THE HORSE. 93 



is evident that the horse dwelling among com- 

 paratively thickly wooded regions in Europe must 

 have had to employ this method of escaping from 

 ambushed foes much more frequently than did 

 the wild Eastern steeds who made their home 

 on the bare and open steppe. 



Every one has noticed that a horse lays back 

 his ears when he is in a bad temper. Darwin, in 

 his work on ' The Expression of the Emotions,' 

 says : — 



When horses fight together they use their incisors 

 for biting, and their fore-legs for striking, much more 

 than they do their hind-legs for kicking backwards. 

 This has been observed when stallions have broken 

 loose and have fought together, and may likewise be 

 inferred from the kind of wounds which they inflict 

 on each other. Every one recognises the vicious ap- 

 pearance which the drawing back of the ears gives a 

 horse. This movement is very different from that of 

 listening to a sound behind. If an ill-tempered horse 

 in a stall is inclined to kick backwards, his ears are 

 retracted from habit, though he has no intention or 

 power to bite. But when a horse throws up both 

 hind-legs in play, as when entering an open field, or 

 when just touched by the whip, he does not generally 

 depress his ears, for he does not feel vicious. Guana- 

 coes fight savagely with their teeth ; and they nmst 

 do so frequently, for I found the hides of several 



