SELF-DEFEN'CE 69 



by the fighting herd at their centre for his 

 defence, and was able to watch the whole 

 battle until his people came out to the rescue. 



In breeding and fighting the Commandant 

 stallion is sole authority, but it has been noticed 

 that some wise old mare usually decides the 

 time for moving and leads the marches. 



It is said that a foal is able to keep with the 

 travelling herd from the day of birth. It is 

 said that the foal will outlast a hard day's 

 journey — and dies afterwards. To what ex- 

 tent this may be true I have no means of 

 knowing, but I believe that the leggy foal does 

 keep up with a moving herd. It is one more 

 bit of evidence as to the desperate emergencies 

 of drought or storm survived by the ancient 

 herds. 



IV. SELF-DEFENCE. 



There is a general belief among horse that 

 man is vicious. If he were a httle more inteih- 

 gent we could explain to the horse that appear- 

 ances are deceptive, and that we are not really 

 vicious vv'hen we throw things at each other 

 such as shells, torpedoes and bombs, or lay 

 mines to blow each other to pieces on land or 

 sea. As it is, he bases his belief that we are 

 vicious upon our methods of dealing with him, 

 in the use for example, of bearing reins, of 



