The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1900-02-16
NO z
PLAYFUL HORSES.

OF horses, the most companionable
are doubtless Arabs. They have lived
for generations in the tents of their
masters, and have assimilated human
ways Of thonght. Blrbs and half
breed Arabs in Europe run the pure
Arabs very close in this respect. They
make noble frienls, bat on lower
level, as playmates for the lighter
hour, know no breed, says travel
Ter, that comes up to the Haf1iinger.
In the Tyrolese valley from which
they take their name | suppose
they live as much in the company of
their owners as do the Valvognian
COWS with theirs. But they are eN-
ported far and wide. An Austrian
baron, who buys them up and does
what he can to impart "style" and fine
manners to those queer-looking cobs,
has sold to the prince Of Wales. The
travelling carriages of Switzerland are
largely horsed by Haffiingers. In
that populous health resort, Meran,
they do nearly all the drarght work.
"Cob' is perhaps misnomer. They
are cobs in their low measurement
from the ground, but big horses as re-
CARDS girth, length Of body, and size of
hoof The heads are huge and very
plain.
Hafflingers have been compared with
hippotami and giant "sea horses and
with very good reason. Spiritually
they are described as "the dachshun-
| den of the stables because daXies are
"the wags of the kennel" 1t may be
that people have refused to take Sc
riousIy the oddly shaped horses and
the oddly shaped dogs, and that both
have thus come to look upon them
selves as good joke. Comicality sits
in the Hafflinger's little eye. He
laughs in his sleeve, just like daxie.
Both waddle in their gait, owing to
their absurdly short legs.
Haf1ingers ought to make the for
tune of any circus master. They Qike
daxies AGAIN. delight in playing tricks,
and will learn rough games, such as
schoolboys love, and will play them,
too, strictly according to rule. l have
watched two Hafflingers, with their
owner and his man, playing sort Of
hide and seek, hurrying and scurrying
about 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 understood that they
might kick or bite the man, who (be-
ing hidden, sought and found) failed
to run fast enough to "safe home"
One who was not quick enough saw
taken up by the waistcoat, shaken
gently, and dropped, kneeling,
ing, none the worse! The horses that
were playing were over twelve years
old. They relinquished the game
most reluctantly when their breathless
owner called "time!' and enforced his
meaning with fourishes of a formida-
BILE four in hand whip. Then these
mature but ''noble boys at play" rush
ed for each other-squealns like pigs
in articolo mortis. showing enormous
rows Of teeth, twisting around in sud-
den gyrations to lash out at each
other, one sometimes catching the
others hogged name or getting pinch
of his smooth coat in bite, but never
doing real mischief!
One of the two l speak Of taught a
little game to rider, and insisted on
playing it, to while away the tedium
of a three hours ascent at foot s pace.
The game on the horses part consisted
in catching the riders toe between his
teeth. 1t was the riders part to pre-
vent this. All the way up hill the
rider had the best of it. But, return
ing by the almost perpendicular track,
the Hafflinger gained an easy victory.
He did not squeeze the boot, but shook
It as you might shake 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 affections by
lavishly kissing with the tongue, like
dogs. They are extremely self-willed-
again trait in common with the dachs-
hund. Their PAGES are necessarily
show, but their surefootedness pro-
verb with Tyrolcse mountain guides
and drivers.