IS THE HORSE A FOOL?

Motueka Star, Volume III, Issue 111, 5 September 1902, Page 4

IS THE HORSE A FOOL?

Under this heading the following amusing letter appears in an American ; contemporary : “Owensboro, Ky., July 1, 1902. l.have spent much of a long life m the^observation of hoises. I have reared them, broken them, trained them, ridden them, and driven them in every form from the plough to the four- in hand. The r esult of th» se years of study is summed up in one sentence: 1 believe the horse to be part maniac and part idiot. Every horse at 'some time in his life developes into a homicidal maniac. I believe any man who trusts himself or his family to the power of a horse stronger than himself to be lacking in common sense, and wholly devoid of ordinary prudence. I have driven one commonplace horse every other day for six years over the same road, and then had him go crazy and try to kill himself and me because a leaf fluttered down in front of him; I have known scores of horses.apparently trustworthy apparently creatures of routine, go wild and insane over equally regular and recurring phenomena. No amount of observation can tell when the brute will break out. One mare- took two generations'of children to school over the same quiet road, and in her nineteenth year went crazy because a rooster crowed alongside the road. She killed two of the children. If anyone can tell me ‘J one good reason why man should trust a horse I should be glad t) know it.—G.A.A.”