Man killing
There remain extreme cases in which horses are guilty of deliberate, planned murder.
SAVAGING is practised by civilised as well as by range horses. It is a sudden, and often unprovoked, wide-eyed staring rush with teeth bared, an attempt either to inflict a dangerous bite or to get a man down and trample him to death.
HOLDING WIND. The only case I know of was that of a fine buckskin gelding for whom I paid a rifle, a suit of clothes and ten dollars in trade with an Indian. It seemed impossible to get the girth properly tight until, after three days, I concluded that my suspicion of his holding wind was merely foolishness. All the same I used to regirth a mile or two out on each march. I had regirthed at the top of a mountain pass, and was mounting, when he suddenly let out all his wind and bolted over rock heaps. The saddle came down with me on the off side, I was dragged, and afterwards woke up to find myself maimed for life. Then we had a fight, which he won. It turned out afterwards that holding wind until he could catch out and kill his rider was an old accomplishment for which the horse was famous. This is the only case I have known of unprovoked, carefully planned, and deliberate crime, as distinguished from self-defence.
Vices are human qualities. The worst possible vices with regard to a horse are,
To show fear.
Meanness or neglect in fending for him.
Cruelty or ill-temper.
V. THE SPIRIT OF THE HORSE.
Spirit of the horse