to move sideways and backwards; in fact, to drill. Out here
no one thinks much of it. But in Germany, where everyone goes through
military riding schools, they do. The Germans are the best horse-trainers
in the world; and the big German circus-proprietors have men
to do all their business for them, while they just attend to the horses."

"How long does it take to turn out a school horse?"

"Well, Chiarini was the best trainer out here, and he used to take
two years to get a horse to his satisfaction. For school horses, you must
have thoroughbreds, because their appearance is half their success.
We had a New Zealand thoroughbred that had raced, and was turning out
a splendid school horse, and he got burnt after costing a year's training.
That's the luck of the game, you know. You keep at it year after year,
and sometimes they die, and sometimes they get crippled --
it's all in the luck of the game. You may give fifty pounds for a horse,
and find that he can never get over his fear of the elephant, while you
give ten pounds for another, and find him a ready-made performer almost."

We passed out through the ghostly circus and the menagerie tent
down to the stable tent. There, among a lot of others,
a tranquil-looking animal was munching some feed, while in front of him
hung a placard, "Tiger Horse".

"That's a new sort! What is he, ring, trick, or school horse?"

"Well, he's a class by himself. I suppose you'd call him a ring horse.
That's the horse that the tiger rides on."

"Did it take him long to learn that?"