THE HORSE. 57 



his art consisted, though the circumstance of the tete- 

 a-tete shows that upon particular occasions something 

 more must have been added to it." 



It is stated that breathing into the nostrils of a horse 

 will be followed by a similar result. A mule, that 

 would suffer no person to handle it, was by this means 

 rendered so quiet before the operator left the stable, 

 that it would stand still and suffer itself to be nibbed. 



Horses like to be together. Many which are per- 

 fectly quiet with company, will not remain by themselves 

 a minute in a field. " My neighbour's horse," says 

 Mr. White, of Selborne, "will not only not stay by 

 himself abroad, but he will not bear to be left alone in 

 a strange stable, without discovering the utmost im- 

 patience, and endeavouring to break the rack and 

 manger with his fore-feet. He has been known to leap 

 out of a stable window after company ; and yet, in 

 other respects, he is remarkably quiet." 



One of the advantages of such society may often be 

 observed. There are parts of the body of a horse 

 which the animal cannot reach to rub when they itch ; 

 thus he can neither bite with his teeth, nor scratch with 

 his hindfoot, those which are about the shoulder. What 

 then is he to do ? He goes to another horse, and gently 

 bites the place on which he wants to be bitten, and 



