Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-05-28

| III III ceeufng lurtner II may
| -1E be remarked that one
| Of the gentlemen, who
Is now old, acknowL
edged that he a
| talked horse" every year. week and almost
every day of his life for the last fortyve years,
and that he had not exhausted the subject vet
1t is wearisome subject, no doubt. to the poor
| fellow who does not know or care ANYTHING
about horses-whose knowledge of them, in
fact, does not extend beyond the observatio ms
| he has made on a street car-but to the horse
lover the subject is more inexhnnstible than an
other. The topic that ranks next is dogs, but
horses are far more engrossiug to the human
mind than dogs ever are.
The question Of the color of horses feet
| caused the old gentleman Just alluded to TO
| say:
POPULAR sUpERsrIrIoNs.
Gas for that assertion about q horses feet
| which runs:
T One white foot-buy horse;
Three white feet-fook well about him;
-Four white feet-go without him
| why, it is simply nonsense. Some of the
| very best horses have had white stockings Old
Boston, king of the turf half century ago,
| and Lexington both had white feet. and most
OF Lexington's descendants are similarly
| marked The calico horse too, which is gen.
orally supposed to be selected for circus acting,
because Of the oddity of his appearance. is
! really chosen by the man who trains trick
norses because he is gentle and intelligent
There are countless popular superstitions about
| the color of horses. 1t always used to be said
| that black horse cannot stand heat and there
are people who believe it now, but the inhabit-
| ants OF Africa are black for the very purpose of
standing intense heat, and q black horse suffers
ana sta
horses in like manner, il has been held. cannot
stand cold, but polar bears are white and they
manage to hive comfortably in the snow, and so
| can a white horse"
The tradition that red-headed woman and a
Wmte morse follow one another on the road or in
| the street Is, of course, entirely without auy
foundation in fact, and is due doubtless to mere
coincidence. 1t will be noticed, however. that
| nowadays you will never see a red-headed
woman riding or driving white horse She
knows that she would be the subject of a hun
dred jokes and she chooses a horse of different
color if possible.
PHysroaNoMy OF HORSES.
The conversation turned upon the physiog-
nomy of horses, and all agreed that there is
great deal in it, just as there is in the physiog-
| nomy Of dogs or men. If horse is broad and
full between the eyes he Is supposed to have
superior sense and to be easily trained, whereas
bullying forehead or a ''dish face" are evil
| dences of stupidity or stubbornness A fiery
horse always has fiery eye. and vicious horse
gives you warning by his expression of counte-
| nance that he will bite or kick if he gets a
| chance. There can be no doubt that horses.
usually 30 gentle and traetable have been found
| to be on occasions veritabie wild beasts. There
are some interesting accounts under this head
which are OF record.
| In the steppes Of Russia, where wolves abound
and where the horses lead a wild life and have TO
shift for themselves, it is said that a Young colt
will sometimes be made SO furious by the perse-
cution OF mis- enemies that he will rush mildly
| among drove of wolves and bite and strike
until he has slaughtered q large number Of
them. These horses are exceptionally fierce,
rendered 30. it is supposed largely by the ex.
IRENE variations in the climate. At one time Of
the year they suffer from the intense heat of a
tropical sun and at another they live among
raging snow storms and extreme cold.
HORSES SOMETIMES co MAD.
There are number of stories about the fury
| Of horses on the battlefield, and occasionally
they seem to go mad. One instance Of this was
an Arabian horse at Balakiava, which rushed at
an English soldier who happened to be drawing
| water, seized him in his mouth and threw him
down, and then, kneeling upon him. tore at his
breast and actually bit off his hand, BEFORE this
terror could be subdued he bit off another SOL
diers finger and seriously injured the veterinary
surgeon CT the regiment. There was no battle
In progress on this occasion, but it is highly
probable that a military life and the attendant
excitement had driven the horse crazy.
There was a case similar to the above in uli-
| nois some years ago. Mr.. Hannah Of Peoria
suddenly found his horse, usually a very gentle
one, acting In q very strange manner "He
would lay hold" said the gentleman who gave
the account, with his teeth Of everything that
! rier would q rat. While the gentleman was
| watching the horse reached into pig pen and
| seizing hold Of one of its inmates, threw IL M
| into the air This strange feat he repeated two
or three times; then, setting his teeth in the
| body of the pig, he crushed it to the earth,
gnawing and mangling the body in the most
| frightful manner. The horse then took q $50
| ond pig, served it in 9 similar manner and then
tossed calf into the air as easily q cat would
mouse. The owner immediately sent for
popular farrier, but when he arrived the horse
| was more quiet, whereupon the farrier VEN
tured into the Enclosure and called the horse to
him. The animal came up apparently very do
| cile, but the moment he was within reach he
| seized the man violently by the shoulders,
| threw him forcibly with his face on the ground,
| to crush and gnaw him, the animals eyes mean
time becoming CLASSY with rage" The owner
rescued the farrier, but the horse had to be
| shot. 1t was clearly case Of insanity.
AFFECTION IN HoRsEa
Do horses really care for human beings? Il
Is probable that no two horsemen will answer
in the same way. Some maintain that they are
affectionate and love their masters and Others
| are equally certain that they only care for one
| another. Philip Gilbert Hamerton, who pro-
fesses to have made q scientific Investigation on
this point, declares that horses have no SYM
Pathy for people and that they do not love their
masters, but there are plenty Of intelligent peo-
pie OF experience who assert to the contrary.
However this may be, there IL no doubt about
their strong attachment to each other and
their intelligence in assisting one another Il IL
Illustrated by one Of the most remarkable horse
stories on record. It must be told in the Ian
guage Of the narrator:
"a gentleman Possessed Of span Of sprightiy
| little horses, which, whether in the stable, in
| the field or In harness. were always together.
proceeded to Lake Minnetoska on . fishing ex.
| cursion- Taking them from the carriage he tied
them some rods apart, near the lake shore, and
| left them TO feed Repairing to shanty near
by the gentleman threw himself upon the door
with the intention Of DOING away the time
which would slapse before the return of the
6shing party engaged on the lake. But abort
time passed before the sound Of horse's feet
aroused bis attention and moment after one
| OF the horses appeared at the shanty door, The
| animal put his head in, gave loud neigh end
then, IN slow gsllop, but evidently under
great excitement, returned toward the spot
where he and his comDanion n few rnor,snxa