72 RACE MEMORIES 



the pony was driven to self-defence on pain of 

 a violent death. These race memories take 

 the form of habits, and explain the various 

 methods by which the horse defends himself 

 from human enemies. 



Pawing, for example, is the subject of many 

 theories. Not that the habit really needs 

 explanation, because we fidget ourselves when 

 we have nothing better to do. Yet when a 

 horse paws the water at any drinking place, the 

 learned are apt to say he does it to clear away 

 the mud. I doubt if any horse is such a fool. 

 Other observers note that the action is really 

 stamping, a motion of race-memory dating 

 from the time when thin ice had to be tested 

 to see if a frozen river could be safely crossed. 

 That sounds most reasonable, until one wonders 

 dimly how it accounts for either pawing or 

 stamping on dry ground. 



If then the fidgets must be explained by any 

 theory of race memor}^, one would suppose that 

 the gestures used in killing snakes or in scraping 

 through snow to get grass might very well have 

 come down through the ages. I think though 

 that if I had four hoofs and an irritable temper, 

 I might be allowed to indulge in cow-kicking or 

 striking without my symptoms being used as a 

 pretext for abusing my dead ancestors. 



