INTELLIGENCE OF THE HORSE. 5 



which is their time of rest. Not being disturbed, they eat 

 slowly and thoroughly chew their food, which on that account 

 becomes properly digested. 



I give one-and-a-half quarterns in the morning, three-and-a- 

 half at noon, and five in the evening. The morning oats is 

 given at least two hours before work, so that the stomach of 

 the animal may be empty at that time. For the same object 

 I rack him up, so that he may not eat his bedding. Half an 

 hour after work I give each horse 2 or 3 lbs. of hay ; at noon 

 three-quarters of a bucket of water ; and after that, oats. At 

 four o'clock in the afternoon, each horse gets a bundle of straw 

 as bedding ; at five o'clock, 2 or 3 lbs. of hay ; and finally, at 

 seven o'clock in the evening, the same quantity of water as at 

 noon, and the evening ration of oats, instead of which I give, 

 twice a week, a bran mash. 



INTELLIGENCE OF THE HORSE. 



The great difficulty in breaking is to make the horse under- 

 stand what we want him to do, which is no easy matter, 

 because a horse, contrary to what many think, has only a 

 small supply of intelligence. His only well-developed mental 

 quality is his memory, which is particularly acute, and should 

 therefore be specially utilised. 



A horse is incapable of affection for man : he possesses only 

 habits, which he often acquires far too easily, and frequently 

 sticks to them with too much persistence, a fact we should 

 always bear in mind. On this subject I have made hundreds 

 of experiments. For instance, one of my friends had a horse 

 which went to him when he called him, neighed when he 

 entered the stable, etc. He averred that this animal was par- 

 ticularly attached to him, and that the horse would pine away 

 if he left him. Having learned all about the habits of the 

 horse from the owner, I begged him to lend me the animal, 

 which I took to my stable, where I treated him exactly as he 



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