The Horse, as Comrade and Friend 



many miles in a condition which is almost 

 unbeUevable. No doubt this capacity for 

 immense and sustained effort, when grievously 

 maimed, has stood the horse's ancestors in 

 good stead in the far-away days when they 

 ran wild, the prey of whatever carnivora could 

 catch them. 



No, the horse is not by any means stupid. 

 None of the higher mammalia are stupid. 

 In all matters affecting their existence, the 

 quality of their brain power is probably as 

 fine as your own. The brains of different 

 species, in the course of evolution, have been 

 developed in different directions. In the case 

 of each species its senses and brain have been 

 developed to extreme brilhancy of action, in 

 all matters vital to its existence, by the con- 

 tinual excision of the individuals amongst its 

 ancestors who have been the less fit. The 

 weaker and less artful in attack ; the less 

 cunning in defence ; the less knowledgeable in 

 matters of food, have been the earher cut off 

 in life, and have had fewer opportunities of 

 propagating their kind. In a state of nature, 

 it is the brainier individuals, who, on the long 

 average, leave the more descendants. Those 

 who have encountered animal brain work in a 

 state of nature, know how splendid it can be. 

 Those who only know horses, cattle and sheep, 

 in small enclosures, cannot even guess what 

 it means. The horse's brain is all right. If 



105 



