The Horse, as Comrade and Friend 



and in making him think habitually, you 

 stimulate his brain power and increase his 

 intelligence. In his instinctive defences, no 

 animal's brain is quicker to act than that of the 

 horse. It is a splendid instrument for his own 

 purposes, but you must learn how to use it 

 for yours. Many think the horse is stupid. 

 He is not. Perfect, each one of his senses is 

 probably far keener than yours. Sight, on 

 the plains he will pick up a sohtary horse 

 feeding, or a troop of horses, long before you 

 have any suspicion of their whereabouts. 

 Hearing, he will catch a trot, gallop, footpace 

 or neigh, when you can hear nothing. Taste, 

 who so clean feeding as the horse ? Smell, he 

 distinguishes thousands of nuances you know 

 nothing of, and deduces confidence or distrust 

 from a sniff, in a manner you cannot even 

 conceive. One smeU of you is sufficient. If 

 he passes you, you are all right. Feeling, that 

 nose of his is a living wonder, it is as delicate 

 in its sense of touch as the tips of your fingers ; 

 but, in feeling, the horse has undergone a 

 special development of nerves which has helped 

 in the survival of his species. Sensitive to the 

 least prick, yet if wounded in the most horrible 

 manner or with even a broken limb, the nerves 

 of the horse so quickly cease to telegraph the 

 damage to the brain, that he is able to get 

 away from the danger spot at fuU speed, and to 

 sustain a gaUop to safety in the herd maybe of 



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