A School for Fire Horses.

Tuapeka Times, Volume 26, Issue 157, 26 January 1889, Page 6 (Supplement)

A School for Fire Horses.

At 5S Lawrence Street, Hailem, is the famous training school for all the fine, intelligent horses of tbe New York Fire Department. Hcrc,says the New York ITor/d, the green horses are brought and trained to jump from their stalls at the first sound of the alarm gong and rush out to their stations, where they stand ready for the lightning-like adjustment of the harness, and quivering with impatience for the great doors to be thrown back, that they may whirl the ponderous engine or hose carriage out into the street. Veterinary Surgeon Joseph Shea, who ranks as a captain in the department, is in command of this , equine kindergarten, and is ably assisted by Foreman Lawrence Murphy, Firemen Patrick Haley and Thomas Clark. About 60 perfectly trained horses are turned out from this school yearly. Captain Shea does not attend to the training as much as to the buying and matching of the animals. He goes at regular intervals to Bull's Head, buys those horses that his judgment , tells him are what he requires, and, sending 1 them to the school, leaves them in <be hands of Foreman Murphy and his two assistants. It astonishes one to fiad how rapidly this training is accomplished. The average horse understands his new duties pretty thoroughly at the end of two days, and tne least intelligent of them never takes longer than a week to learn the ropes. After thoroughly testing the green animal to find if his " wind " is in perfect condition, he is put in a stall and led backward and forward to the station before the engine some dozen times or so to accustom him to ducking his head to get under the collar and harness. Then he is left in his stall and coaxed to come forward under the harness himself by kind words and rewards of candy and apples. He is then tau«ht to come forward at the clang of the gong, and after a little practice at this his education is complete, and he is transferred to one of the regular fire houses. The system of training here is entirely that of kindness, and recourse to the whip is never necessary. Ihe horses seem to like the work, and grow as enthusiastic over it aa one of the old volunteer firemen. Of course horses that do this kind of work have to be both strong and speedy. Three hundred dollars is the average price paid for them, and they must be between 1(5 and IGJ hands high, weigh from 1200 to HSOlbs. and be from four to six years old. Their usual length of actual service is about five years. They are then auctioned off, and bring fiom r>o to IDlUols. This institution is also a kind of "horspital,"and the fire horses that become ill with distemper, or pinkeye, or become lame, are sent here to be nursed back to health. Captain Shea is fond of perfectly mated teams, and takes a great deal of extra trouble in transferring horses from one station to another, in order that, as nearly as possible, every team in the department may be perfectly matched in size, appearance, and working qualities. The old chemical fire engines arc used in the school tor the horses to practice running with, and four of them have been racked to pieceß since the establishment of the institution, March 23, 18S2. The one now in iu;e is the old Morrisania engine, and it looks as if it were on its lasfc legs, or, more correctly speaking, on its last wheels. This school was started merely as an experiment, and as such was provided with what was thought to be temporary quarters in an old engine house. It has proved a big success, but nothing has been done to improve the accommodations. The building is too small for the amount of work done there, and is in need of repairs. The general opinion of the firemen is that there should be nearly double the number of teachers there, and aocomcnoclations for twenty instead of seven horses, so tUAt'in thd spring, when the going is always heavy, and many horses ill from the hard work of the winter, there should be absolutely no danger of running short of trained animald. M. Surat, who came from France some years ago to study the methods of the Now York Fire Department, >v;is paiticularly struck with the equine training school, and when Chief Gicquel and President Purroy visited France a year ago, they saw in Parifl a school on exactly the plan of this one, but fitted up more completely.