yard, or a large stable will do, and
then gather up something that you know will frighten him--a red blanket,
buffalo robe, or something of that kind. Hold it up so that he can see
it, he will stick up his head and snort. Then throw it down somewhere in
the centre of the lot or barn, and walk off to one side. Watch his
motions, and study his nature. If he is frightened at the object, he
will not rest until he has touched it with his nose. You will see him
begin to walk around the robe and snort, all the time getting a little
closer, as if drawn up by some magic spell, until he finally gets within
reach of it. He will then very cautiously stretch out his neck as far as
he can reach, merely touching it with his nose, as though he thought it
was ready to fly at him. But after he has repeated these touches a few
times, for the first time (though he has been looking at it all the
while) he seems to have an idea what it is. But now he has found, by the
sense of feeling, that it is nothing that will do him any harm, and he
is ready to play with it. And if you watch him closely, you will see him
take hold of it with his teeth, and raise it up and pull at it. And in a
few minutes you can see that he has not that same wild look about his
eye, but stands like a horse biting at some familiar stump.

Yet the horse is never so well satisfied when he is about anything that
has frightened him, as when he is standing with his nose to it. And, in
nine cases out of ten, you will see some of that same wild look about
him again, as he turns to walk from it. And you will, probably, see him
looking back very suspiciously as he walks away, as though he thought it
might come after him yet. And in all probability, he will have to go
back and make another examination before he is satisfied. But he will
familiarize himself with it, and, if he should run in that field a few
days, the robe that frightened him so much at first will be no more to
him than a familiar stump.

We might very naturally suppose from the fact of the horse's applying
his nose to everything new to him, that he always does so for the
purpose of smelling these objects. But I believe that it is as much or
more for the purpose of feeling, and that he makes use of his nose, or
muzzle (as it is sometimes called), as we would of our hands; because it
is the only organ by which he can touch or feel anything with much
susceptibility.

I believe that he invariably makes use of the fou