272 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



CHAPTEE XIX. 



INSTINCT, POWER OF MEMOEY AND DOCILITY OF THE 



HOKSE. 



Of the cleverness of the horse, how he remembers 

 benefits and injuries, and how he oftentimes learns 

 to anticipate his rider's will, many tales are told. 

 'Perhaps no animal in man's employment more 

 thoroughly understands what he is about than the 

 " stock horse " of New South Wales. Prom the 

 earliest period of his breaking he is taught to wheel 

 instantly when at full speed on any ground ; and 

 from the innate sagacity which horses have in dis- 

 cerning their rider's object, one that has been "after 

 stock " for a year or two reaches such perfection in 

 this point as almost to justify the ordinary recom- 

 mendation of an Australian horse-dealer, that " he 

 can turn upon a cabbage -leaf." The best exemplifi- 

 cation of this faculty is the process of driving, or as 

 it is called, '^ cutting out " a single bullock, to which 

 he will not submit without a sharp tussle, from the 

 instinctive dislike to separation which all the bush 

 cattle exhibit. At first starting he trusts wholly to 



