1172 iRvRAL School Leaflet 



As a part of his education a child ought to consider the contribution that 

 horses make to human Hves. The class should consider the diflerent 

 uses made of horses at the present time. This will awaken a good deal 

 of thought. The next consideration should be the attitude of mankind 

 to this contribution — what is done for horses in return for their help- 

 fulness. The children might write an autobiography of one of the horses 

 at their homes; nearly all school children have read Black Beauty, and 

 it will interest them to do this. They can learn from their fathers some 

 of the facts relating to the lives of their horses — facts that they have 

 never known although the horses may have been on the farm for some 

 years. In the autobiographies they might have the horses tell where 

 they were bom, how many masters they have had, what work has been 

 given them to do, what kind of care, housing, and food have been pro- 

 vided for them, about illnesses they have had, how these illnesses were 

 treated, what they expect in looking forward to old age, what special 

 kindnesses have been received, and the like. Work of this kind will lead 

 to more interest in the horse than, perhaps, any class exercise. 



No lesson in the following pages will lead the children to keener obser- 

 vation of horses than that on the proportions of the horse. Some teachers 

 have had the measuring instrument for this lesson made at school, and 

 this is valuable handwork. After the children have learned to use this 

 instrument, they might enjoy taking turns in using it to measure the 

 horses at their homes or at some other farm in the neighborhood where 

 they are acquainted. Careful records should be kept of the proportions 

 of the different horses measured. In this way it will be possible to 

 determine fairly closely the best-proportioned horse in the neighborhood, 

 and the horses that most nearly approach this one. It would also be 

 valuable, once this information is obtained, to know more about the 

 horses that are most nearly perfect in form, that is, to find out some- 

 thing of their past history, their value, whether they are in good con- 

 dition, something about the care that is taken of them, and like matters 

 of interest. It will usually be found that good proportion is directly 

 connected with good breeding . 



In connection with the lesson on feeding the horse, the children should 

 bring to school samples of some of the different kinds of feed given to 

 horses on their farms. These samples can be neatly arranged so that 

 all the children can see them, and a discussion of feeds will then have 

 a greater interest. 



Last year the editors of this leaflet offered to send a book about horses 

 as a reward to the school that would prepare the best notebook on the 

 horse and send it to the College by May i . They were exceedingly pleased 

 with the work that w?.s received. Many schools collected material 



