40 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDEIt. 



or stop unnecessarily after he had once thoroughly 

 understood the rule. 



The docility and intelligence of the horse are 

 abundantly shown in the feats he is trained to per- 

 form in the Circus ; but those which he is self-taught 

 are still more interesting. Lord Brougham in his 

 " Dissertations" says, he knew a pony that used to 

 open the latch of the stable door, and also raise the 

 lid of the corn chest ; and he notices the instance of 

 a horse opening the wicket-gate of a field by pressing 

 down the upright bar, as a man would do, "actions," 

 he observes, " which the animals must have learned 

 from observation, as it is very unlikely that they were 

 taught." Such feats are not uncommon ; but the 

 following is, we believe, unique. In 1794, a gentle- 

 man in Leeds had a horse which, after having been 

 kept up in the stable for some time, and turned out 

 into a field where there was a pump well supplied 

 with water, regularly obtained a quantity therefrom 

 by his own dexterity. For this purpose, the animal 

 was observed to take the handle into his mouth, and 

 work it with his head, in a way exactly similar to 

 that done by the hand of man, until a sufficiency was 

 procured. 



The force of habit is particularly strong in the 

 old hunter and in the war-horse. The Tyrolese, 



