O. S. Pratt

“ My friend, a full consideration of gratitude has timely and most heartily determined your large class to offer this El-Dorado-headed cane. Sir, we recognize you as the greatest equestrian educator in the world. Your humble servant is proud of his recent acquisition. You have enabled the palsied old man to ride in safety; you allow the old lady to drive minus the fear of a broken neck; the young lady or horse-loving master can now indulge saddle pleasures, knowing the animal thoroughly subdued by some member of your class. ”

“ Since you handled and drove him without backing-strap, I have driven him twice without his showing the least fear or disposition to return to his dangerous habit of kicking.
I believe you have perfectly taught him to work without kicking, and that he will not forget the impression your treatment made on him. Your system is so easily learned and can be so quickly applied, that it is the owner’s fault if his balky, runaway, or kicking horse, ever forgets what you, or any member of your class can teach him in half an hour.
Every one who owns or drives a horse ought to join your class. ”

“ The undersigned, on behalf of the members of your numerous class in this city, desire to testify their appreciation of the valuable instructions you have imparted to them. The unwearying assiduity with which you have endeavored to make those instructions comprehensive and entertaining, and their high estimation of your admirable system of educating and managing the horse. The knowledge imparted to us during the many lectures and exhibitions of your unexampled method of treating that noble animal may be of incalculable benefit to many of us. ”

“ In fact he rules the horse by a system so comprehensive, and at the same time so simple, that a child of ordinary intelligence can understand it. His pupils are numbered by the thousand in almost every State, and they all endorse the system heartily. No matter how badly the horse has been abused, no matter how disagreeable his disposition may be, no matter if he kicks, strikes, bites, or is a runaway, in a few minutes the most delicate lady or timid child can manage him with ease by using Prof. Pratt’s system. ”

“ Every vicious trait a horse can possess is thoroughly cured by your unequaled skill. You are a practicalist, a utilitarian, an educator in one of the most necessary and recreative branches of polite culture. Indeed, a logical lawyer could raise a fine issue relative to the comparative merits of your skill and that of the statesman. Disparaging no sphere, I would say that the live, practical, successful man in any avocation, is the person we need and the individual we will honor. ”

“ The undersigned, members of your horse educating school, have learned with deep regret that you are forced, by various engagements, to leave Philadelphia in a few days. The knowledge we have received by your lucid and simple system of educating the horse is invaluable to us and all who have been pupils in your class. We think that your system of educating the horse is far superior to any known before. It prevents cruelty to animals, and is effective in all cases if rightly applied and persisted in. Your system is as yet far too little known in Philadelphia. ”

“ No wonder that he repeatedly throws his rider and treats him as an intruder. He cannot be less terrified than a man would be if a wild animal were to mount on his back. In order to secure success in educating his colt to ride let the reader adopt the foregoing instructions, and he will not have cause for regret, but will find that he has gained more than the single point of riding, as he has taught his colt that he does not intend to harm him, and that his duty is to yield a cheerful obedience to his owner’s commands. ”

“ Young men and boys are largely addicted to the habit of riding or leading the horse up to the bars or fence, and, some being too lazy to let down the rails properly, compelling him to jump over, and if he resists, the first effort is to hit him with the bridle or halter, and away the animal goes almost frantic with fear. To another class it proves an amusement, certainly arising from a depraved nature, as they like to see the animal jump ”

“ The horse or dog, however fully he may understand the directions he receives, can give no other response than by his acts, and to words of praise or censure he can reply only by signs; these are clearly understood by us and show that our meaning is comprehended by the animal, thus proving a real interchange of thought. ”

“ Frequently a horse is quiet, kind, and a good roadster, but has this habit of occasionally stopping in the road. At such times the almost universal practice is to whip the horse, and sometimes most brutally, or the more sickening custom of procuring a bundle of straw or some shavings and setting them on fire under the body of the horse. Such kinds of treatment I utterly discard, and the reader will find, in another part of my book, that I give several methods which will prove effectual in eradicating this habit, only meting out sufficient punishment to secure obedience. ”

“ No pain is caused, but the unusual sensation, together with the necessity for air on the part of the horse, banishes his former feeling of sulkiness or anger and the yields to the almost irresistible impulse to spring to his feet and free his nostrils of the water. ”

“ Persons have practiced the foregoing idea and succeeded in accomplishing their purpose and have, no doubt, been highly gratified that their horse was so intelligent, yielding a quiet obedience to their efforts in a very short time; now had the owner known that a foundation for a complete education was properly laid, how easily could he have built a superstructure thereon that would have been permanent and beneficial during the life of the animal. ”

“ When it is remembered how much time is often lost in catching a horse in the field, it will be seen that, in money value, this simple point of horse education will more than repay the cost of this book to the owner of a horse that has heretofore been bad to catch; and the saving of temper as well as time will make the improvement in his habits doubly valuable. Both the man and the horse are made better by it. ”

“ It has so long been customary to use as many nails as could be conveniently driven, in fact, of fastening the shoe as if it were to a lifeless block of wood, that the fear is very commonly entertained that the shoe will not be held in its place with so few nails. Such fears are utterly groundless, as both theory and practice demonstrate. If the presence of a nail in the crust were a matter of no moment, and two or three more than are really necessary were merely useless, no great [437] reason would exist for condemning the common practice of using too many nails, but it is far otherwise ”

“ I visited the pleasant city of Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, where I met a cordial reception from many whose warm appreciation of my system of educating the horse was coupled with marks of personal friendship. Here, as in other places on former occasions, my endeavors were crowned with a gratifying success. It is at this place that the United States Naval Academy is situated, an institution which sustains the same relation to the navy that West Point bears to the army of our country. ”

“ But further back than even those distant times, in the ages where authentic history merges into the shadowy light, amidst which myth and fable mingle with the real, we find this noble animal figuring, but then exalted into a semi-human sphere. ”

“ Of the numerous faults ascribed to the horse a very small portion are chargeable to his natural disposition, the remainder being the direct result of vicious training, or rather of the absence of training, and the substitution of something which, under that name, first produces and then fosters the faults for which the animal is punished; while often the punishment is ineffectual, because the animal has no conception of why it is made to suffer. ”

“ Your colt being educated, you may now hitch him up to a vehicle, observing to drive him very slow, only on a walk, and after thus driving him a few times, you can with certainty say that you have a thoroughly educated horse, whose value will be greatly increased, compared with the old or any other system of breaking the colt. Always observing to drive your colt with blinders, only using the whip enough to let him know the use of it. Be kind to your animal, never using harsh means, and he will reward your kindness by implicit obedience. ”

“ We do not hesitate to say that numbers of accidents occur daily (many fatally) through an insufficient knowledge of managing the animal you have made so perfectly subject to your will, and we advise every one whose business or profession require frequent, if not constant, use of the horse to embrace an early opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of your system. ”

“ Rule 31.—Relative to Heats and Horses Eligible to Start.—In heats, one, two, three, or four miles, a horse not winning one heat in three, shall not start for a fourth, unless such horse shall have made a dead heat. In heats best three in five, a horse not winning a heat in the first five shall not start for a sixth, unless said horse shall have made a dead heat. But where ten or more horses start in a race, every horse not distanced shall have the right to compete until the race is completed—subject, however, to all other penalties in these rules. ”

“ During these business years in Batavia my attachment for that noble animal, the horse, gradually increased, and learning that a horse trainer by the name of Rarey, intended visiting the town, I was one of the first to seek for and obtain what knowledge I could from him; but finding his system to be not at all practical, I applied myself to the investigation of the subject, and began experimenting with a view to the discovery of a better, simpler and more certain system. ”

“ Cheered by their presence, and encouraged by their approbation during the eight years in which the author has been engaged in diffusing a knowledge of his system of Equine Education, their generous appreciation continues to fill the present with treasured memories of the past, amongst the most prized of which is that of the friendship it has been his happiness to secure from gentlemen distinguished alike in the walks of politics, religion, science, literature and art. ”

“ That the horse possesses more intelligence than many are disposed to admit, facts abundantly prove, and that he is quite as susceptible of acquiring evil and vicious habits as is man, the following trick will show.
My horse, Prince Albert, appears to enjoy the subjoined trick greatly, and I regard it as quite a sensational one. To educate a horse to be vicious you have only to attract his attention, and then appear to be afraid of him. ”

“ It may be said that the tones of the voice rather than the words are what the animal understands, yet a dog knows his name however spoken, and a horse understands a whole vocabulary of orders. But the intelligence which comprehends the meaning of a tone, is not less than that required to understand a word or sentence. ”

“ Above this the human form was perfect, with the erect bearing, chest, shoulders, arms, neck and head of a complete man. They were reputed to be possessed of extraordinary mental as well as physical powers, and to be as superior to ordinary men in wisdom and art as they were in fleetness and strength. They were evidently a tribe of horsemen whom the ignorance and superstition of that early period elevated into a superior race, in the supposition that the horse and man were united in one. Everything points to them as being the first who succeeded in breaking and using the horse. ”

“ It may seem needless to repeat what has before been said, in substance, that the seemingly small faults of a horse are the ones which most frequently lessen his value and impair his usefulness, and that the removal of any one, however trifling, adds a money value to the horse more than sufficient to compensate for the time and trouble expended. ”

“ Practice has shown that horses bitted with this rig soon acquire the habit of gently and gracefully raising the head with that occasional toss, or upward and downward motion, and playing with the bit, which is the perfection of beauty in a carriage horse, while standing in the harness.
It is not possible for a horse with our rig to become a “lugger.” This bit never bears upon the jaw-bone with more than a light pressure, and when he attempts to rest his head upon the bit, the pressure on the teeth causes him to desist and elevate his head. ”

“ There is no deception, no trickery, no unfairness. What you say I’ve found you willing to back up with your money; your goods are no humbug. Why will people be so skeptical. People ask me every day, “Can you do it?” My answer is, “Yes.” Why sir, I would not take five hundred dollars for what I’ve learned of your system.
If people would be more willing to join your class and get the system, we should have less accidents by that noblest of animals, the horse. When you were educating Lannan’s horse the other evening, a skeptic stood by my side. I said, “Pratt will drive that horse to-morrow.” ”