Читать книгу Haney's Art of Training Animals - W. H. Burroughs - Страница 34

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A horse may be taught to dance thus: Fasten the animal with two side-reins between the posts supporting the leaping bar. Take a whip, and, as the music plays, gently touch him with it, using the “jik, jik,” of the groom as you go on. The horse being tied to the posts can move neither backward nor forward, but he will be induced to lift his legs and thereby gain the rudimentary movement of his lesson. After a while the teacher must mount on his back; the horse being fastened by the side reins. Just when he is to raise his leg, a gentle pull must be given to the rein at the proper side to help the movement. In course of time the reins must be loosened, and the horse, if tolerably ready, will soon learn to mark time, quick or slow, in answer merely to a slight jerk of the bridle. The rider must then dismount, and coming before the horse, teach him to dance, or keep time, with a wave of the hand, or by a pat on the foot which he is wanted to lift.

It may be remarked here that, though the dancing horses at the circuses appear to keep time with the music of the band, it is really, in most cases, the band that accommodates its music to the movements of the horse.