Thus there is very little in the life of the horse to make it think. Yet it can think to some extent, as may be seen from a few anecdotes. It can also be taught to do tricks that need some brain-power. I think you will like to read some stories of horse-thought.
The horse has a good memory, as any one can see when riding over roads which it travelled long before. There are many stories of men trusting to their horses when they were in a dangerous place, and in this way being brought out all right. A friend of Darwin, the naturalist, wrote him this in a letter:—
"I want to tell you an instance of long memory in a horse. I have just driven my pony down from London here, and though she has not been here for eight years she remembered her way quite well, and made a bolt for the stables where I used to keep her."
This is only one out of many cases that could be told. A horse driven by a doctor or milkman does not need to be drawn up before certain houses. It knows just where to stop. There is a story told of a gentleman who was in the habit of stopping his horse to give money to every beggar he met on the road. He loaned or sold this horse to a friend, who soon wrote to him asking him to take his horse back again.
"I cannot pass a beggar on the road but the old fellow will stop and will not start again until I have given the man something. If I have no money I have to pretend to give before I can get him to move on."
Some horses have the sense to help themselves in various ways. One of these learned how to step out of its halter when the coachman had left it for the night. Then it would pull out the sticks in the pipe of the oat-bin so as to let all the oats run down over the stable-floor. Of course, it had seen the coachman pull out these sticks and knew that this was the way to get a free lunch. The same horse would also turn the water-tap to get a drink and pull the window cord to open the window on hot nights.
Not many horses are as smart as this, yet numerous tricks played by horses could be told. There is one told of a horse which, when turned into a field where there was a pump, soon found out how to get water. He would take the pump-handle in his mouth and work it with his head until he had all the water in the trough he wanted to drink. Of course, he had seen men work the handle in this way.
A number of stories could be told of horses which went themselves to the blacksmith shop when their shoes were out of order. One is of a Shetland pony which came to a blacksmith shop a long distance from its home and thrust its head in the door. The blacksmith drove it away but it soon came back again. Then the smith looked at its feet and found that one shoe was gone. He made and put on a shoe and then waited to see what the animal would do.
"For a moment it looked at the blacksmith as if asking whether he was done. Then it pawed once or twice to see if the newly-shod foot was comfortable, and finally gave a pleased neigh, lifted its head, and started homewards at a brisk trot. The owner was much surprised to find the horse at home that evening, fully shod, and could not understand it until the smith had told him the story of his pony's wit."
One of the smartest tricks we have met with is told of a mule, an animal which is not supposed to have the sense of a horse. It belonged to a gentleman living at Iowa City, and was an expert at getting into mischief. It took every chance when the yard-gate and barn-door were open to slip in and steal a mouthful of oats. One morning it was found in the barn with the gate shut and latched and no one could tell how it got there. This went on for some time, until a watch was set and the smart mule was "caught in the act."