Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1913 — HORSE’S SENSE TO RESCUE [ARTICLE]

HORSE’S SENSE TO RESCUE

Sample of Remarkable Equine Intelligence That la Vouched for by Traveler.

Hamdanie, an Arab horse owned by Pierre Ponafldine during his travels in the Moslem East, was a universal favorite on account of his docility and inteligence. Mr. Ponafldine says, in “Life in the Moslem East,” thatlt was a pretty sight to see him tease his groom when the man was cleaning the stables. With his teeth he would slyly undo the man’s belt, extract his handkerchief from the capacious Arab pocket, or take off his groom’s hat and hold it in his teeth high up almost out of reach. “Another time he showed an almost human understanding. Mrs. Ponafidine was riding him. We were returning from a ride one evening, and as we edtered the town, we had to pass through an archway and then turn sharply into a narrow lane. Just as we entered the arch, with my wife leading the party, a band of children came racing down the lane, and one after the other, as they turned the corner, they ran into Hamdanle, who was cantering and, as usual, prancing. "I turned cold with horror as I fore-’ saw the awful accident that seemed unavoidable. The wise creature understood the danger as well as I did, and in a second stopped short and threw himself back sitting literally like a dog on his haunches with fore legs well spread, receiving one after another the children who raj fyll into his arms, as it were. Hard as the position was for horse and rider, he kept it up until the last child bad rtin round the corner Into him. The little ones picked themselyes up, quite unconscious of the fate from which the horse’s kindness had saved them.” —Youth’s Companion.