, 1896-11-24
HORSE SENSE.
Stories OF Equine Intelligence by an
Observing Country Doctor.

whenever Called-rain or shine, heat or
cold. night or day; sometimes. perhaps,
leisurely. but often as quickly as posi-
BILE. Through all this his horse and
himself share together the joys and the
sCrrows of the road. 1t is not strange,
therefore. that an attachment of more
than ordinary intensity often springs
up between them, during which the
nan notes the almost human qualities
Of the horse.
While quite a boy | knew a horse of
such humor and intelligence that he
gave a high opinion of horses in gem
eial. Somehow the tricks of old Ball
led me to consider horses as almost
akin to human beings. and have al
ways talked to them and treated them
accordingly. Ball. a fine animal be-
longing to my uncle. who lived on a
farm adjoining ours. was a sorreI horse
of good size and especially fine head.
with heavy neck and shoulders. He
had done a great deal of farm work in
his time, but was now too old for any,
thing but occasional light service; so
he usually had the range of a pasture
in front of the house that reached I'D
to the yard fence. There were cattle
and sheep in the same pasture.
Bail was noted for his cunning and
clever tricks. such as opening gates
and doors, pulling down bars and the
1ika- hIl. No ono ctbcnaataJ h;r, 90 ,1,,
ing practical jokes on sheep when one
after another was found on the wrong
side of the fence. 1t was by his antics
and evident delight whenever a sheep
was 50 found that he attracted atten-
ton. a watch was instituted, and soon,
when Ball thought no one saw him, he
slyly picked mp a sheep by the wool
with his teeth and dropped it over the
fence! Then, going away some dis
tance, he a~nXiously waited, evidently
watching for some one to come out of
the house. AS soon as he saw that the
sheep was discovered he gave a snort
and began to run and kick up his heels
with delight.
Sometimes he would steal articles
and hide them, evidently just for the
fun of the thing. One day a heavy
maui. such as is used for splitting rails
and wood. was left so near the fence
that he GOULD reach it. When he sup
posed that no one saw him he took the
maui up with his teeth. carried it to
the further side of the field, carefully
hid it behind the stump of a tree. and
then watched the result. This time he
had been seen carrying the maui away.
so the men made great ado, pretending
to be hunting for it, looking in the
fence corners and behind stumps. while
Ball was running, snorting and kick
ing up his heels with unbounded de-
light. Whenever they approached the
maui he tried to attract their atten-
ton to some other point.
While | have been engaged in the
practice of medicine my horses have
had no opportunity to perform tricks
like these, but nan times | have seen
exhibitions Of intelligence Int humor
NJ 1900 maj ~" oh' 'ih Jus
day my horse John was driven up to
a post in front of a desolate looking
farm house, about fourteen miles from
home. There was not a tree or object
of any kind to break the cold raw
wind, so | covered John with his
blanket, and on top of this threw a
buffalo robe, tucking it well under the
harness lest the wind should blow it
off. But in my care with the blanket
and robe, | forgot to fasten John to
the post. After l had been inside a
few minutes the lady Of the house,
loking through the window, cried out:
Doctor. there goes you horse!"
hastened to the door, only to see
John and the buggy making good time
homeward, already beyond reach OF
my voice. Pretty soon, however, John
turned from the road, made a large cir
cult, something more than 100 yards in
diameter, over the smooth prairie, and
came back to the post again, where he
shook his head often n pranced about
to show how intensely he enjoyed the
joke. To me he said, as plainly as a
horse could say it:
Now. didn't | fool you nicely? You
thought I was going back without you.
Why. 1 was only playing a practical
joke to show how careless you were
not to tie my halter. OF course, l
would not have left you out here
alone"
have known many horses that
showed a good degree of ihumor as we'll
as intelligence, but for good sense
think Frank was a little superior to
any other. He was 7 years old when l
traded for him, and he had a bad rep
utation for running away; but he was a
pround horse, held his head well up.
and was a high stopper. Moreover. he
had an intelligent look. and l liked
him. Upon inquiry l found that his
first runaway was no much to his dis
credit. A drunken driver had forced
him to cross a rickety culvert and al
lowed him to run the wheels off the
plank at one end and upset the buggy,
at which he became frightened by any
unusual noise and confusion behind
him.