WHAT IS "HORSE SENSE"?

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 49, 13 March 1937, Page 17

WHAT IS "HORSE SENSE"?

A Little More "Dumb" than a Cow

After ail these years of saying tbat gwopia "Sbould bave more borae eensOj" it now turns but it sbonld bave ^ beett *'60# fc&fiSei" all along. tbe horea, as an animal of intexSgOfice, rates bebind old bossy, aiid just abfead of sbeep, anotber mufcb-maligned •nifnal, ss far as anythihg biit lamb •hope arO Concerned. ( All tbia Miss Pearl Gardnef of Oornell Univer-sity's Agiictiltural Scbool told to tbe convention of tbe Ameriean (,j Association for the Advaneement of gcieadC. It iook ber five years, starting in 1931, and Witb ihfinite patiencU, ebe studied 1 72 idf ses, 4S cowB and ll sbeep. rWben it Comes to learning Dy observation, there's no question tbe cow is much smarter tban a borse," said Miss GardbCr. "It doesn't ibatter wbetbef tbe borse is a polo pony Or a PefcbefOn. I worked Witb botb. E^eTi ghfeep givC hotses a pretty gosd rau for it, medtally." Wbfete tbe borse bas beeii fooling •veryOne, appafently, is tbat be trusts

man far more tban any otber bamyard animal. Ha responds to buman guidance instinctively, and tbus is better at automatic learning. But be winds up doing xiiatty tbings that are not all right, as far as be ie concernBd. but get hira nice reptitation becauSe they^re wbat he's told to do. "Now a cow, for instanCei" said Miss Gardner, '"farmers say sbo's dumb because sbe won't walk right up to ber stanChion and be locked in for tbe nigbf. Actually slio's smart, according to ber own ligbts. Sbe knows sbe '11 bave to stand tbere for bours without moving, once they get hold of ber. "Oows Catcb on to tbings quicker, remember better. And strangeiy enougb, the champion cows that give the most milk were the smartest of all cows, But polo ponies make the same mistakes that draft horses do. And sheep, despite their timidity, can he taught tricks sueh as taking a handkerchief out of your pocket, rolling a barrel, sh'aking hands, just as easily as a borse.