The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1890-08-07
The Horses Brain: A Rider
Study.

1t is stated tldC 1OuI HOuTS steep Oul
of the twenty-four are all that he re-
quires. The fact that he seems to
need but little sleep is brought for
ward to prove that he has little men
tai activity. He is generally, in
point of intelligence, compared I'M
favorably with the dog. We must
not forget, however, that the dog is
the companion of man, received into
the house, and accustomed from his
earliest years to the society of intel
ligent people. His mind has been
by this means developed, his mental
activity increased. And the cumula-
tive effect of heredity must not be
overlooked. 1t is an undoubted
fact that a certain amount of knoWl-
edge is transmitted from generation
to generation among what we are
pleased to call brute animals, For
| instance, even the calves of the pres
ent day are less afraid of railroad
train than the COWS were when rail
roads were first introduced The
dog has been in an atmosphere of
education for thousands of years, but
the horse has been left to the care OF
ignorant and brutal men, whose on
ly idea of enforcing obedience is by
means of a loud, harsh word, blow,
or a kick. When he is left in peace,
he is fastened generally with his
head to blank wall, where he can
see nothing to interest him. Some
times he must stand for long spaces
Of time in this way, the interminable,
colorless day being broken only by
the process of cleaning and his
three feeds. When his nervous ma
ture under this strain invents some
way of amusing himself, and making
time go little more rapidly, he is
roughly hidden to stand still, or is
forced to stop his little play by the
lash, and earns the title of vicious
brute. If a dog were subjected to
the same treatment, how long would
it be before he would require also
only four hours sleep by reason Of a
Glow mental activity" The Arabs
make companions of their horses,
and they get in return the services of
willing and intelligent friends. Most
horses have their viciousness thrust
upon them, and even a vicious horse
may be changed in nature by persist
ent and intelligent kindness. The
horse has always done more reason
ING than he has had credit for, and
it is usually because he refuses to be
a mere machine that he is punished.
If we do not understand his Continu-
al protest against this degradation,
it is only because we ourselves are
lacking in intelligent perception.
When he does not object to COW or
whole drove of COWS in the coun-
try, but SHES and almost refuses to
pass one in the city, it certainly
shows that he has the faculties Of
memory, conception, comparison,
Judgment, and reasoning. When he
passes a hundred street-Cars or wag-
ons drawn by horses without notice,
but shows unmistakable signs of fear
on approaching a Cable-car or a
wagon moving without visible means
of motion, does he not testify to his
grasp of the causal relation, and
show that he is as ready as man ever
has been to suspect the presence of
the Prince of Darkness wherever his
own intellect was unequal to the
problem Of explanation ?
Has he not a clear idea Of the
flight of time when he calls you out
to the stable to give him his dinner
Just at noon? How does he find his
mistress's house among whole
street full of houses precisely alike,
and never miss stopping at the right
door? AS to intelligence and power
of acquiring knowledge. there can
be no doubt, and that implies atten-
ton, and also an appreciation of the
laws Of association. The horse GER
tainly can distinguish some colors,
for he is afraid of red lantern when
he does not mind a white one. l
think there is no doubt that he also
distinguishes green from red. In
color knowledge he is not, then, so
far behind the Greeks of Homers
time as judged by Mr.. Gladstone.
He has certainly great power of in
vention. and of adaptation of means
to non existent ends. And he does
not fail in cunning, nor, think, in
sense of humor. The same inCite-
ments which move us to honorable
action stir his nature; the same dis
couragements lower his ambition,
and precisely the same treatment is
necessary with him as with children
in educating them. No more valu-
able normal school exists for a teach
er than the saddle, if she would be
successful with her human pupils,
for here. as is true often in schools,
the real teacher generally learns
quite as much from the pupil as he