TRAINING HORSES TO SAVE LIVES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 156, 2 July 1892, Page 11

TRAINING HORSES TO SAVE LIVES.

In a building in Central Park, a lowered building, facing the beautiful South meadow, and shaped like a horse shoe, are the stables of the mounted police force of the park department. Their occupants are twenty-four of the finesb horses of their sorb in the whole worJd.

There is nob a house in these stalls that i 3 nob a life saver. If bbc Humane Society were to bestow iba merlala upon four-footed as well as two-fooi^d Hroea, these horses would be spangled wit - decorations. During a recent v. Ib to the stables Roundsman John Mcs-anna, bhe head of the mounted force, void me something of how these horses are trained, and also illustrated some points in the process for an artist who was wibh me.

Several of the two dozen horses have been wibh the force ever since runaway stopping was made a parb of the police duty. Of these John Wilson's ' Dick' is the "most famous. He is a noble creature and took bhe second prize ab bhe Madison Square Garden Horse Show. ' Dick ' has probably .saved more lives bhan any halfdozen surfmen.

There are eight new horses added bo the force every year upon an average. Of theso, four "are finally rejected. They haven't the heart for the work. They are cowardly, afraid to rush in where deabh ia often to be' met. Ib is with horses as with men. Your heroes are born, nob mado. The green horses come on the force upon trial. This lasts two months.

Tho first work^of the trainer is to accustom them to the saddle and rider. They at 6 then taken into the park and walked to and fro, midway 'between' bhe upward and downward lines of carriages, carts, and waggons. This is done to familiarise them with metropolitan life—bo the presence of many vehicles—so that when a runaway does occur bhey will pay as little attention to the crowd and rush of men and teams as a down-town man dooa to a sbreeb flghb. This trial and disoipline of nerves may require weeks, and <oannob be dispensed wibh. ,

After the reoruibs have been taught to look upon a moving, hurrying crowd as merely an ordjnary inoid^nt), the aptjve

work is'begun. This i% the way Roundsman McKenna goes about it.. He trots his green hoise by the side of other horses which are in harness. After ho finds that his horse will go well—mind the bridle and spur—he begins the third lesson. He secures the co-operation of some horseman who exercises his horse in the park early in tho day when the drives are comparatively deserted. He. suddenly rides up close to his friend's horse and instantly reaches over the pummel of his saddle and grasps the other horse's bridle near the bit—aboub six inches from it. He repeats this day after day, and scores of times each day, until his steed learns what is expected of .him" and will obey at a touch.

Next he practises the horse in concert with p, rider who rides at full speed rhe pursues, catches, intercepts, Btops him. Only one saddle horse out of two picked animals proves to be suited to such service. All this is but preliminary practice. The real training and trial and test come i.n actual contact and contest with runaways. Two years of active service on the mounted force are needed to develop a 'hero.' Of course the horse could be disciplined in less time if it could have the necessary practice, but runaways cannot be. made to order, and the horse must wait for his opportunities.

In turning his horse in toward a runaway team the roundsman spurs it on the opposite side from the direction which he wishes it to go and pulls his reins ' bridlewise.' That is to say he flteers his horse by the neck rather than by the bit. All police horses have two bits and two pairs of reins. To turn a horse 'bridle-wise' you pull both pair of reins over the neck of the horse in the opposite direction you want ib to take, pressing your hand at the same time heavily over the mane, indicating to the animal by that means, more than by the pull upon the bib, the course ib should take. A mounted life-saver's horse mush stop suddenly, must come,to a full, sudden halt at the word of command. Of course, the double bits, the snaffle, and the curb enable the officer to perfectly check his mount at will, bub the. horse should be trained to stop without any use oi these painful mebhods. * ■

When a runaway team comes tearing up the drive the policeman has to think with lightning quickness. He must decide whether ib is better to turn them into some shrubbery on the green, where they will be forced to stop, or whether they should be thrown.

Sometimes ifc is dangerous to stop a team of horses, especially when they are attached to a carriage. The vehicle hits them in the rear, and fright makes them wholly unmanageable. The policeman's first thought must be for the occupants of the carriage, if there are any. Next ho must consider the danger to other drivers in' the vicinity. If there be no risk in either of these directions, he must try to save the horse and vehicle from injury. The surest way to stop a team hitched to a carriage is by throwing them. It is a one-sided wresbling. match. The man on horseback is almost certain to win ;'. the couquered horses seldom survive the ordeal. To throw a team the policeman rides up and catches the lines wear the bits, and gives one sudden and powerful pull toward the right or left as tHe case may be. This checks the speed of the runaways, and in nine cases out of ten it throws both horses to the ground. A skilled man can invariably throw a horse on a smooth pavement, and a team of horses is even more easily upset than a single animal. The policeman must be quick, however, to jump out of the way or he will be at the bottom of the wreck. Last year a mounted policeman was killed because his horse could not'get oubof the way quickly enough.