John Solomon Rarey was one of the nineteenth century horse whisperers, an important figure in the rehabilitation of abused and vicious horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

s during the 1850s. Originally from Groveport, Ohio

Groveport, Ohio

Groveport is a City in Franklin County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,363 at the 2010 census.Groveport was the hometown of John Solomon Rarey, a 19th century horse whisperer, and developer of the Rarey technique for rehabilitating horses...

, Rarey trained his first horse at the age of twelve. (His method of rehabilitating horses is discussed in the article entitled Rarey technique

Rarey technique

The Rarey technique is a method of calming horses that have become vicious and fearful of humans due to abusive handling or other traumatic events...

.)

An excerpt from The Horse Whisperer

The Horse Whisperer

The Horse Whisperer is a 1998 American drama film directed by and starring Robert Redford, based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Nicholas Evans...

by Nicholas Evans

Nicholas Evans

Nicholas Evans is an English journalist, screenwriter television and film producer and novelist. Evans was born at in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, and educated at Bromsgrove School but before studying at Oxford University, he served in Africa with the charity Voluntary Service Overseas...

:

Word of his gift spread and in 1858 he was summoned to Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 to calm a horse of Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

. The Queen and her entourage watched astonished as Rarey put his hands on the animal and laid it down on the ground before them. Then he lay down beside it and rested his head on its hooves. The queen chuckled with delight and gave Rarey a hundred dollars. He was a modest, quiet man, but now he was famous and the press wanted more. The call went out to find the most ferocious horse in all England.

The horse they found was Cruiser, a horse kept for breeding

Animal husbandry

Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock.- History :Animal husbandry has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals....

 but said to be the fiercest horse ever seen.

Nicholas Evans writes:

Against all advice, Rarey let himself into the stable where no one else dared venture and shut the door. He emerged three hours later leading Cruiser, without his muzzle and gentle as a lamb

Domestic sheep

Sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...

. The owners were so impressed they gave him the horse. Rarey brought him back to Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, where Cruiser died on July 6, 1875, outliving his new master by a full nine years. Rarey left instructions for the care of Cruiser in his will. Upon Rarey's death, Cruiser's temper returned.

Rarey used Cruiser in three well-attended public demonstrations of horse-taming in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

in early January 1861.

External links

• Official Website - Maintained by his descendants, this site includes information about him as well as the complete text of his book, The Complete Horse Tamer.
• http://www.groveport.org/sections/about/rarey.asp