The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-05-11
REAL HORSE SENSE.
STORIES OF EQUINE INTELLIGENCE
BY A COUNTRY DOCTOR.

Il
Sense of Bumor and Love Fun-Tricks
Played In the Meadow by Old Ball.
Frank and the Broken Rein.
The country doctor is expected to go
whenever called-rain or shine, heat or
cold, night or dag; sometimes, perhaps,
leisurely, but often as quickly as posi-
BILE. Through all this his horse and
himself are constant companions and
share together the joys and the sorrows
Of the road. 1t is not strange, therefore,
that an attachment of more than ordi-
nary intensity often springs up between
them, during which the man notes the
almost human qualities Of the horse.
While quite boy l knew horse of
such humor and intelligence that he
gave me a high opinion of horses in
general. Somehow the tricks of old Ball
led me to consider horses as almost of
kin to human beings, and / have always
talked to them and treated them ac-
rordingly. Ball, fine animal belong
ing to my uncle, who lived on farm
adjoining ours, was a sorrel 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 anything but
occasional light service, so he usually
had the range Ct pasture in front Of
the house, that reached up TO the yard
fence. There were cattle and sheep in
the same pasture.
Ball was noted for his cunning and
clever tricks. such as opening gates and
doors, pulling down bars and the like,
but no one suspected him of playing
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
so found that he attracted attention. A
watch was instituted, and soon, when
Ball thought no one saw him, he slyly
picked up sheep by the wool with his
teeth and dropped it over the fence
Then, going away some distance, he
anxiously 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 heavy
maui, such as is used for splitting rails
and wood, was left so near the fence
that he could reach it. When he sup
posed that no one saw him, he took the
| iol tn
the farther 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 kicking
up his heels with unbounded delight.
Whenever they approached the maui,
he tried to attract their attention to
some other point.
While / have been engaged in the
practice Of medicine my horses have
had 10 opportunity to perform tricks
like these, but many times have seen
exhibitions Of intelligence and humor
no less marked.
l have known many horses that show
ed good degree of humor as well as in
telligence, but for good sense l think
Frank was little superior to any 9th
er. He was years old when traded
for him.
When he first came into my posses
sion, he had the habit of frequently
throwing his head up, and, as his bride
was somewhat loose, the brow band
would sometimes lodge upon his ear.
Whenever this happened i would stop
him, get cut Of the buggy and replace
it. He soon learned TO throw the band
up whenever be would like TO stop and
be petted little. / might have pre-
vented this at once by making the bri-
die fit better, hut it occurred to me that,
with this Begin ing, l might soon teach
him TO stop when anything else got
wrong, and this did, SO that the least
disarrangement Of the harness would
cause him to stop and wait TO have it
fixed. Sometimes, however, be would
stop when the trouble was not, in my
opinion, sufficient to warrant so eau
tious procedure.
One day, as was driving along at
! slow trot over smooth, lonesome road
l had dropped the reins over the buggy
apron and was becoming quite inter
ested in the reading Of a newspaper
when Frank suddenly stopped. | looked
all around ard ever him, but could see
nothing wrong, so ! said, with some
emphasis, "Get W, Fraukv' But be
still stood ard kept throwing bis head
up and down. As | sat thcrc with the
paper in II Y hG,-d locked rrain, AID
especially to the lliGlc. bal saw rutirg
wrong nov, without g., iIg FL G
reirs, tee; tie whip irc'- Issccket ....l,
giving him "a sharp cDe eit"d ~
command "a r0attE -.--a, cselt 3
punishment rfttlct ..:, N.' ..ca, ,ui
still be wGu!a Let li-o, itir.fd. Ltt0
standing fen q ~ mCn.cGts tSli -
deep thcvett, lie t1tGCGl5 tl...sL o. he
right until the Nl,tl cn ,Eat s.Gc