426 THE HORSE. 



to the size, setting on, and motion of the ears. When these 

 organs are rather small, placed not too far apart, erect, and 

 quick in motion, they indicate both breeding and spirit ; and 

 if a horse is frequently in the habit of carrying one ear forward, 

 and the other backward, and especially if he do so on a journey, 

 he will generally possess both spirit and continuance. The 

 stretching of the ears in contrary directions, shows that he 

 is attentive to everything occurring around him, and, while 

 he is doing this, he cannot be much fatigued, or likely soon 

 to become so. Few horses sleep without pointing one ear 

 forward, and the other backward, that they may hear the 

 approach of objects in every direction. Dr. Arnott says, that 

 ' when horses or mules march in company at night, those in 

 front direct their ears forwards 5 those in the rear direct them 

 backward 5 and those in the centre turn them laterally or 

 across ; the whole troop being actuated by one feeling, which 

 watches the general safety.' The temper is more surely indi- 

 cated by the motion of the ear than that of the eye 5 and an 

 experienced observer of horses can tell by the motion of their 

 ears all that they think or mean. When a horse lays his ears 

 flat back upon his neck, and keeps them so, he is most assuredly 

 meditating mischief, and the by-stander should beware of his 

 heels or his teeth. In play, the ears will be laid back, but not 

 so decidedly nor so long. A quick change in their position, 

 together with the expression of the eye at the time, will dis- 

 tinguish between playfulness and vice.* The eye, also, is a 

 pretty accurate index of the temper ; and experience has shown 

 that if much of the white of the eye is seen, the horse is a 

 dangerous one, ever slyly watching for opportunities to do 

 mischief -, and the frequent backward direction of the eye, when 

 the white is most perceptible, is only to give surer effect to the 

 blow which he is about to aim."f 



* Pliny is perhaps the first author who notices that the ears discover the 

 horse's intention. He says, " Leonura anirai index cauda, sicut et equorum 

 aures." J. H. F. 



f Abridged from the Farmer's Library of Useful Knowledge, vol i. p. 7684. 



