SIZE OF BRAIN, 147 



as galled shoulders or weak hocks, usually ''baulks" because 

 *' he knows too much," or at least he knows more than the 

 animal that will pull at the traces or follow the hounds till he 

 drops. So far from a horse taking delight, as he is supposed 

 by novelists to do, in obeying the wishes of man, he very 

 seldom yields to his would-be master without a struggle. If 

 this takes place in the hoped-for manner, when the horse is 

 quite young, the victory on the part of the man is generally 

 easy, and a few repetitions of it quickly confirm the habit of 

 obedience. If, however, the attempted subjugation be delayed 

 till the animal is *' aged'' — when he will be able to think for 

 himself without the promptings and influence of man — it will 

 be found that his breaking will be ten, if not a hundred, times 

 more difficult than if it had been undertaken in his early 

 youth. This theory of the undesirability of a horse knowing 

 too much, which I have applied to refractory animals, appears 

 to hold equally good in greyhounds that run ''cunning," In 

 these remarks on the intelligence^ of horses, it must be clearly 

 understood that I refer to reasoning power and not to power 

 of memory, which is independent of the capacity to draw 

 conclusions from given premisses. It is evident, without the 

 necessity of writing a treatise on the subject, that the useful 

 (to man) intelligence of the horse lies in his power of memory 

 and in the quickness with which his muscles act in response 

 to the impressions received by his senses. In other words, 

 his useful intelligence depends on the high development of 

 his instinct, and not of his reason. We demand of the horse 

 ready obedience ; but not obedience matured by reflection, 

 like what the shepherd would expect his dog to display when 

 getting his flock home on a stormy night, or when driving 

 them through a crowded thoroughfare. We do not ask him 

 to take the initiative from the deep affection which he does 

 not bestow on us, nor to reason out problems ; we only want 

 him to remember that if he does certain things, \-ve shall 

 "make much of him" ; that if he does other things, we shall 

 punish him. 



We know that reflex action, prompted by stimuli from 



L 2 



