TOD SLOAN 



I won five or six handicaps on Belmar off the reel. 

 I have never come across a more intelhgent horse : 

 he knew the winning post just as well as I did, and I 

 had the sense to trust to his wisdom more than once. 

 I learnt to give the credit for my wins on him to him. 

 I won several events by a head, in which I know if 

 they had been run a second faster, or if he had had 

 ten pounds more weight to carry, I believe the result 

 would have been the same. I learnt all his peculiarities. 

 How that horse just loved to race ! He would line 

 up with the others as quiet as a lamb ; then he would 

 break away and take his position. He always came 

 along about three furlongs from home and — won. 

 As soon as he passed the post his ears would change. 

 Surely if there is any real expression about a horse it 

 is in his ears. No matter how hot the finish had been 

 Belmar would relax after he had finished his gallop, 

 and would hardly even make an effort to walk to the 

 paddock. He would lick my face like a dog and never 

 kicked or bit anyone. 



I have always claimed that the horse is the most 

 intelligent animal in the world. I have argued it 

 out again and again, especially in connection with the 

 old-time rivalry between horses and dogs. It must be 

 remembered that a horse never gets the same chances 

 that a dog does. A dog is about the house, is talked 

 to, sees what human beings are doing from morning 

 to night, gets familiar with the sound of words, and 

 generally is trained or given lessons to like a child. 

 But the horse is so much more alone ; he is left to him- 

 self. If you could get a thoroughbred as small in size 

 as, say, I am compared with Jack Johnson, and let 

 that little horse run about a house, well — Heaven 

 knows what he couldn't do in the way of parlour tricks. 

 I only put this down by the way. Yes, people should 



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