TRAINING CIRCUS HOUSES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1506, 14 March 1887, Page 4

TRAINING CIRCUS HOUSES.

The " South Canterbury Times " gives the following account of an interview with Mr Organ, rlncm&Bter and trainer of Messrs Herbett~and Fitzgerald's Oiroae, wh'ch recently vlsted, Ashburton, oa the bubjaofc of training cltoua borBOB : -" Mr William Organ is an American, who has had a very long and varied experience among horses, a man evidently of keen and well practiced perspectives, of force and patience and determination, a man able to compel obedience. From his entertaining conversation, ono gathers tlut he 1b In earnest about his work, and that 1 c brings rare intelligence to bear upon it. He haß theories, the reßult of prolonged experience, and these he reduces to practice, with what success the marvellous, performances of his horses show. Mr Organ Is very willing to impart his ideal or rather perhaps to express his convictions—which he does m the Bty.'e of a man who has proved them right, and, like all specialists, he gives the listener something worth hearing, and quite new. " How do you seko" horses for olrous work, Mr Organ 1" " Well, I have » theory that horseß differ m oapaoity and natural tent aB children do. Some horses develop fitness for one thing, and seme for another and 1 put horses to tasks they are moat suited for, I must have horses of Bpirit and hearts, not c dung-hills,' by. which I mean inferior creatures." " Are horees usually tractable ?" "They always yield to kindnees and firmness. I should like to say here that In my opinion the intelligence and moral sentiment, so to speak, of the horse that we hear so much talk of do not exist. The horse has keen strong instinct but he has na intelligence. He wants a man to teach him and then hU instincts help him to do what he is oruered to do." " This is rather a at<rtliog dootrlne to some people Mr Orgen." "I know it is, but it is my deliberate conviction Do yon Bee m a horse any evidence of reasoning faculties or moral faculties Buch as you find m the dog or the oleplunt, or the monkey ? Think it over, and you will bgo that my view its correct. Ab for these stories of horses' attachment, etc. — well I've seen as muoh and studied as much of horses as most men and I never knew any instances of it. A horse puts hie neck regularly over a certain gate and whinneyß at a certain home, and strangers exclaim "What a fond creature it 1b !' Yes, so it is ; be is fond of the carrots or apples or oats that Homebody has been used to taking Mm there. If the carrots or apples or oats don't show up, m a month or two he'll stop hit visits. No eir, the horae is a handsome animal, and people are bo lost m admiration of him where they see him going through his Bet that they forget the trainer, whose machine he is." " We freely admit to Mr Organ that his arguments are sound and evident I j based on more than common observation He adds that there are crazy horaea too, just aa there are crazy peopla and varieties of temper and disposition. - ; . "Where do jour Bronco horees arm from V " I bought them all at a ranche m 8 n Waukee Valley, California. They wore running wild there and they are the progeny of English horses and mustangs. The mustangs sro small. ' Bronao 'is a Spanish word signifying wild horse. I like to get unhandlei horses best " " Ii there much cruelty used m trainIng." " It depends on the trainer, but bb a rule nothing like the cruelty is now used that was once employed. I have seen some terrible cruelty by brutal trainers — by one especially whom no doubt you have Been (we wlthold the name of the gentleman m qu&Btion.) But there is no need for cruelty if you select your horsos and provide the work for them with judgment. ' Let me show you,' continues Mr Organ, who is fertile m illuetration and posses a great deal of the faoulty that teacher a bo often lack, ' euppoßQ you wore chucked out on an island among strange people, and the/ stood you up and ordered yon la their languago to do certain things, and on your failirg thuugh inability to understand their language, some of ihetn took dube and welted you till you could understand you might by-and-by learn a few things but by that time you would be useless, whereas if they showed you whit 'to do, you could imitate them. That is just the oaae wiih horses. Some trainers are brutee, and know no medium of instruction except brutal treatment. For my part I find nothing bat patience and sticking to it and humoring end re;<B3uriig horses will avail. I saw a trainer once hit a horse on the head with a club, m a fit of temper. The animal droppet down dead. I saw another whip out his knife onoe while a horse was peiforming Imperfectly Borne trick with his tongub out, and cut the tongue right out." " Are there any tricks of whioh you would feel disposed to give an account?" 11 Well," r« joined tho trainer "of course, there are things we cannot very , well give away, but aa specimens I mistt mention one or two common tricks. For instance there is making a horse pick up a handkerchief This is not one of ours but ia an old circus trick. How do you think this is done ? Simply thus— You place a handkerchief on a raked, aurfioe, and you lead your horse thither, taking with you a small goad with which you gently prick him jußt about (he shoulder m such a way that he will jerk his head to the side where the handkerchief Ib, and m doing thia he will instinotivcly snap at the handkerchief. Bf careful training yoa will get him to know the trek, and when you order him to a handkerchief he knows he has to pick it up. In making a horse Bit down some heavy work is required, but once he does it ho knows on your giving a certain sound that yon want him to sit down, and he supposes you have the mechanical means at h,-#id to compel obedience, and he obediently squata down." "Is fc'ifs not a very painful thiag for the anima'e ? ' " Yet it ia, I must Bay, rather painful, for it strains them about the kidneys. But joa see they are never injured by It, becaufe it is only done occasionally and for a few minutes at a time. Teaching a horse to go lame ? Oh ? that can bo done without the slightest cruelty and m a day or two m the case oi some horses. Thny learn it very readily and on hearing a certain signal they do it at once Oh ! they aro very exact m their work and perfeot m circus signals. For instance, tho horses that work m the last work m the laßt act go like the deuce. Yoa can hardly hold them, and when tho boll rings to close the act, you oould'nt make r m go once more round the ring if you tried ever so hard." " Would a trained circus horae ever be a useful hack or buggy hurse ?/ "Oertainlj ho would. He'd never play his tricks unless he waa m the ring with his accompaniments and signals. Cannot a man of any profession (Mr Organ readily finds illustrations) go about the ordinary life of a citizen like anybody else 1 He does not carry his specialities about when walking down the street and Bitting down to dinner, . They belong to his profession only. You might buy a trained horse if he was a good one, with safety," " 'I have trained a bull and'an ox." continued Mr Organ," to do the seesaw and other tricks. They are quite as docile as horses, only you see the exhibition is rather alow and heavy. You only see them m hippodromes as portions of a b\a entertainment. " He then reverts to his pet theory of the absence of intelligence m the hone lie urges that the way In which a horse will bolt, carrying the trap and you end i

Mmself to a violeni enr*, is a proof of his lack of B'n?fl or of coi sidfr-tinn fo you. You on mb a horse down eVa ftnd refreth him, fill his m^.r^er wifi food, ard bed him down, anda^ you go out, \v will raise his foo band kick you, or him round and give you a bite. " Pah I it 1 * all nonsensa about their intelligence and 6ne feelings," he cays Mr Organ on o udes with some general hints about horses. If a horse lets out behind ho has beenjbeaten behind, and y<>u ehould never beat a horse behiud. You drive him away from yon and teach him the use of his heel?, whioh he did not know till them

And after a little desultory conversation we part from our trainicg friend with the conviction that he is—as h's work shows— a man of rare qualification m his profession, a reasoner as well as a man of action — of whose success we ihall always be pleased to hear.