it only ruins him to whip him. But once he does a thing a few times,
and then won't do it, then you must whip him."

"What about trick horses?"

"A trick horse rolls a barrel, or lies down and goes to bed with the clown,
or fires a pistol -- does any trick like that. Some small circuses
make the same horses do both trick and ring work, but it isn't a good line.
A horse is all the better to have only one line of business --
same as a man."

"How do you teach them tricks?"

"Oh, it takes a long time and a lot of hard work and great patience.
Even to make a horse lie down when he's ordered takes a couple of months
sometimes. To make a horse lie down, you strap up one leg,
and then pull his head round; after a while he gets so tired
of the strained position that he lies down, after which
he learns to do it at command. If you want him to pick up a handkerchief,
you put a bit of carrot in it, and after a while they know
that you want them to pick it up -- but it takes a long time.
Then a strange hand in the ring will flurry them,
and if anything goes wrong, they get all abroad. A good active pony,
with a bit of Arab blood in him, is the best for tricks."

"What's a school horse?"

"Ah, that's a line of business that isn't appreciated enough out here.
On the Continent they think a lot of them. A school horse is one
that is taught to do passaging, to change his feet at command,