MAKING THE HORSE LAUGH

Tovey and husband Charles keep a veritable menagerie round and about their Somerset home, and readers of the author's other bemused animal adventures will already be familiar with the antics of Solomon and Sheba, the Siamese cats, and Annabel, the donkey. This time Tovey gamely takes on horses beginning with the neurotic Rory, who bolts, spooks and rears at the most embarrassing moments. And after Rory, whom Tovey never does manage to subdue, there are several beautiful stallions -- Mio, Gusto, Merlin and Halberdier, each of whom has his own peccadilloes -- and all of whom practically start to hawhaw aloud when they see her coming. The owner of the stable concludes finally that Doreen must have an electric bottom. . . . All this amuses Miss Wellington, the local biddy, no end as well as Father Adams, the curate who speaks in ""thees"" and ""thous."" All of it is as English as Yorkshire pudding and as dry as hay.