Chapter XIY, 



; TEACHING TRICKS. 



IN this chapter I give the portraits of my old group of trained 

 horses and ponies, whose performances were regarded with such, 

 great interest by all who Witnessed them, that for a number of 

 years I was compelled to give an extra exhibition daily for the 

 benefit of ladies and children, for which a regular admission fee was 

 charged ; and it was universally conceded that these exhibitions 

 were more interesting than those of any circus., The performances 

 of Blind Billy were regarded as especially remarkable, from the fact 

 of his being totally blind. He was, without question, the most re- 

 markable performing horse that has ever been exhibited in this or 

 any other country. I give a very fine pqrtrait of this remarkable 

 horse, sketched by' a leading artist. 



The details of teaching a few tricks, which I give in this chap- 

 ter, will be of special interest to farmer boys, who may desire to 

 train their^ colts in this way. A horse seems more intelligent and 

 tractable when trained to perform a few simple tricks, such as telling 

 the age, kissing, bowing his head, kicking up, turning right and left, 

 or following with the whip, etc., all of which any intelligent boy can 

 easily train a colt to do. . 



In training a colt or horse to perform these tricks, there should 

 be no hurry or effort to teach more than one thing at a time. Make 

 the lessons short, and repeat until thoroughly -learned, when another 

 can be taken up ; but do not continue the lesson long enough to ex- 

 cite or confuse the horse. 



To Follow by the Whip. I 



One of the simplest and most interesting tricks to teach a horse 

 is to follow at the motion of the whip, without bridle or halter, it 

 is even quite useful, as it teaches a horse to follow at command from 

 one part of the barn K to another, or to come out of his stall without 

 attempting to get away. Full details of teaching this trick are given 

 in the chapter on " CohSTraining." 



To Nod His Head,. or Say "Yes." 

 To teach a horse to bow, or nod his head, prick him lightly on 



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