Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1882 — Individuality of the Horse. [ARTICLE]

Individuality of the Horse.

One thing curious and interesting about the horse is its individuality.— This is a characteristic common to all animals, undoubtedly to a greater or less degree, but surpassingly so, we think, in the crise of the horse. How this characteristic varies in horses is well known by any one who has ever intelligently drawn a rein over a good roadster. The individuality of horses varies as much as that of men. Every one has a different mental as well as physical make-up. Some horses seem to possess brains, to have some sense, are quick to understand and obey the least sign, motion or word of their master; others are not inaptly termed flunk-heads,” always awkward, lumbering about, difficult to teach, and never “make anything,” in a horseological sense. It may be true that these traits in a horse are sometimes due to the habits of his driver or owner, and that the horse itself may not be so much to blame for his ignorance, but however much he may be excused on this score, there is a surprising difference in these mental qualities of horses. Some men drive and ÜBo horses for years and yet never realize that they know anything, .or that there is any more difference between them tlum there is between so many barrels or saw-logs. Other men who handle horses a great deal, who buy and sell frequently, and wl»o study much their different characteristics, will tell you.how wonderful horses are, how much more they know than some men, how much each one has to be driven and handled differently, and how much they will sometimes teach, even their drivers I Between a nervous, sensitive, intelligent horse, and his considerate owner, how large a union of fellowship ana sympathy exists. In the stable, on the road, if overtaken by an accident, the cool, sensible man is sure to have a quick sympathy from his faithful horse, lie trusts his master, as his master trusts him. If the master is quiet, the horse will be eqally so, Knowing everything is sate; if the master blusters, or becomes anxious or exhibits fear, the horse knows it at once, and becomes restive likewise.— Ob, t4at men only knew that horses know much more thau they givo them credit for, and that they would use them more humanely, as they should, than they now do. Horses are not brutes, they are noble, intelligent, sensible creatures, the most useful animal servant which, Divine Goodness has given to man.