Several stories about animals have come to my attention this week, and need to be put together in one place.

The first was a report on "Beautiful Jim Key," which is the title of a book about a horse of that name.  I'm hopefully going to find a copy of the book to purchase.

A black boy, a former slave, was adopted by a white man who raised and educated him with his own sons.  The boy was named Bill Key.  Bill Key was successful, made money, and was even able to repurchase the home which his adoptive father lost, and restore it to him.

Bill Key dreamed of breeding an unbeatable race horse.  After a long search he found a likely mare, in whose eye he saw something, and bought her.  He had her bred to the premier racing stallion of the day.  The result of the mating was Jim Key.  Jim Key was an ungainly colt, and unsuited for racing.  But Bill saw intelligence in the colt's eye, and set out to train him.  Bill lived and slept with the colt, loved him, and taught him.

Jim Key learned to count, spell, and to make change.  He became famous.  Bill and Jim Key joined a circus, where they made millions.  The daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt showed up at one performance in which the local sixth graders were in a spelling contest with the horse.  They were asked to spell the lady's name.  With his lips Jim Key selected the appropriate letter cards, and correctly spelled the lady's three names.

Love, kindness, and respect were obviously what enabled Jim Key to do what he did.  It makes one wonder not only about the potential in animal intelligence, but also about the potential of love, kindness, and respect to change and to mold human behavior.

My nephew, Brent Kerns, once bought a horse named  Ugly Jack.  Ugly Jack wasn't much of a horse.  He plodded along with his head down, never raising it.  One day as Brent was riding him, a powerful thought came into his mind.  He said to the horse, "How are you today, Handsome Jack?  From now on I'm going to call you Handsome Jack."  The horse's head came up, he stepped out, and from that day, never hung his head again.

Elder Neil L. Andersen yesterday (3 April 2021) in general conference told of an experiment with a large bunch of New Zealand rabbits.  The experiment was to gauge the effect of diet on the rabbits' cardiovascular systems.  As expected, a fatty diet administered to some rabbits brought about a buildup of fatty deposits in their veins; but one group of rabbits was clear out of the ballpark from expected results.  That group had received the identical diet and treatment, yet was in better health by a factor of 60%.  What was the difference?

After eliminating all other possibilities, it was noticed that that group had been in the care of a particular woman.  She didn't merely feed the rabbits, but talked to them, held them, and cuddled them.  Her love and kindness had made a huge difference in her rabbits' health.  Subsequent studies were designed that produced similar results.

Craig Jordan was a stalwart in Baker Second Ward several decades ago.  I knew him well.  As a young man he went off to World War II, serving in India and Burma.  Craig loved and trained dogs.  When he went off to war he left his dog, Pete, in Baker in the care of his parents.  "Very early one morning his mother reported that Pete became very restless and she let him outdoors.  At four ... that morning, Pete was standing on the depot platform ready to welcome his master home from a troop train.  No one in the family even suspected that Craig would be coming."  (The History of Baker County Oregon, pg. 206).

How did Pete know!?

I find these stories fascinating.  They can be paired up with an Israeli study of dairy cows which were given names.  The named cows gave 400 gallons more milk during a lactation than their unnamed counterparts.  These stories should also be paired up with the studies made of plants which were subjected to classical music versus hard rock, and with studies on plants that were treated with kindness as opposed to harshness.

Plants, animals, and people are all living things with living spirits; and all of them respond positively to love, kindness, and respect.