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| THE SAPIENT HORSE Lincolnshire farm boy Jimmy Vosbrugh became so intrigued by accounts of a performing pig that he decided to try his hand at animal training. The results were nothing short of remarkable. Within 12 months he had taught a variety of animals to perform various stunts: he had a mouse that whistled, a hare that beat a drum with its hind legs and a goat the played �When the Saints Go Marching In� on the harmonica. Jimmy�s star pupil, however was Drummond the Learned Horse, who could identify colors, spell out words using alphabet cards and point out those members of the audience who were wearing spectacles. In March 1933 the act topped the bill at London�s Sadler�s Wells Theatre, where audiences thrilled to see Drummond riding a specially built bicycle, the mechanism of which had been adapted to accommodate the horse�s natural instinct to pedal backwards. |
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