FROM THE PREFACE. THE art of training horses has, until within the last few years, been attended with much cruelty and bad management. The system known as Rarey's, though practised in this country for many years, was made popular by Mr. J. S. Rarey, to whom we willingly accord all the credit which is justly due him. His success has given a new impulse to the inventive minds of horsemen; and, like almost all other discoveries, the original is lost sight of in the improvements which follow it. The Rarey system is one purely of subjugation and exhaustion; the spirit of the animal is thus often broken.

On the contrary, our new system is one of education, embracing the practical portions of all the various systems known to man, from that of Sullivan the Irish whisperer, down to the more modern systems of the present day. The animal is first taught what is required of him, and, as soon as he is made to understand, he becomes a willing subject. To attempt to force him to do that which he does not comprehend, is to excite him to resistance, a circumstance always to be avoided; hence the many baulky, kicking, and otherwise unruly horses. The Rarey system requires a man of nerve and determination to handle a horse successfully, which requisites few men possess. Ours enables a boy fifteen or sixteen years of age to handle, and break to harness, the wildest animal. Strength and courage are not essential; but patience, perseverance, and kindness are required. The man who is void of patience cannot control and win the confidence of his horse. There is no other system known to man by which a horse can be trained to drive without bridle, bit, or reins, guided simply by motions of the whip.

This principle is so simple, that any intelligent person can practise it successfully on any intelligent horse. To make a horse trot honest is also part of our system, it being original with us. We have never known it fail. In March, 1865, I presented this subject to the consideration of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, and to the Philadelphia Riding Club, both of which institutions highly endorse it. Within the last year it has been greatly modified and improved, rendering it the most complete and practical system ever presented to the public.