Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1897-05-18
REAL HORSE SENSE.
STORIES OF EQUINE INTELLIGENCE
BY A COUNTRY DOCTOR.

BY a COUNTRY DOCTOR.
ms Expsrss.os eAows Thas HSesss Have
ssenss d H1nor and Love Fun-IrisAs
Played In the Meadow BY Old Rail-
Hrakk and the Broken Rein.
The country doctsr 10 expected 10 60
whenever called-rain or shine, heat or
cold, night or day; sometimes, perhaps,
leisurely, but often as quickly ~ posi-
BILE. Through all this his horse and
himself are constant companions and
share together the joys and the eosrows
of the road. It 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 a boy knew horse Of
such humor and intelligence that he
gave me q high opinion Of horses in
general Somehow the tricks Of old Ball
led me to consider horses a. almost Of
kin to human beings, and I have always
talked to them and treated them &C
cordingly. Ball, fine animal belong
ing to my uncle, who lived ON a farm
adjoining ours, was q sorrel horse of
good size and especially fine head. with
heavy neck and shoulders. He had done
q great deal Of farm work in his time,
but was now too old for anything but
occasional light service, 20 he usually
had the range Of pasture in front Of
the house, that reached up to the yard
fence. There were cattle and sheen 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,
practical jokes on sheep when one after
another was found on the wrong side
Of the fence. It 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 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 q heavy
maui, such as is used for splitting rails
and wood, was left SO near the fence
that he could reach it When he SUD-
posed that no one saw him, he took the
maui up with his teeth, carried it to
the farther side of the field, carefully
hid it behind the stump Of q 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 I have been engaged in the
practice Of medicine my horses have
had no opportunity to perform tricks
like these, but many times I have seen
exhibitions of intelligence and bumor
no less marked.
have known many horses that show
ed q good degree of humor as we'll as in.
telligence, but for good sense think
Frank was little superior to any 9TH
er. He was years old when I traded
for him.
When he first came into my possess
sion, he had the habit of frequently
throwing his head mp, and, az his bride
was somewhat loose, the brow band
would sometimes lodge upon his ear.
Whenever this happened would ston
him, get out OF the buggy and replace
it He soon learned to throw the band
up whenever he would like to stop and
be petted little. I might have pre-
vented this at once by making the bri-
die fit better, but it occurred to me that,
with this beginning, I might soon teach
him to stop when anything else got
wrong, and this did, so that the least
dlsarrangement of the harness would
cause him to stop and wait to have it
fixed. Sometimes, however, he would
stop when the trouble was not. in INV
opinion, sufficient to warrant 80 can
tious q procedure.
One day, as was driving along ut a
slow trot over smooth, lonesome road
had dropped the reins over the bueey
apron and was becoming quite inter
ested in the reading Of q newspaper
when Frank suddenly stopped. I looked
all around and over him, but could zee
nothing wrong, SO said, with some
emphasis, Get up. Franki" But he
still stood and kept throwing his head
up and down. As I sat there with the
paper in my hand looked again, and
especially to the bride, but saw nothing
wrong: now. without taking up the
reins, took the whip from its socket and.
giving him . sharp cut, repeated my