88 THE HORSE MUSICAL 



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gentle with^small animals and children. So 



long as we punish unoffending horses with im- 

 prisonment in dark cells> we may expect them 

 to show traits of character evolved by the 

 treatment of prisoners in the Middle Ages. 



Horses, dogs, and men are oddly alike, too, 

 in the way they dream, with twitchings of the 

 limbs to illustrate great exertion, and snort- 

 ings, murmurs and groans, which take the 

 place of speech. 



So horses just like humans are dour or 

 cheery, truculent or cheeky, humorous or 

 stolid, some with a lofty sense of dignity, while 

 others behave like clowns. Some horses are 

 like some children, exacting until they are 

 petted, while other children and horses hate to 

 be pawed. Both will sulk or quarrel, play the 

 fool or grumble, make intimate friendships or 

 bitter enemies. I think, though, that the love 

 of sport, and the desire to excel are much more 

 general with horses than with children. 



In a military camp I asked some women to 

 tea, and turned loose a few Beethoven records 

 on the gramaphone. At the first tune all the 

 horses in pasture assembled at the fence, stood 

 to attention while the music lasted, and when 

 it was over scattered off to grass. They 

 certainly love music. At the same camp, by 



