Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-01-23
STORIES ABOUT HORSES.
Remarkable Traits of Equine Intelligence
Observed by Bob Burdette.

= OhiES A0oOI TonSCOs
Remarkable Traits of Equine Intelligence
Observed by Bob Burdette.
A writer in Harper's Magazine say:
that a horse when tied in the stable
should always be kept SO that he mas
see the passers-by and the other horses
and thus amuse and occupy himself
That is good plan, but I think mine is
still better. / own one of those intelll'
gent horses myself. l have never no
ticed him politely passing hay to the
other horses in the sta bic, but possibly
that is because there are no other
horses. l have frequently observed him
dividing his oats with the hens, which
is much the same thing. And he has
the hay fever, just like folks" Yes.
indeed But 1 was going to speak about
making provisions for his hours in the
! stable. When he is to be left alone any
length of time, we always place the
! morning paper, copy Of the Nation
and late magazine or two in his feed
! box, and he looks over them with great
! interest. On one occasion he so plainly
resented my taking away a late
! magazine, a number containing some
wonderful stories about real dogs
| which [ wished to show the
terra Gotta pug, that L looked to see
what article so deeply interested the
noble animal. [ found he was in the
midst OF a bright sketch of travel in the
''Feed-ye islands," Don't tell me a
horse hasn't human intelligence. The
fact is, the people who sneer at these
stories of the remarkable intelligence
: of vol FOL
people, who know nothing about ami
mails. The more people study their
| brute companions, the more clearly and
correctly do they understand, neigh.
| comprehend them. Look at the wild
Indian; what he doesn't know about
horses isn't worth knowing. And he be-
lieves his horse will go to Heaven with
him. Whether the horse believes that
the Indian will go to Heaven or not, we
have no means as yet of ascertaining.
This horse of mine, l am confident, has
opinions on the subject, because one of
his favorite books is BARNS n Oats on
Timothy" He is, however. l grieve to
say, heartless sort of brute: the sound
Of whoa never moves him. Like
all well-bred horses, he has a
certain sense of humor, and one
day, when my little boy quoted, in his
presence, the line: GLOW tall was Alex
ander, pap the intelligent animal i'm
mediately replied: BOX STALL" and
burst into a horse laugh. Upon one oc-
casion, when every thing on the road
had passed US, | overheard him saying
to himself, slowly: 1T pace to go slow"
He is horse of cOntented disposition.
although sorrow has left her traces along
his ribs. | had to get the rest of the
harness myself. Like all intelligent
horses, he likes to be amused and played
with. l used to play with my horses a
great deal, to keep them from becoming
low-spirited and homesick. But l
haven't for a long while. now. Last
time | had any fun with horse he was
q new one. / noticed that he seemed
out of tune with his environment. He
wore his ears fat back on his neck, and
had his eyes rolled back and held in
place with white folds of the same
He looked about as companionable
and pleasant as Umatilla cayuse.
SO [ thought ! would go in and brisk
him up with q little game. He didn't
seem to understand Halma or Parchesi,
nor Fox and Geese. as the story-book
horses do, 50 | proposed game of romps
as something more suited to his I'M
cultured mind. I smote him q resound-
ing thwack under the bosom, after the
manner of horsemen, and cried gaily:
Come up and come Overt He did both,
at once. got down and went under
My man, who was bedding strawberries
on the sunny side of the barn, said if I
had told him l was going to come out of
that window he would have left it open.
Still it made great difference. It
was a cheap window, anyhow; I don't
suppose the whole thing cost more than
eighty-seven cents, glass and all.
Eth? You say ''some o. these wonder
full stories about horses are hard to be-
lieve? Nonsense; you get horse or
dog of your own. In six weeks you'll
believe any thing you tell about either
of them. But will other people? Well,
yes; that is, they will believe as much
of your story as you believe of theirs;
what more do you want?-Burdette, in
Brooklyn Eagle.