So far we have dealt with acts of hot-blooded passion, culminating in suicidal rage. The fiercest buckers, having dislodged the rider, will turn at once to grazing and wait with cheerful defiance for the next bout. Almost all horses are sportsmen and there is nothing that they dread more, or are so careful to avoid as treading upon a disabled man. Even in cavalry charges a man down has only to lie still so that the horses can see exactly where he {80} is, and they will all leap clear. They dread placing a foot on anything which might collapse or roll, and so cause a dangerous fall. [Sidenote: 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 {81} 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. [Sidenote: Spirit of the horse] The young of the church and of the universities who know all about everything, and attach a deal of importance to their funny little opinions, are quite agreed that the lower animal is an "it" as automatic as a slot machine. Put in a penny and the machine utters a box of matches. Put in food and the animal develops energy. So much is perfectly true of animals and men, for our bodies are automatic. Moreover, the animal has "instincts" which impel "it" to beget a foal or a litter of puppies. Humans, with the same instincts are impelled to beget a bumptious young bacteriologist, or a pair of curates. In a like way the wolf, the Christian, or the tiger mates with one wife, while the horse and the Moslem both prefer a harem. {82} Shall we say, then, that the wolf is the more religious, or the horse not quite so respectable? [Sidenote: The horse spiritual]