicious habits within two or three months of re- 

 ceiving such a lesson from Mr. Rarey, that they would allow him 

 to do what he liked with them ; but in the case of the savage 

 Cruiser, there is reason to believe that he never once rebelled 

 against his master from the time that he first gave in. In his case, 

 however, the operation was repeated hundreds of times ; and there- 

 fore it does not go so far as I have stated to be the rule, but others 

 might be adduced which keep strictly within it ; and there are 

 also private individuals who have practised on horses which have 

 never been exhibited in public who have kept up their control 

 unimpaired. The evidence in favor of the lasting nature of the con- 

 trolling power, when exercised by the operator himself, is too strong 

 to be gainsaid : and the first question may, I think, be safely 

 answered in the affirmative. But in reference to the second, the 

 evidence is all the other way; and on putting Cruiser into the 

 witness-box he would tell us that he has several times turned against 

 his groom, and put his life in danger. Still, it must be remembered 

 that, prior to his treatment by " Eareyfication,'^ no man dared enter 

 his box ; and on comparing his two states, before and afterwards, 

 it may be truly said, that though not absolutely cured of his vicious 

 propensities, he is comparatively so. Probably the same conclusion 

 may be arrived at in those cases which are related of relapses from 

 virtue to vice; but, at all events, such instances are numerous 

 enough, and attested in a manner so respectable, that every pos- 

 sessor of a coerced horse should be always on his guard. The last 

 question is somewhat difficult to answer, because the injury, if real, 

 is not apparent. The chief means of testing the efi'ect is on the 

 powers of race-horses, several of which have felt Mr. Rarey's 

 straps, and been controlled by his master hand. Now, I believe 

 there is no instance of a horse which has gone through the opera- 

 tion doing any good subsequently on the turf. All have shown 

 either a want of speed or heart ; and whatever has been the cause 

 of this, they have run behind those animals whose form was con- 

 sidered by good judges to have been previously inferior to them 

 Thus, Mr. Merry's Miss Finch, when she first appeared, beat se^ 



