monsters have disappeared. But from day to day the live stock become
more accustomed to the sight and sound of the steam horse, and after a
while they do not even cease grazing when the train passes. They have
learned that it will do them no harm. The same result may be observed
with respect to young horses when first they are brought to a large
town, and have to meet great loads of hay, omnibuses crowded with
passengers, and other strange or noisy objects--if judiciously treated,
not flogged and ill-used, they lose their fears without losing their
high courage. Nothing is more astonishing in London than the steadiness
of the high-bred and highly-fed horses in the streets and in Hyde Park.

But until Mr. Rarey went to first principles, and taught "the reason
why" there were horses that could not be brought to bear the beating of
a drum, the rustling of an umbrella, or the flapping of a riding-habit
against their legs--and all attempts to compel them by force to submit
to these objects of their terror failed and made them furious. Mr.
Rarey, in his lectures, often told a story of a horse which shied at
buffalo-robes--the owner tied him up fast and laid a robe on him--the
poor animal died instantly with fright. And yet nothing can be more
simple.

_To accustom a horse to a drum._--Place it near him on the ground, and,
without forcing him, induce him to smell it again and again until he is
thoroughly accustomed to it. Then lift it up, and slowly place it on the
side of his neck, where he can see it, and tap it gently with a stick or
your finger. If he starts, pause, and let him carefully examine it. Then
re-commence, gradually moving it backwards until it rests upon his
withers, by degrees playing louder and louder, pausing always when he
seems alarmed, to let him look at it and smell, if needful. In a very
few minutes you may play with all your force, without his taking any
notice. When this practice has been repeated a few times, your horse,
however spirited, will rest his nose unmoved on the big drum while the
most thundering piece is played.

_To teach a horse to bear an umbrella_, go through the same cautious
forms, let him see it, and smell it, open it by degrees--gain your
point inch by inch, passing it always from his eyes to his neck, and
from his neck to his back and tail; and so with a riding-habit, in half
an hour any horse may be taught that it will not hurt him, and then the
difficulty is over.

_To fire