Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-04-20
HORSE A STUPID ANIMAL.
Coward and Can Entertain Only On
Idea at Time.


To successfully handle and safely use
horses, proper appreciation of their
mental and moral attributes is vitality
necessary.
Imprimis, the horseis a coward-nature
made him so-an unreasoning coward
who fears everythingawith which he is
unfamiliar; nothing, however horrible
to which association has accustomed
him; creature given over to sudden and
uncomfortable panics, and in their
paroxysms stopping at no injury to self
or to those who cherish him. His over
pOwering instinct in such cases is flight :.
frequently, but not always, associated
with a determination to clear himself
from any hampering surroundings. He
has no feelings of revenge, unless trained
to cunning by the abuse or the mistakes
of mankind, and, when these prevail
he rarely wreaks his vengeance upon any
particular individual, but upon humanity
in general, with no regard for age or
sex.
Cowardice manifests itself in equine
connection in many ways-with one il
is terror of the dark, which will make
him kick his stall all night, doing him
self possibly serious injury, yet, in nine
cases out of ten. light left in the stable
will so completely reassure him that he
will not lift a foot. Another is alarmed
at blowing paper, yet stands yawning
while cannon are fired III mis- face. 1t is
this very attribute of cowardice which
enables us to handle the animal as we
do; to train him to our will and for our
purpose; which makes him, once he is
| thoroughly deceived and inundated, the
useful servant we find him; not a willing
slave, but one who fears again to tempt
reprisals which have always proved eff
fective. and who labors for us because
he has been made to do so and fears to
rebel.
The horse is an animal of one idea
his brain can concentrate itself upon but
one thing at q time. 1t is this peculiar
| ity which renders it so vitality important
that in training him we should have his
whole attention-if we do not keep it,
| out work is void.
You may act as chambermaid, valet
| and pedicure to q horse for twenty years.
and, if you do not speak to him he will
| not know you from total stranger.
Sense of smell in the horse does not
seem to warn him against his human
enemies, although it does against all 9th
er foes. You may beat your horse nearly
to death today and tomorrow, or in
twenty minutes, he will be as fearless of
| you as of any other biped; just as you
| may care for him for twenty years and
he will not know you from a stranger
| 1t is probable that all mankind are so
repugnant to him, and their aroma so in
variably unpleasant, that he schools
himself to disregard this sense. The
average plains pony is said to be in hor-
ror of the scent of an Indian (and in
this he may not be isolated, yet an In
| dian pony is equally distrustful of the
white man, and both animals, until their
spirits are quite broken, are in terror Of
any human being, through the bitter ex-
| perience of breaking which has demon
strated that man is fepd incarnate and
cruel brute where the handling of
| their kind is concerned. In these cases
smell has seemed the only sense involved,
since no words are spoken in handling Il
wild horse, and sight has but little TO do
with it, as the effect is the same when
the canvas or leather blind" is pulled
over his eye.
That the horse is as sensitive to pain
as we have been taught from countless
| circumstances would seem unlikely.
Even after the most severe operations he
viii usually start eating as if nothing
were wrong-at least at first, however
| feverishness or subsequent pain (as from
firing, blistering, etc.) may affect him.
| F. NJ. Ware in Outing.