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Show Would Seem This Horse Used His "Think Tank" On the farm we once had a horse that developed the habit of getting out of the stable unassisted. After having been tied securely to the manger with a halter strap and with the stable door latched, he would free himself, and later we would find him prowling about the yard with the halter strap dangling loose from the halter. This occurred several times. One day I decided to find out how he accomplished this feat. Concealing Conceal-ing myself in the stable I watched long and patiently, but to no avail. He was a sly old rogue and never attempted to free himself while I was there, probably having sensed my presence in the stable. I tried again. This time 1 stealthily stealth-ily approached the stable from the outside and peered through a crack. We usually tied the halter strap in a half bow-knot, leaving the end of the strap hanging loose. Before long I saw the horse seize the end of the strap with his teeth and pull out the loop. Thus free, he walked around to the stable door where he fumbled with the latch until un-til he slid it back, then walked out Unknown to us he had probably watched us tie and untie the strap many times as well as latch and unlatch un-latch the door. And while such things as knots and latches present no problem to the human mind, they are so decidedly outside the province of a horse's mind, that It seemed a bit of clever equestrian thinking on his part to be able to extricate himself him-self unassisted. R. G. Sebring In "Our Dumb Animals." |
