WHEN ANIMALS ARE " RUNNING AT LARGE." 291 



stincts of the animal in the particular case; and the suffi- 

 ciency of the restraint is to be determined more from its effect 

 upon , and controUing and restraining influence over, the ani- 

 mal than from the nature or kind. Suppose a span of horses 

 to be so accustomed to be kept and driven together that, 

 while the owner is riding one, the other will voluntarily follow 

 as closely almost as if led by a halter ; the owner, while taking 

 them along the highway in this manner could not be said to 

 suffer the horse so voluntarily following its mate, to run at 

 large in violation of the statute. The same may be said of 

 a young sucking colt upon the highway, with no restraint 

 other than instinct to follow its dam, which is being driven 

 in a carriage on the highway." ^''^ 



In this case, the defendant used to ride a horse from his 

 house along the highway for about a mile and a half, and then 

 fasten the reins to a surcingle around the horse so that it could 

 not feed, and leave it to go home alone while he went- on 

 further. The animal was a kind one and would go directly 

 toward home until it met the defendant's son, a boy ten years 

 old, who was waiting to take care of it. It was held that if 

 the defendant or his son kept all the time so near the horse 

 that, owing to its training, it would not wander about the 

 highway but go directly home, while it was on its way back 

 it was not "running at large" in the highway, so as to expose 

 the defendant to a penalty. 



And in Maine where the phrase in the statute was "at large 

 without a keeper," the court said: "The phrase . . . must 

 have a reasonable interpretation applicable to the subject- 

 matter. 'A keeper,' says Worcester, 'is one who has some- 

 thing in charge.' To be 'without a keeper' in the purview of 

 the statute is to be without the charge of any one having the 

 right of control, or 'not under the care of a keeper,' as the 

 statute of Massachusetts expresses it. Such charge or care 



'" Russell V. Cone, 46 Vt. 600. 



That a colt following its dam is not "running at large," see Elliott v. 

 Kitchens, iii Ala. 546. 



