The Winslow mail., 1900-04-05
PLAYFUL BREED OF HORSES.
The HafHinEcrs of the TyroI and
the Rough Game They
Play At.

Of horses the most companionable
are doubtless Arabs. They have lived
Tor generations in the tents of their
masters, and have assimilated human
ways of thought. Barbs and halfbred
Arabs in Europe run the pure Arabs
very close in this respect. They make
noble friends, but on lower level. as
playmates for their lighter hour, / know
nobreedthat comes up to the HafHinger.
In the Tyrolese valley from which they
take their name / suppose they live
as much in the company of their own
ers as do the Valvognian cows with
theirs. But they are exported far and
wide. An Austrian baron, who buys
them up and does what he can to i'm
part style" and fire manners TO these
queer-looking cobs, has sold two to the
prince of Wales. The travelling car
riages of Switzerland are largely
horsed by Haffiingers. In that populous
health resort. Meran, they do nearly
all the draught work. Cob" is per-
haps a misnomer. They are cobs in
their low measurement from the
ground, but big horses as regards girth,
length of body and size CT hoof. The
heads are huge and very plain.
Hafflingers have been compared with
hippopotami and giant ''sea horses -
and with very good reason. Spiritually
they are described as 1.-The dachshun-
den of the stables, because daxies are
'the ways of the kennel" 1t may be
that people have refused to take ssri-
ously the oddly shaped horses and the
oddly shaped dogs, and that both have
thus come to look upon themselves as
good joke COmicaIity sits in the
Hatfiinger's little eye. He laughs in his
sleeve, just like daxie. Both waddle
in their gait, owing to their absurdIy
short legs.
Haffiingers ought to make the for
tune of any circus manager. They
like daxies AGAIN. delight in playing
tricks, and will learn rough games,
such as schoolboys love. and will plav
them, too, strictly according to rule. L
have watched two Haff1ingers. with
their owner and his man, playing a
sort of hide and seek, hurrying and
scurrying about a cobble-paved yard
in pursuit of the men, Loyalty abiding
by the marks that meant ''safe home"
and never Furnishing player that had
not blundered They understand that
they might kick bite the man. who
(being hidden, sought and fOund) failed
to run fast enough to "safe home"
One who was not quick enough 1 saw
taken up by the waistcoat, shaken gem
tly and dropped, kneeling, none the
worse! The horses who were PLAYING
were over IL years old. They relin-
qulShed the game most reluctantly
when their breathless owner called
"Time!" and enforced his meaning
with fiourishes of a formidable four
finland whip. Then these mature but
noble boys at play" rushed for each
other-squealing like pigs in articolo
mortis, showing enormous rows of
teeth, twisting around in sudden gy-
rations to lash out at each other, one
sometimes catching the others hogged
name or getting a pinch of his smooth
coat in bite, but never doing real mis-
chief
One of the two | speak of taught a
little game to a rider, and insisted on
playing it, to while away the tedium of
a three-hours' ascent at a foots pace.
The game on the horses part consist
ed in catching the riders toe between
his teeth. 1t was the riders part to
prevent this. All the way up hill the |
rider had the best of it. But, re turning
by the almost perpendicular track, the
Haffiinger gained an easy victory. He
did not squeeze the boot, but shook
it as you might shake a friends hand
heartily, not roughly-and for the re-
mainder of the road he rested on his
laurels, playing no more that day.
Hafflingers show their affection by
lavishly kissing with the tongue, like
dogs. They are extremely self-willed
again a trait in common with the
dachshund. Their PAGES are necessar-
lily slow, but their staying power is
enormous and their surefootedness
proverb with Tyrolese mountain guides
and drivers,-London News.