A Thinking Horse.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 11, 17 March 1909, Page 52

A Thinking Horse.

SAGACITY EXTRAORDINARY. There is a horse in Riverside, U.S.A., which, for animal sagacity, is the wonder of the age. He is a large, formed animal; dapple grey, with a beautiful, long, white mane and tail that shine like cut glass in the lamp light. He weighs eleven hundred pounds, is four years old, and stands fifteen and a half hands high. lie has only been in training six months, and a number of his tricks and exploits are wonderful for a horse < f his age. In addition to his extraordinary feats, ho is a line road horse and clever under the saddle. On the Bth of October last, Mr. J. B. Cuthbertson, bis owner, exhibited Prince Albert at the Skating Rink in Riverside three time- during the evening to large

audiences, who were highly entertained and pleased with the performance. When this beautiful an.mal made his appearance on the tage, a burst of applause came spontaneou-ly from th? audience in recognition of his exceptional beauty; many passing the remark that even to Icok upon this noble creature was worth the price of admission alone. On this occasion, Prince Albert spelled his own name, with letters placed in a misee.ancons row .Jong a rack, as unconcernedly as any ten-year-old child. He also spelled several small words and was ab'e to select all letters or numbers called for by those’ in the audience, taking orders from the ladies as well as his master. These were given in an ordinary tone of voice and it was seldom that Prince became confused. He knows all the letters in the alphabet and is wonderful with figures. His crowning feat was his adding up figures from a blackboard. He could distinguish with ease and place them wherever directed. He is very active and is a marvel in manipulations of the rope. One may tie a rope securely about his legs and with

his teeth he can quickly untie it. He v ill also spread a 'blanket upon the floor, straighten it out and lie down uport it ; stand on his head and do many other wonderful trick*. Vpon the occasion in question, three large pictures of Roosevelt, Taft and Bryan were placed on easels in a row upon the stage. Prince was asked to pick out the present President.’ He honoured Roosevelt by hanging a silk flag upon his picture: when called upon to pick out Bryan, he walked straight to hi< picture; likewise to Taft, and finally, when asked as to who would Im* the next President, he designated Taft, which caused applause. Mr. Cuthbertson has been offered 8IH)0dol. for Prince Albert, but has declined the offer. He hinks. that some day the animal will learn to talk and then he will Im* worth a million. At any rate, for show’ purposes Mr. Cuthbertson has in this beautiful quite a fortune.