breed — can anyone, we ask, imagine a fiery animal 

 of this kind, possessed of the element of reason, re- 

 maining under the complete subjection of his rider ? 

 The thing is impossible. The noble Arab would 

 never consent to his rider's presumption. His insig- 

 nificant rider could never face him on the platform 

 of equality. The enormous physical superiority of 

 the horse, guided by an intelligent process of reason- 

 ing, would baffle every attempt of the man to subdue 

 him, and, by the very inequality of the contest, is 

 it not likely that the rider would come out of it 

 only second best ? 



Numerous instances of the sagacity of horses are 

 recorded, which some people mistakenly attribute to 

 reason, but, after a thorough investigation of the 

 circumstances, they will generally be found to be but 

 the simple and natural results of training and habit. 

 Occasionally instances of apparent sagacity may arise 

 from mere freak or accident, and are often fully and 

 satisfactorily accounted for by their peculiar surround- 

 ing circumstances, which, when deliberately and care- 

 fully considered, almost preclude the possibility of 

 any other course of action being participated in. In 

 other words, the most natural thing for a horse to do, 

 in given circumstances, is simply the thing that he 

 does, and, as already suggested, his action may be 

 the result of emergency, training, or habit. The law 

 of instinct, like reason, is flexible and elastic to a 

 limited degree, and while there is probably no hard 

 and fast law to bind it to a definite, course, it is 



