DOMESTIC ANIMALS
Domestic animals not only furnish suitable subjects for observation work, but also afford good opportunities for developing that sympathetic interest in animal life which will cause the pupils to more nearly appreciate the useful animals and to treat them more humanely.
THE HORSE
I
Introduction.—By means of a conversation with the pupils, find out what they know about the horse and lead them to think about his proper treatment.
Lesson.—The matter and method are suggested by the following:
What are the different things for which horses are useful?
What kinds of horses are most useful for hauling heavy loads?
Why are they most useful?
What kinds are the most useful for general farm work? Why are they the most useful?
What kinds are the most useful for driving?
Are there any other animals that would be as useful as the horse for all these things?
What causes some horses to be lean and weary while others are fat and brisk?
What kinds of stables should horses have as to warmth, dryness, and fresh air?
Why is it cruel to put a frosty bit into a horse's mouth?
When a horse is warm from driving on a cold day, how should he be protected if hitched out-of-doors?
Why, when he is warm from driving, should the blanket not be put on until he has been in the stable for a little while?
Correlate with reading from Black Beauty.
II
Preparation.—I want you to find out some more things about the horse, but you will understand these things better if you remember that long ago all horses were wild, just as some horses are wild on the prairies to-day, and that the habits learned by wild horses remain in our tame horses.
The teacher should read to the class parts of "The Pacing Mustang" from Ernest Thompson-Seton's Wild Animals I Have Known, or "Kaweah's Run" from Neighbours with Claws and Hoofs. This will give the pupils a motive for making the required observations.
Observations.—Compare the length of the legs of the horse with his height.
Of what use were these long legs to the wild horses?
What causes horses to "shy"? Of what use was this habit to wild horses?
In how many directions can a horse move his ears? Of what use was this to wild horses?
When horses in a field are alarmed, do they rush together or keep apart, and where are the young foals found at this time? Of what use were these habits to wild horses? Are the eyes of the horse so placed that he can see behind him and to either side as well as in front? Of what use was this to wild horses?
To the teacher.—The horse is an animal which is strong, swift, graceful, gentle, obedient, docile. The pupils should learn that, in return for his good services, the horse should be treated with kindness and consideration.
The legs of the horse are long, straight, and strong, and the single toe (or hoof) means that the horse walks on the tip of one toe, and the hoof is in reality a large toe nail developed to protect the tip of the toe. To these features is due the great speed of the horse. Horses gather together in the field with the foals in the most protected part of the group, just as wild horses found it necessary to do for protection. The wild horses "shied" at a fierce enemy concealed in the grass, and the tame horse shies at a strange object.
CORRELATIONS
With literature and reading: By interpretation of The Bell of Atri.
With language: By exercise on new words, as graceful, etc.