The Portland daily press., 1895-08-12
ATRUSTY ANIMAL.
Very Few Horses Are Vicious and Mean
by Nature.
From the Boston Transcript. !

H%OotOA
The man who, in one of the papers,
has protested against the agitation
against overhead checks, binders, &C.,
on horses, on the ground that such guards
are needed because "there never was
horse that would not play mean trick
on man if be could, . has simply made
an exhibition of his ignorance of horses.
There are some Of us who fancy that we
know horses pretty we'll, and who have
the absolute knowledge of experience to
sustain us in the opinion that not only
is tricky horse rare thing but that
it is in ninety mine cases out of a hun
dred the product of abuse. A thorough,
practical "horse man. once told the
writer that ''a fractions horse was al
ways made by fractions man. The
writer himself had the advantage, all
through his youth, of daily and constant
association with horses. Every day of his
life he rode or drove horses, almost from
infancy. They were of several genera
tions and of all sorts. There were some
times six or eight in the paternal stable,
and in all those years there was but one
horse which by any stretching of terms
could be called "trieky''-and there were
extenuating circumstances in her case.
The nature of the horse, as every real
and Intelligent student of the horse
knows is essentially honest, open and
confiding 1t is unrivalled among ami
mails in this characteristic, except by GER
tain breeds of dogs. Even the honest OK
is capable of kick, or thrust of the
horn generally the result of ignorance or
want of intelligence rather than design)
at unexpected moments; but the horse
has no natural propensity to any form
of treachery. The always ell-treated
and trusted horse may be depended upon.
Nevertheless, the horse is very apt to re-
| feet the characteristics of he people he
| lives with or has lived with. Some of
our New England people have the reputa-
| tion abroad of being tricky. 1.-THE
writer has been told in the west that a
| Yankee IS word out there will not stand
| Tor a moment against that OF German
or Scandinavian. Some good city men
who have bought country places, and
have had dealings of various sorts with
the people about them, have told aston
shing and incredible stories of their per-
| fidy in ordinary business transactions.
The marketmen all tell us that the aver
age New England farmer will cheat appar-
entity for the fun of CHEATING. when he
might make great deal of money by
l "
m ission men. OF course, it will not do
to believe all these tales. The Yankee
race the pick of all creation, is not dis
honest. But there kmay be a good many
dishonest men mixed up among the hon
est ones-enough, perhaps, to educate a
good many horses ar in trickiness who
would otherwise be perfectly trustworthy.
| 1t is a safe wager that vast majority of
cases of thickness in horses could be
traced to human influence, if the history
of the horses could only be known.
| Perhaps good deal of the writer's per-
sonal love for horses is traceable back to
single incident of his early childhood,
At the age of six he once mounted old
Rosy (the term "old'' at that time was
merely mere one of endearment, for the mare
was not as old as the boy) to ride to a
neighbours. The mare was fat and sleek,
and SO was the boy; her back was so
round that her spine was little hollow
instead of projection. On this glossy,
round back was no saddle, not even
blanket; the fat little boys short legs
simply stuck out into the air on either
side. The greater part of the journey
had been achieved, and the boy and mare
were returning homeward, when, in
going down solpe, Rosy inadvertently
began to trot, and the boy, having no
kind of anchorage, began to slide for
ward upon the tnares neck Upon that
| ne leu go Uno AT1QlS, uuSS0u Uuo H6Ck. anu
screamed Not knowing quite what this
performance meant, Rosy continued to
| frot placidly down the hill, and the boy
continued to slide Doubtless she thought
it was some new kind of boys play. At
last he slid clear over her head, and
rolled upon the ground. The mare must
have eased the fall for him by ducking
her neck slowly, and she certainly kept
her feet. entirely clear.of him. He simply
rolled into the ditch by the side of the
road, quite unhurt, but boo o-hooing Justify.
:, And then comes the pretty part OF the
story The young mare did not go on
ten steps after the small boysrolled of. her
neck, but stopped, turned back, came
down to the screaming child, nosed him
affectionately, and, as he will swear to
his dying day comforted him as best she
could She showed him that the bride
reins lwere hanging down within his
reach. Under such an influence the boy
of six-which is an age, it is scarcely
needful to say, when few Boston boys are
| intrusted with the management of a
horse-stopped weeping, got up, tookihold
of the bride and refectingly led the mare
| home.
This occurrence happened when the
writer was at a very ilnpressionable age.
Many subsequent experiences have con-
yinced him Of the''essential benevolence of
the horse kind; but no horse will ever
occupy in his heart the place that is occu-
pied by old Rosy, who treated him so
| tordorlv and JOvinolv