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Title: Horse Secrets
Author: Alexander, A. S.
Language: English
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HORSE
SECRETS
WRITTEN, COMPILED AND NOW
DISCLOSED
BY
A. S. ALEXANDER
Professor of Veterinary Science, and in charge of the
Department of Horse Breeding, College of Agriculture,
University of Wisconsin.
ALAS! HE CANNOT TALK!
“I don’ see much use in de scientis’ folks studying
monkey talk, but a study of hoss talk dat ’ud let
de animal tell all about hisse’f befo’ a trade
comes off ’ud save a heap o’ hard feelings.”
“Uncle Ezra,” in Washington Star.
PHILADELPHIA—1909
WILMER ATKINSON COMPANY
Price, 25 Cents
Copyright, 1909
WILMER ATKINSON CO.
INTRODUCTION
Dr. A. S. Alexander, the writer and compiler of “Horse Secrets,” has had
upward of 25 years’ experience in matters pertaining to agriculture,
horse breeding, veterinary science, press writing and teaching. He was
the author of the first stallion service legislation and inspection
regulation in America, the first law of the kind having been written by
him and enacted by the Wisconsin Legislature in 1905. Similar legislation
now is in force in some 16 other states, and it is accomplishing much for
the improvement of horse breeding.
Horse trading offers unusual opportunities and temptations for sharp
practises. Both buyer and seller equally need to be horse-wise and alert.
Dishonesty is discountenanced in the great horse markets, but it is
common among scalpers, “gyps” and small traders outside of the recognized
markets and is likely to be practised by either the buyer or the seller.
The items published in these pages disclose many sharp practises which,
aside from their interest as facts not generally known, are valuable as
information for the man who would engage intelligently in horse buying
and selling.
The writer and publishers of this book desire to expose these tricks,
and to decry their practise in the markets and among outside dealers and
breeders. “Forewarned is forearmed,” and the information here given will
doubtless save many a man from loss, and tend to make dishonesty less
rife because less likely to succeed.
In mentioning the various tricks herein disclosed, the exact methods have
not been given in detail. We have no desire to instruct readers so that
they may “go and do likewise”; for the same reason doses have not been
given for the administration of the various drugs and “dopes” used by
tricksters.
The matter relating to the purchase of stallions should prove specially
interesting and valuable. It is a matter of general knowledge among
the initiated that stallions are frequently sold at excessive prices
to companies of farmers, and that “peddlers” of such stallions are
unscrupulous in their methods of obtaining signers to the notes taken for
the purchase of such horses. The facts published with respect to this
business should serve to warn farmers that they are apt to be cheated in
purchasing a stallion on the “company plan,” and that it is always best,
safest and most profitable to purchase a stallion direct from a reputable
breeder or importer, for by so doing much money will be saved and the
horse bought will be much more likely to prove sound and suitable and to
give satisfaction.
Dr. Alexander desires in this place to acknowledge his indebtedness to
the publishers of the various farm and stock papers from the pages of
which extracts have been taken.
WILMER ATKINSON CO.
Contents.
Page
HORSE FEEDING SECRETS 7
Secret of Hand Raising a Foal 7
Secret of Feeding Silage to Horses 8
Secret of Fattening Drafters 9
Secret of Feeding Molasses 10
SECRETS OF VARIOUS VICES 12
Secret of Stopping Halter Pulling 12
Secret of Preventing Mules from Kicking 13
Secret of Tying a Mare with a Foal 13
Secret of Handling a Balky Horse 13
Secret of Curing a Stall Kicker 16
SECRET TRICKS IN HORSE TRADING 18
Secret of Shutting a Heaver 18
Secret of Plugging a Roarer 18
Diamond Cut Diamond 19
Making a Horse Act Mean 20
Blowing Air Under the Skin 20
Stopping a Switcher 20
Turpentine and Gasoline Tricks 21
Gingering a Show Horse 21
Unnerving and Cocaining 22
Keep an Eye on the Sign Board 22
Secret of Hiding a Spavin 23
Artificially Induced Knee Action 23
Artificial Tail Trick 24
Keeping a Horse “In the Air” 24
The Loose Shoe Trick 25
Wire Marks Over Side-Bones 25
Wedging a Cribber 25
Making an Artificial Star 26
Black Spots on a White Horse 27
Broken Crest or Wrong Lying Mane 27
Concealing Discharging Sinuses 27
The Galloping Past Dodge 28
Keeping a Horse on Edge 28
An Eye for An Eye 28
Examine the Ears 29
Bishoping—An Old Trick 30
How Bishoping is Done 30
MISCELLANEOUS SECRETS 32
The Widow Trick 32
Landing a Sucker 33
A Horse That Was Right There 34
An Honest “Hoss” Dealer 34
A Sharper’s Smooth Sayings 35
The Winter Board Trick 35
How Horses Catch Cold 36
Tricks in Measuring Horses 36
SECRETS ABOUT STALLION SELLING 37
Palming Off a Grade Stallion 37
Stud Books Approved by the Government 38
Stud Books Not Certified by the Government 39
Story of a Company Stallion Deal 39
Horse Peddlers’ Confessions 41
The Sale of Les Epinards 41
The Sale of Transmigrator 42
SOME VETERINARY SECRETS 44
Secret of Preventing Navel and Joint Disease 44
Symptoms of Bad Teeth 45
Remedies for Tail Rubbing 45
A Cruel Cure for Heaves 46
An Astringent for Scours 47
An Old Operation for Spavin 47
Facts About Pigment Tumors 48
SECRETS OF BUYING AND SELLING HORSES 49
Auction Sale Rules 49
Reputable Dealers Protect Their Patrons 50
Two Sides to a Horse 51
A little Ill to Distract Attention From a Big One 52
Beware of Hoof Dressing 52
Buying a Pair 53
A High English Guarantee 53
An Unsound Horse Sometimes a Good Bargain 54
A Second-Hand Horse 54
“Protecting” the Buyer 55
Splitting the Profit Three Ways 55
A Glossary of Market Terms 56
Horse Feeding Secrets.
Secret of Hand Raising a Foal.
An orphan foal can be successfully raised on cows’ milk if the work is
intelligently and patiently conducted. Mares’ milk is sweeter than cows’
milk, but less rich in butter fat; therefore, in using cows’ milk for
foal feeding, choose that which is poor in butter fat—3 per cent. or
thereabout—and sweeten it with sugar or molasses. The latter sweetening
has the advantage of acting as a mild aperient.
It should be remembered that the first milk (colostrum) of the mare
contains a purgative principle for the removal of the meconium from the
intestinal tract of the foal, and as the orphan foal does not receive
this natural cathartic it is apt to suffer from constipation, which may
prove fatal. To prevent this inject into the rectum of the foal, twice
daily from birth, two or three ounces of warm water containing one to two
teaspoonfuls of glycerine, and continue this treatment until the bowels
have been moved freely.
A mixture of equal quantities of cream, molasses and warm water also
makes a good injection fluid for a young foal, and some horsemen insert a
small, thin tallow-dip candle into the rectum for a like purpose.
At first the foal should be fed once an hour, but gradually the times
of feeding may be reduced in number. Feed the milk blood warm, giving
at first half a cupful at each meal and with it three tablespoonfuls of
lime water to the pint of milk. The foal will take the milk readily from
a large rubber nipple fitted on the neck of a feeding bottle which must
be often well scalded. A kid glove thumb perforated and fitted over the
spout of a small teapot will do almost as well as a rubber nipple and
feeding bottle.
Hand-fed foals tend to scour. When such trouble starts withhold two or
more feeds of milk, and give one to four tablespoonfuls of castor oil in
milk, according to the severity of the attack and the size of the foal,
and repeat the dose every time there is any derangement of the digestive
organs.
Soon the foal may be fed but six times a day, then four times, and in a
few weeks it will freely take milk and lime water from a clean pail. At
this stage sugar may be omitted and the lime water be given only once a
day. The secret of success is to feed a little milk often and to keep all
utensils scrupulously sweet and clean. As soon as he will take to it,
the foal may be allowed to lick oatmeal in small quantities; gradually
increase the amount and add wheat bran. After six weeks give a little
sweet skim-milk in place of a part of the new milk, and by increasing
the amount day by day the foal may at three months old take skim-milk
entirely and continue to drink it freely three or four times daily while
eating grass, grain and bran.
Secret of Feeding Silage to Horses.
It is commonly believed that corn silage cannot safely or profitably be
fed to horses. Investigation shows that this belief is ill advised, for
some horsemen feed silage successfully.
A noted Wisconsin breeder has used corn silage extensively as a feed for
horses as a part of the winter ration during the past eighteen years. The
number wintered each year averages about 100. His method is as follows:
In making silage for horses the corn is allowed to stand until nearly out
of the milk, as better results have thus been obtained than when it is
cut greener. The silo is filled as rapidly as possible, and when full is
allowed to settle for four or five days, when it is again filled. Care is
taken to pack the silage tightly around the walls.
The silo is opened about November 15th, when the herds have been brought
in from the pastures. Care is taken to feed the horses lightly at first
so that they may become accustomed to the new food.
A large bin has been built, connecting with a room below the doors of
the silo. This bin is filled from time to time with a mixture of four
parts of hay and one of straw, cut about 3 inches long, by being run
through a silage machine. The silage is always mixed with this cut hay
and straw before feeding. The proportions are about one to five of silage
by weight. By cutting the hay and straw, the amount wasted is reduced to
a minimum.
The corn is never taken out of the silo before it is ready to be used.
The entire top is removed each day to a depth of about two inches. Any
silage that is spoilt is thrown away. The silage and hay-straw are mixed
thoroughly by forking over several times in the room, already referred
to. By doing this the horses do not obtain all the silage at one time.
Any grain that is fed is put in the manger with the silage.
The amount of ensilage fed to different horses varies with the animal. It
is found that no two horses eat the same amount and they are never given
more than they will eat. The average amount fed will be stated in each
case below.
Aged stallions, used for breeding purposes, receive during the winter
season about 24 pounds of silage per day. This is divided into three
feeds, morning, noon and night. Besides this they are fed long hay and
grain. During the breeding season they do not get any silage, as it has
been found that if it is fed at that time there is difficulty in getting
mares in foal and in raising a large percentage of colts. The reason for
this is not known.
Two-year old stallions receive about 20 pounds of silage per day with
their other feed. Yearling stallions receive about 15 pounds, with grain
and hay. Mares with foals receive about 20 pounds, and also grain and
hay while the colts are sucking. This is reduced to about 15 pounds, fed
twice a day in the stable, after the colts are weaned.
Mares and geldings, from one year up, run in a herd together. They are
fed morning and night about 15 pounds per day. During the day, if weather
permits, they are turned out in a pasture and fed hay upon the ground.
Colts, soon after they have learned to eat grain, are fed a little silage
in the box stalls with their mothers. For this purpose small feed boxes
are put in each stall near the mangers, where the mares eat. After being
weaned the colts are fed about 7 pounds of silage a day with the grain.
Alfalfa hay also is put in a rack in the yard, in which the colts are
turned out each day, and they eat as much of this as they care for.
The ration fed is higher than a balanced ration. There has never been
any sickness resulting from the use of silage. The animals always come
through the winter in good breeding condition and in proper shape to be
turned on to pasture in the spring.
Secret of Fattening Drafters.
The business of buying young draft horses and feeding them off for the
market has been profitably followed by many farmers during the past ten
years. The work requires skill and experience and is thus described by
Prof. W. J. Kennedy, of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station: “In
one of the large horse-feeding establishments of the West the following
method is practised: The horses are purchased, their teeth are floated
and they are all put in the barn and their feed increased gradually,
as great care must be taken for a few days to avoid colic. It seems
preferable to feed them grain about five times per day, due to the fact
that as the stomach of the horse is proportionately smaller than the
stomach of a cow, he needs his feed in smaller quantities and more often.
The hay is placed in racks so that access may be had to it at all times.
The horses are given all the water they will drink twice a day. The daily
practise is as follows: Corn is given at 5 o’clock in the morning; water
at 7; the hay racks are filled at 9 o’clock, when the horses are also
given oats and bran, the proportion being two-thirds bran and one-third
oats. At 12 o’clock they are fed corn again; at 3 in the afternoon oats
and bran are given and the hay racks are refilled; at 4 they are given a
second watering, and at 6 the final feed of corn is given. The proportion
for each horse when upon full feed is as follows: Corn from 10 to 14 ears
to each feed; oats and bran, about 3 quarts per feed, making in all from
30 to 40 ears of corn and 6 quarts of oats and bran per horse per day.
The horses are not given any exercise from the time they are put in the
barn until a few days before they are to be shipped. As a substitute for
exercise, and in order to keep the blood in good order, thus preventing
stocked legs, Glauber’s salt is used.”
In some instances horses fed in this manner have made a gain of 5½ pounds
a day for a period of 50 to 100 days. One horse gained 550 pounds in 100
days. In many instances from 12 to 20 horses have made an average daily
gain of 3⅓ pounds per day each for a period of 90 days.
Secret of Feeding Molasses.
The feeding of black strap molasses came into vogue when the United
States artillery and cavalry horses in Porto Rico required “plumping up.”
By free use of this readily assimilated fattening food mixed with cut hay
or grass, horses that had run down to skin and bone and become covered
with harness sores quickly gained flesh and acquired sleek, polished,
sound hides so that their former drivers or riders failed to recognize
them. Although large quantities of molasses were fed to each horse daily,
neither colic nor scouring was caused.
Dr. W. H. Dalrymple, veterinarian of the Louisiana Experiment Station,
says that the amount of molasses fed to the large sugar-mules of 42
plantations in his state is from 8 to 12 pounds per head per diem, or an
average of about 9.5 pounds; a gallon of black strap molasses weighing
12 pounds. He advises that less than this should be given at first and
gradually increased as the animals get used to it, though he adds: “We
have not experienced any ill effects from feeding the amounts alluded
to.” In fact, as high as 21 pounds per day has been fed in Louisiana
without any untoward results. The molasses is mixed with concentrates and
cut hay.
Here is a recommended formula for molasses feeding on a lesser scale to
working draft horses:
Molasses, 1 quart; water, 3 quarts; cut hay, 5 pounds; corn-meal, 4
quarts; coarse bran, 2 pints. Feed morning and night. Give usual quantity
of oats at noon, and add long hay at night.
The Department of Agriculture, in Farmer’s Bulletin No. 107, states that
molasses is an excellent food for horses and cattle. It produces energy,
maintains the vital heat, stimulates the appetite and increases the
digestibility of the other constituents of the ration. That cane molasses
is a satisfactory substitute for starchy foods, being readily digested
and transformed into work: that 5 quarts of molasses can be given daily
to a 1,270 pound horse with advantage to its health and the efficiency of
its work.
[Illustration]
Secrets of Various Vices.
Secret of Stopping Halter Pulling.
There are many different ways of managing halter pullers and of these the
following methods seem most effective:
Take a strong but thin rope about 20 feet long. Put the middle of it
under the horse’s tail like a crupper. Bring the two ends forward along
the back, knotting them together at the loins and withers. Then pass one
on each side of the neck, through the ring of the halter and tie to the
manger along with the halter shank.
Pass the end of tie rope or halter over the manger and tie it to one fore
foot, so that the pull is equal on the head and foot. This is simple,
safe and efficient.
Put a good strong halter on the horse with a rope that he cannot break;
then put him either on a plank floor that is about 4 inches higher behind
than in front, or on a hard earth floor of the same slope. Have the floor
very smooth, and wet it a little to make it slippery, if he is a bad one,
and pad the sides of the stall with old sacks or blankets, tying them on
with binder twine. As soon as the horse finds that he cannot keep his
feet he will give up pulling.
Use a good halter and 10 or 12 feet of strong rope or strap. Tie one end
of the rope around the pastern of a front foot and pass the other end
through the halter ring and fasten to a stout post or manger and let the
horse pull. This will cure an ordinary case. If it does not cure a bad
one, tie the rope to a hind leg, passing it through the halter ring and
between the fore legs to the hind pastern.
Tie a rope around the hind leg at the pastern and pass the rope to the
opposite side of the body; run it around the neck where the collar rests
and tie the foot up so that it will not touch the floor. Put a good
halter on the horse and he will not pull very hard.
Mr. J. S. Teesdale, of Multnomah County, Oregon, contributed the
following amusing account of the curing of a halter puller to the
Breeders’ Gazette: “I owned a horse that pulled back every time he was
tied up in or out of his stable. I got very tired of it. I took him one
day to a wharf over a river. There was, as is usual, a wall on the dock
a few feet from its edge. I led him on so that his face was near the
wall and his tail toward the water; and I stood him with his right side
close up to a partition that ran from the wall to the edge of the wharf.
I stood with my body close to his left eye, hiding the river from his
view, so that he could not see the water from either side. The river was
a very silent one. I held him in that position almost an hour until I
thought he had forgotten the river entirely, then I tied him to a ring
in the wall, holding a sharp knife in my teeth as I did so. As soon as I
had tied him he hung back as badly as ever. I cut the rope. He turned a
back somersault and dropped 10 feet into the river. When he came to the
surface and recovered from his daze, he swam down stream to the end of
the dock and landed. He never hung back again so far as I know, although
he was tied a thousand times.”
Secret of Preventing Mules from Kicking.
Mr. F. M. Walker, of Vernon County, Missouri, contributed the following
to the columns of the Breeders’ Gazette: “Take two straps 1½ inches
wide with a good ring; have the straps long enough to buckle around the
hind legs, one above the hock and one below. First buckle the ring in
both straps; then take a stout rope, put a ring in the rope, and tie it
around the breast of the collar so that the double will come back behind
the belly-band and make the ring stay. Now take another piece of stout
rope, tie in the ring on the hind leg, bring it up through ring at the
belly-band and back to the other ring on the hind leg. Do not leave any
slack for the horse or mule to get his feet over. An animal can walk or
trot in this rigging, but he cannot kick. I have broken several mules in
this way.”
Tying a Mare With a Foal.
To tie a mare so that her foal will not get hung in the halter strap,
use a ring in the manger instead of a hole. Thirty inches is plenty long
enough for the stale. Put a weight on end of the stale—an old bar shoe
will do all right. All good horses in Great Britain are tied this way,
except that the chain is used.
Secret of Handling a Balky Horse.
A tired, balky horse is less apt to balk than one fresh from the stable,
and such horses are oftentimes kept in harness right up to the time of
sale. This is a “David Harum” trick and well worth remembering. Also,
when a horse balks, be careful to examine his shoulders. Soreness of the
skin may be the cause. It is a trick of the “gyps” secretly to bathe the
shoulders of a horse with an irritating solution which in 12 hours or
less makes the animal refuse to pull in harness. They do this with horses
on which they purpose making a bid the following day in the hope that
when the victim balks the owner will become disgusted and discount the
price. Some horses balk when worked in single harness but go all right
when hitched double. Chloroform is sometimes used to make a balky horse
stupid, so that he will forget to balk.
Kindness, petting, coaxing with a lump of sugar, carrot, apple or other
dainty sometimes succeeds with a balky horse when harsh measures fail.
Cruel procedures should be discountenanced and punished and among these
the worst trick, perhaps, is to start a fire of paper, straw or brush
under the balker. Sometimes all that is necessary is to distract the
animal’s attention by pounding lightly with a stone on the shoe of a fore
foot, by tying a cord around the leg under the knee, or by holding up one
foot for a few minutes.
When a horse balks, one way of curing him is to remove the harness, put
on a halter, pull his head around to his side and tie the halter rope in
a slip-knot to a strand or two of the tail hair, so as to keep the head
well toward the tail. Then he is forced to walk around in a circle until
he staggers and is ready to drop, when the rope may be loosed and the
horse will be likely to behave and remember the lesson for some time.
Some horses balk by lying down and refusing to budge. If the four feet of
such a sulker are “hog-tied” together and he is abandoned and allowed to
remain tied for an hour or two, he will usually be thankful to get up and
go on when set at liberty.
One owner broke a balker by working him on a mower for a few days with
his tail tied to the singletree tight enough to take part of the strain.
After that he would pull by the tugs without having his tail tied.
The “guy rope” plan is sometimes effective. A small rope is tied around
the horse’s neck and a half hitch taken with it on his lower jaw. A husky
man then pulls steadily upon the rope and the horse will usually start
forward with a lunge. If not a confirmed old balker he may give up the
standing habit if treated in this way a few times.
Light, rapid switching across the nose with a light whip sometimes starts
a balker, but severe whipping has an opposite effect.
The writer once was called to see a draft work-mare that was “down” in
an Irish teamster’s yard and refused to get up. The poor brute was
surrounded with whips and sticks that had been broken over her back, and
her body was covered with welts from the whipping. The neighbors thronged
around to see what would happen when the “Doctor” tried his hand at a
job which had baffled their attempts. Examination of the pulse showed
a normal condition and the membranes of the eyes gave no indication of
sickness. After the mare’s head and neck had been patted and stroked for
a few minutes, and she had been spoken to kindly and gently, she got up
at once when the halter was pulled upon and the word of command given.
Then she followed the veterinarian about the yard like a dog, recognizing
him as her only friend, and ever since that teamster has said, “Sure that
mon has the power iv healin’ in his hands!” Whereas, the abused mare only
needed and wanted a little kindness and coaxing.
Here is a cure for balking recommended by E. A. Gerrard: “In order to
break a balky horse it is necessary to have the appliances, though the
first requirement is a cool head. Next you will want a steady horse to
hitch with the balky one, together with a strong hopple strap, a rope and
a covered swivel pulley, and a good harness and wagon with a long tongue,
though one of ordinary length will do.
Fasten your pulley on the end of the tongue so that it will work free;
put the hopple on the balky horse’s hind ankle, next to the tongue, and
tie the rope in the hopple ring. Now run it through the belly-band, up
through the pulley and back to the end of the doubletree on the side of
the balky horse, and tie it fast. See that your horses are standing even,
making the rope snug, so that the horse can stand easy. Take off your
stay chains, sever the line from the terrets on the balky horse, get into
the wagon, gather your lines so that you can have control, keep cool, and
wait half a minute; then speak to the team and start the steady horse.
As he starts he pulls his end of the doubletree forward and draws on
the wagon, the other end of the doubletree going back, pulling the rope
through the pulley and lifting the balky horse’s foot. He tries to put
his foot down and in doing so he takes a step.
Say, ‘whoa!’ and stop your steady horse. Do not let the balky horse
make more than one step. Now sit still for half a minute, then start
again, stopping as soon as the first step is made, by the same process.
Sit still for another half minute, then repeat. Each time you will have
taught your horse that when you told him to go he had to step.
Now if you are a horseman get down, go to your horse’s head, pat his
neck, tell him he is doing well and that he will be the best pulling
horse on the place. Then try him again. If he is very anxious to go at
the word, let him make six or eight steps, then stop and sit quiet for
half a minute. Gradually increase the distance you allow them to go each
time, not forgetting to stop long enough to allay any excitement before
starting again. When you have driven half a mile be sure you are back at
the stable, take your horse out, have a bottle of strong borax water at
hand and bathe his ankle for five minutes where the hopple rubbed it.
On the next day hitch up with the balker on the other side of the tongue.
With most balky horses two lessons will prove enough; often one will
answer. But if the horse is old he may forget in two or three weeks, if
rested much, so you will need to keep your appliances ready and put them
on at the first sign of balking.
There is little danger of a horse forgetting if he is worked with the
same mate and driver; therefore if you want a perfect job you will do
well to change the driver and the mate while the lesson is fresh.”
Mr. F. H. Osburn, of Benton County, Indiana, is the author of the
following method of handling a balky mare:
“I had a good true horse to put beside this mare, one which I knew could
pull two such as she. Then instead of putting a stay chain to my true
horse I put on what I call a stay rope, looping it around the balky
mare’s tail, drawing it up short and tying it to the other horse’s hame
ring. Whenever I spoke to my true puller something else had to come
although the balky mare was not very hasty to respond for the first few
lessons. We now have her convinced and I drive her single, ride her
when driving cattle, can use the cattle whip over her, and she pays no
attention to it. At times she runs idle for a week or ten days, but she
never gives me a minute’s bother when I use her again.”
Secret of Curing a Stall Kicker.
Various methods have been proposed from time to time for stopping a horse
from kicking in the stall. Here are several gleaned from various sources:
Strap a piece of chain, about 18 inches to 2 feet in length, to the
horse’s pastern so that it will fly back and hit him each time he kicks.
A trace or stay chain will do.
Pad the sides of the stall thickly with hay or straw kept in place by
sacking. When the horse kicks at this and does not hear the sound of his
foot striking the boards, he will be scared and quit kicking.
Buckle a leather surcingle around the horse’s body back of the fore legs
and to it fasten a small double pulley placed under the belly. Now place
straps with buckles on them on each of his legs below the fetlock joint,
having a ring in each strap. Take ½ inch rope, tie to the ring on one
front foot, run it up through the pulley, back to the hind foot on the
opposite side and tie, then do the same with the opposite feet. Leave
the rope long enough for the animal to step. When an attempt is made to
kick, the pulley raises the front feet. Use this in the stable until the
kicking habit is cured.
To cure a barn kicker pack an ordinary grain bag tight with hay or straw
and suspend it from top of the stall by a rope or strap, so that it
will swing free from the side of the stall and near the place the horse
strikes the boards when he kicks. When kicked the bag will swing back and
hit the horse on its return trip, and he will climb into the hay mow, if
he can. If the horse kicks with both feet, hang a bag on each side.
Tie the kicking horse between swinging partitions whether in a single or
box stall. The partition kicks back each time it is kicked by the horse.
An “Old Timer” writing in the Breeders’ Gazette, suggests the following
plan for a pregnant mare that is a bad kicker:
“Have a collar made of 1½ inch first-class heavy harness leather, long
enough to go around the mare’s neck at the point where the collar fits,
with 1¾ inch ring at the breast, then get a strap 1½ inches wide, the
full length of a side of harness leather, cut tapering to 1 inch or less
at the tip of the light end, with 1¾ inch ring in the other. Then get
a 2½ inch strap just long enough to go around the pastern of the hind
foot with ¾ inch ring in each end. Have the edges of this strap slightly
champered. Slip the collar on the mare’s neck, put the short strap around
the pastern of the left hind foot, the thin long strap through the rings
on the pastern, then through the ring on the end of the long strap, and
slip up snug and tight: next, run the strap between the fore legs and
through the ring in the collar on the neck. Now draw it up snug when she
is standing in her natural position and secure it with a slip-knot so
that it can be easily removed when necessary.
There will be no excitement about this, and no punishment. It does not
interfere with the mare’s lying down or getting up; all it will do for
her will be to prevent her from kicking, simply because she cannot, and
she will soon learn to live in peace with her stable mates. We have
used this for many years without a failure, and we would be pleased to
have all humane horsemen use it in preference to a long chain or heavy
swinging block or padded stall.”
Secret Tricks in Horse Trading.
Secret of Shutting a Heaver.
Heaves or broken wind more commonly perhaps than any other unsoundness,
offers opportunity and necessity for skilful handling by the trickster in
horse dealing. There are numerous plans for the temporary relief of this
disease, and so skilfully is the work done that often it is not suspected
or discovered under twenty-four hours following a purchase. The “patient”
receives no bulky food and all feed is wetted. Sometimes ammonia water
is used in sprinkling the hay, and the observant buyer may detect this
by the odor. Lime water or a solution of baking soda also is frequently
used. An examination of the bit may show that it has been “medicated”;
and allowing the horse to drink all the water he wants will be likely to
disclose the heaves when he is made to gallop or pull a load. A pint of
whiskey well diluted with water given as a drench also will be likely
quickly to offset the effect of drugs.
It is not the province of this book to furnish formulæ of the mixtures or
medicines used to “dope” or “shut” heavey horses, but rather to put the
buyer on his guard so that forewarned he may be forearmed. Therefore, the
following “dopes” employed for dishonest purposes are mentioned:
Arsenic, stramonium, lobelia, indigo, chloral hydrate, opium, melted
lard, lead shot, raw eggs, milk, fresh ox blood, vinegar, kerosene,
slaked lime in drinking water, etc., and in olden days a fistulous
opening was made in connection with the rectum for the free and silent
passage of gas.
If the buyer is allowed twenty-four hours in which to reject a horse,
heaves, if present, will usually show up in that time if the horse is
given an abundance of drinking water and bulky food and then is put to
work.
Secret of Plugging a Roarer.
It is well to examine the horse’s nostrils when making a purchase,
otherwise he may sneeze out one or more sponges on arriving at his new
home. The sponges are inserted to prevent a “roarer” from making a noise
when breathing. This is also accomplished by fastening a spring truss to
the nose band of the bridle in such a way that it causes pressure upon
the false nostrils and so lessens the intake of air when the horse is in
motion.
Sponges even of fine quality clog with mucus if left in place too long.
Dealers tie fine cords to the sponges and by this means pull them out of
the nostrils as soon as the horse is sold. Another plan is to cut off the
ends of a lemon, squeeze it dry and then insert it in the nostril. It is
left there with impunity as it will soon dry out, shrivel and be sneezed
out of the nostril.
Another trick is to pack the horse’s sheath with oakum to prevent
unpleasant noises when he is trotting; and the vagina of a lacerated
(gill flirt) mare may be similarly treated for a like reason. Laceration
of the perineum, an accident occurring at parturition, is usually
incurable, hence the importance of making a careful examination when
buying a mare.
Diamond Cut Diamond.
It is not always at the time of making a sale that the “gyp” practises
sharp tricks. When occasion offers he has been known purposely to
depreciate the value of a horse he wishes to buy. If he can make it
appear that the horse is lame, sick, broken-winded, weak eyed or balky he
may acquire him at a discount, and he has secret methods of accomplishing
his dishonest ends. A fine wire or cord tied around the pastern soon
causes symptoms simulating those of founder; or the horse limps painfully
after a horse-hair has by means of a needle been passed through a certain
part of his leg, or when a small nail has been driven into the foot or a
gravel or bean put under the shoe. A horse will stop eating and so appear
sick when tallow has been smeared upon the roof of the mouth and inner
side of the upper incisor teeth; or refuse to pull when his shoulders
and breast have been bathed with an irritating solution of corrosive
sublimate, tincture of cantharides, or tartar emetic; or seem to have
glanders when fresh butter has been melted and poured in his ears; or
afflicted with eye disease when whole flaxseed has been chewed and rubbed
on the eyes; or he can be made fractious by an application of a caustic
fluid.
The owner should make a careful search for such causes of unsoundness
should his horse mysteriously go wrong at the time when a trade is
pending, and on recognizing the possibility of a trick it is better to
call the deal off than to discount the price.
Making a Horse Act Mean.
When a “gyp” dealer learns that a farmer is having difficulty in training
a high-strung young horse, he tries to buy him at a discount, and unless
closely watched will try to make the horse act mean when examined. He
asks the owner to harness or ride the horse, and diverting his attention
for a moment, applies an irritating substance to the heels, or some other
part of the animal, causing him to kick, plunge and attempt to run away.
He calls his secret dope “dog water,” “hop-up,” “soup” or “fog,” and its
effect is intended so to disgust the horse owner that he will be glad to
sell the fractious beast at a bargain.
Often, should a buyer visit a scalper’s stable in the city, he will be
shown a fine-looking horse and attractive harness and wagon. The price
asked for the horse and outfit is a low one, and the stranger jumps
at the chance to acquire the property; but just as the horse is being
hitched up, he begins to kick or behave badly under the influence of a
dose of “soup.” The intending buyer immediately suffers from “cold feet,”
and is readily induced to take an inferior horse. The fine horse and
outfit are thus used times without number to attract buyers and assist in
the sale of unattractive, cheap horses at profitable prices.
Blowing Air Under the Skin.
When the muscles of the shoulder have wasted away, constituting the
condition termed “sweeny,” air sometimes is blown under the skin to
give the part a plump condition. This trick is easily detected, for
when the hand is passed over the inflated part it crackles (crepitates)
showing the presence of air under the skin (emphysema). The same trick
is practised to make an old horse appear younger than he really is, the
hollow’s over the eyes being blown up by means of a hollow needle, quill
or straw passed through the skin. For low hip and atrophy of the shoulder
muscles we have also known tricksters to inject a two per cent solution
of phenol under the skin and then thoroughly massage the part.
Stopping a Switcher.
Apart from operating upon the muscles of the tail to prevent switching,
which often is a bad vice in mares, dealers resort to the following
trick: The tail is tied up over the horse’s back as tightly as possible
and left in that position over night. It becomes so numbed by this
treatment that the horse is unable to use it for half a day or so after
it is let down.
The switching habit is also mechanically prevented, when the mare is
hitched, by fastening a strand of the hair or string from each side of
the tail to a part of the breeching of harness.
Tail switching is less likely to be noticed by the buyer if the tail is
tied up or braided. Therefore, it is well to let the tail down for this
and other reasons before deciding to buy the horse.
The Turpentine and Gasoline Tricks.
Temporarily to lessen or remedy the lameness of a footsore horse,
turpentine heated to the boiling point is poured into the sole of the
foot. It can be held there for five minutes by binding a bandage around
the foot so that the turpentine cannot run down over the hoof-head. The
buyer may readily detect this trick, as the odor of turpentine gives it
away when the hoof is examined.
It also is alleged that the following treatment is given for muscle
soreness, caused by use over hard stones: The night before he wishes to
sell the horse affected in this way, the “gyp” dealer will pour gasoline
over the withers, and let it flow down both shoulders and forearms.
The gasoline contracts the capillaries and larger blood vessels and
diminishes the blood pressure and nerve sensibility, thus allowing a
nearly natural movement of the muscles. Of course as soon as the effect
of the gasoline passes away the soreness will return. If gasoline were
rubbed on the muscles it would probably result in a blister.
Gingering a Show Horse.
As a preparation for the show ring contest, or before exhibiting a horse
to a prospective buyer, it is almost the general practise to insert
ginger root in the animal’s rectum that the irritation produced thereby
may cause it to carry a high tail and show spirit and action.
While this objectionable practise obtains most as regards coach and
carriage horses, it is also followed by exhibitors and sellers of draft
stallions and mares, and of recent years has been practised extensively.
Indeed the trick is becoming far too common, and we have even seen it
boldly and flagrantly practised in the judging ring to the disgust of all
decent and fair-minded spectators. Possibly there may be some excuse for
the practise as a means of setting a show or sale horse “on edge,” but
if allowed at all it should at least be done in private and be absolutely
prohibited as a public act in the show ring. We sincerely trust that
managers of horse shows will take this view of the matter; and officers
of the humane societies should see to it that horses are not excessively
tortured in this way. While the grooms of some horse exhibitors use
ginger in the judging ring, others pay some regard to the rules of
decency by backing the horses into their stalls before showing so that
the trick may be practised unnoticed by the visitors who throng the
aisles of the horse barns. We have heard of such a plan being followed
when preparing the entire string of coach horses of one owner for the
evening exhibit at a great horse show.
Unnerving and Cocaining.
Chronic lameness is done away with by skilful obliteration of the large
nerves which supply the affected parts with sensation. The operation
is termed nerving or unnerving in common parlance and, properly, as
neurectomy. It consists in cutting down upon the nerve and then removing
a portion so that its function is destroyed so far as the portion below
the seat of operation is concerned. Unnerving is most often done to hide
the lameness caused by navicular disease which is incurable: it may
also be practised on account of ringbone, side-bone, founder or other
unsoundness of the foot. After unnerving the horse does not evince pain
when the parts below the seat of the operation are pinched or pricked.
The operation merely does away with pain and lameness. It is in no way a
cure.
Cocaine or eucaine solution injected by means of a hypodermic syringe
upon the nerves at the points where neurectomy would be performed will
temporarily have an effect like that of the operation. Just after the
injection a swollen or puffed place may be discovered at the point where
the hypodermic needle was inserted, and local soreness may be present
after the effects of the drug have subsided.
Keep an Eye on the Sign-Board.
Dr. Hawley advises that when buying horses at auction one should watch
the sign-board, as it may be suddenly shifted from “serviceably sound” to
“wind and work.” In such a case a horse slightly lame may be purchased
with no chance of rejection.
Secret of Hiding a Spavin.
It is an old “gyp” trick to beat one hock-joint with a stick so that it
will swell and acquire the same size as the hock unsound from spavin.
Caustic solutions injected under the skin at the seat of spavin also
smooth the appearance of the joint.
If spavin is suspected, test for it by picking up the hind foot and
holding it toward the stifle for two or three minutes so as to tightly
shut the hock-joint. Then drop the foot and instantly have the horse
trotted. If spavin, apparent or hidden (occult), is present the horse
will hop off on three legs, or go much lamer than before.
Artificially Induced Knee Action.
True knee action is an inborn trait in certain horses, such as those of
the English hackney breed, and some families of American trotters; but in
many high-stepping horses, sold on the market, such action is unnatural,
and has been acquired. The true knee actor flexes his hocks about as
freely as he does his knees. This is the test: Watch a fashionable,
high-going coacher, and if the action is not well balanced, and if the
hind legs are imperfectly flexed, and seem to have difficulty in “keeping
up with the procession,” depend upon it that the horse has been trained
to go as he does and easily may forget his lessons on leaving school.
The “gyp” trick is to wet the hoof heads with turpentine, which sets up
intense irritation and induces knee action. This is readily discovered by
remembering to run the hands over the coronets when examining the horse,
then noting if they smell of any drug.
The horse trainer, on the other hand, develops high knee action by
putting on heavy shoes, the toes being left long; by trotting and
galloping the horse in plowed land, deep snow, or a deep bed of straw.
He also frequently taps the legs back of the knees with a whip or light
stick as the horse takes daily walking exercise. Soon the animal learns
the trick of high stepping, and thus is ready to match with one of like
kind and gait, for sale at a high figure to some rich man in the city.
A coach horse with extraordinary high knee action was sold by a dealer to
a city man for $400. In a few days the buyer returned the horse saying,
“Sell him over again; you put him on me, now stick some one else with
him.” This horse had stringhalt in both fore legs which caused him to go
high.
In buying a coach or hackney stallion or mare for breeding purposes, see
to it that the high action is natural and not acquired or due to chorea,
else the tendency to step high will not be transmitted to the progeny.
The Artificial Tail Trick.
Where a horse is bought without careful examination of the tail, it may
transpire when too late for redress that the switching appendage has been
joined on. We remember examining a fine, thoroughbred running horse that
was to be used for saddle purposes. Everything passed scrutiny until we
came to the tail, which was that of some other horse, nicely held in
place by clamps. When it was removed it was found that the horse under
examination possessed a mere vestigial stump of a tail—a regular shaving
brush affair—and on that account the deal, like the tail, was all off.
Draft and work horses are often offered with the tail braided and tied
up. Where this is the case, the intending buyer should let the tail down
and then he may find that a big foreign switch has been braided in with
the scant supply of natural hair.
The critical examination of the tail will also save the prospective
purchaser from acquiring an animal afflicted with pigment tumors (see
page 48), or one that is about to lose a portion of the tail by gangrene,
due to keeping a cord too tightly and too long around the part when tied
up in muddy weather, or while exposed for sale.
Keeping a Horse “In the Air.”
The dealer tries to keep a horse “in the air” as much as possible when
showing him to a prospective buyer, but the latter should be sure to
examine the horse when he is “standing at ease.” The object of keeping
the horse rattled by cracking whips, shaking barn door latches, rattling
a whip handle inside of a derby hat, whooping, yelling, and chasing
behind him, is to make him appear spirited, or to hide some lameness.
Often the horse so treated has a spavin, the laming effects of which
disappear with exercise, and this also is true if the horse has navicular
disease or chorea.
This absurd treatment of the horse is customary in the selling of a heavy
draft stallion that has been so fattened, pampered and drugged that he
is practically asleep half the time, and has to be waked up by strenuous
means to give him an appearance of life. A naturally acute and wide-awake
horse needs little urging.
The Loose Shoe Trick.
When a horse is a poor mover, but stylish and likely to be a prize winner
in the show ring, the owner tries to avoid putting him through his paces
before the judges. A shoe is loosely tacked on, so that when the horse is
trotted it comes off, and the owner then blames imperfection of motion to
the loss of the shoe.
We remember a case in the judging ring where a stallion with notoriously
poor, flat, brittle hoofs was being trotted out for inspection by the
awarding committee. At the first trot out, off flew the shoe, carrying
with it a goodly portion of horny wall. “Too bad, too bad!” condoled
the judge with the owner, who instantly replied, “Oh, that’s all right;
a horse with a foot like that will never miss it!” And the judge—a
beginner—seemed to take it for granted that the foot was a specially good
one, precisely as he was expected to do, and he gave the horse a prize,
although he had not been properly shown out like his rivals.
Wire Marks Over Side-Bones.
Instances have been disclosed where gashes have purposely been cut with
a knife on the hoof head just over a prominent side-bone so that when
the wounds healed and left large scars the side-bones might be laid to a
wire cut. This trick is mostly used in the case of a stallion that might,
on account of a side-bone, be refused a license for public service in
states where laws are in force for the supervision of the horse breeding
industry.
In Wisconsin, which was the first state to enact a stallion service law,
we found large scars over side-bones on both fore feet of a pure-bred
draft stallion. In another case, where a complaint was filed to the
effect that a stallion was unsound from side-bone, the owner claimed
by letter that the side-bone was due to a calk wound. Examination by a
veterinarian disclosed the fact that the wound scar was over a side-bone
on a _hind_ foot, and there were two large side-bones on each fore foot
and no scars on the latter. The state license of this horse was promptly
cancelled for cause.
Wedging a Cribber.
Some dealers temporarily make a horse desist from cribbing by driving
hard wood wedges between his front incisor teeth. Another old plan is
to saw between the teeth. The soreness makes it painful for the horse
to practise the habit of cribbing. Such a horse may be returned to the
commission man, no matter how much time has elapsed since the purchase.
The trick is difficult to discover unless the horse has cribbed long
enough to render the appearance of the teeth suspicious. In the confirmed
cribber the teeth are worn off or levelled and usually have lost the
marks.
Another way of stopping a horse from cribbing is to blindfold the animal,
place a block of wood on the incisor teeth and strike it with a mallet.
By this cruel means the parts are made so sore that the horse temporarily
stops catching hold of the manger to crib and suck wind.
The buyer should always, when possible, see the horse in the stall prior
to the show out. If he remembers this and moves quick enough he may see
the horse wearing a strap buckled around his neck just back of the ears.
Such a horse is a cribber and wind-sucker and the strap is put on to
prevent the latter vice.
Making an Artificial Star.
It sometimes happens or is claimed to have happened that a pure-bred
foal, registered when young in the stud book, is set down as having a
star in its forehead but which on attaining maturity shows no such mark.
Sometimes in matching horses a difficulty is experienced when a perfect
mate is found with the exception that a star is lacking.
In such cases the horseman is occasionally more or less successful in
producing an artificial star. One plan suggested is to cut a boiling
hot potato in two and instantly apply the cut surface to the skin of
the forehead. The scalding removes the hair and it comes in white, but
a careful examination of such an artificial scar often will disclose a
small pink, hairless spot in the center of the mark. The same tell-tale
spot is seen where the artificial star has been produced by cauterizing
with a red-hot iron or scalding with boiling water. The discovery of an
artificial star on the forehead of a stallion or mare sold as pure-bred
and registered is sufficient reason for making a careful investigation as
to the identity of the animal and the integrity of the seller.
An old book gives the following plan of making an artificial star: Take a
piece of coarse tow-linen, the size of the wished-for star. Spread on it
warm pitch, and apply it to the shaved spot; leave it on for two or three
days, then wash with a smart water, or elixir of vitriol, two or three
times a day until well. When the hair grows it will be white.
Black Spots on a White Horse.
An old veterinary book says: Take of powdered quicklime half a pound, and
litharge four ounces. Beat well the litharge with the lime. The above is
to be put into a vessel and a sharp lye is to be poured over it. This is
the coloring matter which must be applied to such parts of the animal as
you wish to have dyed black.
Broken Crest or Wrong Lying Mane.
In certain gross, coarse-necked, heavy-maned, plethoric draft stallions
advancing in age it is not uncommon to find the crest broken over under
the weight of the mane. Attempts are sometimes made by the owner or
seller to offset this objectionable condition by braiding the mane
and causing it to lie upon the side of the neck opposite the break by
weighting with flat strips of lead attached to the hair. If the crest
breaks over to either side the mane may be roached. Weights may also
be used in similar fashion to shed the mane of one horse of a pair so
that it will lie on the proper side of the neck to make the team well
matched and dressed. A broken crest is objectionable in a stallion as it
indicates coarseness and grossness, a tendency to which is likely to be
transmitted. The term broken crest is sometimes applied in the market to
a horse affected with fistulous withers or scarred therefrom.
Concealing Discharging Sinuses.
It is not uncommon for a horse to have a fistula (opening or sinus) of
a salivary duct. Where this is so there will be a discharge of saliva
which appears as a limpid, transparent liquid oozing out or flowing in a
stream. It is most profuse when the animal is eating and at that time may
escape in jets.
Such fistulæ commonly involve Stenon’s duct and are located on the side
of the face or jaw. They are difficult to remedy, and the dealer resorts
to the use of strong astringents and then plugs the openings tightly with
cotton to temporarily prevent escape of saliva until a sale has been
effected.
A fistula connecting with the root of a diseased molar and discharging
pus through a sinus (pipe) the orifice of which is under the lower
jaw, may be plugged in similar fashion, to be discovered later by the
chagrined buyer. It also is possible temporarily to prevent escape of pus
from small chronic fistulæ or those resulting from poll-evil, fistulous
withers or trephining of the bones of the face.
The Galloping Past Dodge.
Some horses roar loudly when going fast in harness, but are instantly
quiet when action ceases. To prevent the detection of this unsoundness
the seller, unless prevented from doing so by an experienced buyer,
gallops the horse past the latter and, by tugging upon the lines, makes
it appear that the animal is trying to run away or is difficult to
control. The team is pulled up some distance away and by the time the
buyer gets there the horse has resumed normal breathing.
The better way to test the horse’s wind is to lock the rear wheels of
a wagon by thrusting a strong stick between the spokes from one wheel
to the other; then make the horses pull the wagon at a run and be at
their heads the moment they stop. Such horses may not be true roarers
but mechanical chokers with thick, bull necks or enlarged throat glands.
These are practically sound and only roar when pulling a heavy load up
hill or on getting the chin down close to the chest.
Keeping a Horse on Edge.
A horseman of the old school writes: “When dealers have had a horse some
time in their stables, they exercise him with a whip two or three times
a day, so that when a ‘chapman’ goes to look at him, they have only to
stir their hand with the whip in it. Under such conditions it is hard to
say whether the horse, fearful of a drubbing, is lame or not, and a good
judge may be deceived.”
In another place he says: “A horse that goes with his fore feet low is
very apt to stumble and there are some that go so near the ground that
they stumble most on even road, and the dealers, to remedy this, put
heavy shoes on their feet, for the heavier a horse’s shoes are, the
higher he will lift his feet.”
“An Eye for An Eye.”
The buyer should have a keen look out for the eye of the horse; otherwise
he may easily make sad mistakes in the market.
The pupil of the eye should contract when the horse comes out into the
light. If it does not, the eye is blind, or at least unsound. Such eyes
have an unnatural appearance which should attract the attention of the
alert examiner, but he will be very apt to overlook the blindness if the
horse is led out into the bright sunshine. Where a horse has recently
become blind from periodic ophthalmia (moon blindness), he may still be
able to detect a bright light, and so when exposed to sunshine, may throw
up his head and look directly at the sun. This act makes the examiner
liable to consider the eyes sound.
Periodic ophthalmia, as suggested by the term, comes on at intervals, but
eventually after repeated attacks ends in blindness of one or both eyes.
A horse that has had a few attacks, causing a slight opacity of the
cornea (scum), is a favorite with the scalper, as he can be bought cheap,
treated for the temporary clearing up of the eyes, and sold at a profit
to an unwary buyer. The disease is incurable, and its presence is to be
suspected when the eyebrow appears triangular and wrinkled, and the eye
looks smaller than its mate, or a healthy eye, and is retracted into the
orbit.
Unscrupulous buyers sometimes render a horse temporarily blind by chewing
whole flaxseed to a pulp and smearing it in the eye. By washing a cloudy,
sticky-looking eyeball, this trick is readily discovered.
A horse may also be rendered temporarily blind by the administration of
certain drugs.
The clearing-up process of treating a blue-eyed or moon-blind horse also
is effected by skilful use of such drugs as atropia, belladonna, eserine,
nitrate of mercury ointment, bloodroot, alum, calomel, etc. Their
effect is transitory, and the horse soon has an unmistakable attack of
ophthalmia.
Examine the Ears.
It will be well to “put a flea in the ear” of the man who contemplates
buying a horse and who may not know that the ear will bear investigation.
If the animal will not submit to inspection, look out! The horse that
will not allow one to handle his ears, or fights when the attempt is
made, may be a terror to shoe, and therefore has had the “twitch” put
on his ear many a time in the blacksmith’s shop; or he may have had
poll-evil, some injury to the ear, or head, or have a disease present
which makes the ear sore or sensitive. A horse so affected is difficult
to handle, as he fights when the halter or bridle is put on.
Sometimes a fine silken thread may be found running under the forelock
from ear to ear to prevent them from lopping over.
Or there may be a leaden bullet suspended by a silk thread in the
hollow of the ear to prevent its constant motion. Sometimes the motion
indicates impaired sight or nervousness, whereas the lack of it may
indicate deafness.
Then, too, we sometimes find at the base of the ear a chronic, almost
incurable fistulous opening and tract connecting with the bursa mucosa,
constantly discharging a substance like liquid vaseline, which daubs and
mats the hair, giving the part an untidy, filthy appearance.
Besides this, temporarily stitched and glued split ears, chronic eczema
and warts may be looked for and avoided. It is more difficult to find ear
ticks, such as are met with in southwestern states, but when present they
cause great irritation, and may make a horse fractious.
Bishoping, an Old Trick.
John C. Knowlson,[1] an old farrier, writing in 1850, says: “Horse
dealers have a trick of knocking out the nook teeth at three years and
a half, to make a horse appear five years old when only four; but they
cannot raise the tusks. At six years old the nook teeth are a little
hollow, and at seven there is a black mark, like the end of a ripe bean.
Afterwards you will observe the flesh shrink from the teeth, which
grow long and yellow. Horse dealers have also a method which they call
_Bishoping a horse’s mouth_; that is, filing the tusks shorter, rounding
them at the ends, taking a little out of the nook teeth, so as to make
them rather hollow, and then burning them with a hot iron. I was hired by
Anthony Johnson, of Wincolmlee, Hull, as farrier to a number of horses
that were going to the city of Moscow, in Russia, for sale, and we had a
little gray horse, called Peatum, that was seventeen years old, the mouth
of which I bishoped, and he passed for six years old, and was the first
horse sold, and for £500 English money! I only mention this as a caution
to horse buyers.”
[1] See note on page 47, relating to “An old operation for
spavin.”
How Bishoping is Done.
Bishoping is dental forgery, false marks being made on the incisor
teeth to make an old horse appear young. It is a dishonest practise
and not to be countenanced for a moment by a reputable horseman. The
modus operandi of the business is told as follows in a well-known book
on “Animal Dentistry”: “Renewal of the cups (bishoping) is the most
important of the artificial attempts to make horses appear younger, and
if performed intelligently upon horses that are not too old, together
with the shortening and polishing of the crowns of the superior incisors,
may deceive even the vaunted expert. The operation consists of cutting
large cups in the inferior corners, smaller ones in the laterals and mere
dots in the centrals and then staining them with silver nitrate. The
cupping process is performed with an engraver’s gouge, and a revolving
hand drill, or by the modern ingenious implement in vogue in the Chicago
market, consisting of the foot engine used by human dentists, equipped
with a circular cutting wheel, by which cups of perfectly normal shape
and size can be made. The horse is backed into a single stall and secured
in a dental halter. An assistant works the dental engine with the foot.
The operator holding the hand piece of the flexible shaft in the right
hand and the jaw in the other, cuts first a large elliptical cup, with
sharp commissures, in the table of the corner incisors, then smaller ones
in the laterals and small dots in the centrals. As the wheel revolves
with great velocity, the cupping is the work of but a moment, if the
horse stands complacently. When the corner tooth has but a small table
it is enlarged by filling and the cup is cut across its entire length.
The cup in the corners is frequently made with a rounded belly internally
and a sharp commissure externally to give a more confusing if not a more
natural appearance. When the cupping process is complete, the arcade is
dried and kept free from saliva by wrapping the jaw behind the teeth
with a cloth or towel. The cups are then stained by applying a saturated
solution of silver nitrate with a stick and then drying it immediately
by plunging the head of a burning match into it. The drying process
immediately blackens the cavity. If the stain flows over the table of the
tooth it is filed off.
Shortening, polishing, cupping and staining the incisor teeth of a
nine or ten-year-old horse may be so cleverly performed that the most
circumspect study of the mouth may fail to detect the alteration. In
these cases the cupping is limited to the removal of the crusta petrosa
within the infundibula, thus leaving the cup with a perfect enamel
boundary. At that age the other retrogressive changes are not pronounced,
and afford but little evidence to guide the diagnostician. When horses
are past the age of twelve years the results of these operations are
easily detected by the interrupted contact of the incisor arcades (rows
of teeth) and especially by the angle of inclination, which is never
altered by any natural process and which cannot be artificially changed.
The shape of the tables and the absence of enamel around the cup will
also lead readily to detection of the fraudulent attempts to make very
old horses appear younger.”
Miscellaneous Secrets.
The Widow Trick.
Some years since it was common to find cunningly worded horse-sale
advertisements in the daily newspapers, offering seemingly valuable
animals at sacrifice prices. In some of these advertisements it was
stated that a widow about to leave for Europe, where she hoped to be able
to assuage the grief of her recent bereavement, would sell her favorite
carriage horse, provided she could be assured of a good home and kind
treatment for the highly esteemed animal. In reality the widow was a myth
and the valuable horse a good looking, but worthless “robber.”
The scheme was craftily carried out, and many a man from the country
fell a dupe to the wiles of the “widow” and her confederates. On going
to the address mentioned in the advertisement, the prospective buyer
would find a large stable in the rear of a fine old-fashioned mansion
on one of the outlying boulevards or avenues. Here in charge of a
glib-tongued coachman, usually a colored man, would be found several
finely groomed horses standing knee deep in the finest of wheat straw
bedding and surrounded by every appointment of a swell private stable.
Opening negotiations with the groom, the buyer would hear one of the
most plausible and pleasing tales imaginable elaborative of a similar,
condensed story told in the glowing advertisement that had induced the
visit. The filly or gelding would be described as bred in the purple,
by Allerton, out of Kentucky Queen, she by a Pilot Jr., or some such
combination of standard blood, possessed of great speed, having done
halves in 1.08, a final quarter in 34 seconds, and the half “would have
been as good as 1.06¼ had the track ‘near the pole’ not been heavy
from a recent rain.” When the purchaser had become interested, but not
sufficiently so to agree to a somewhat steep price, the “widow” dressed
in deepest mourning and heavily veiled would opportunely appear upon the
scene, do the weeping act and manage matters so adroitly that soon a
bargain would be struck at a handsome figure.
Sometimes a “Colonel” or a “General” or a “Judge” would take the place
of the “widow,” the man posing as that character being suitably dressed
for the part, commanding in appearance, and so plausible and polished in
address as to disarm all suspicion. During the preliminary negotiations
between the groom and the buyer, the “General” would be conveniently
stationed in the hay-loft overhead and would be summoned by electric bell
when wanted, the “sucker” meanwhile being taken into the alley to see the
horse go through his paces.
Needless to say that the buyer on getting the horse home and trying him
out quickly rued his bargain, and equally unnecessary to say that when he
went back to the swell stable for redress he found the place abandoned
and was wholly unable to locate the men who had perpetrated the swindle.
This method of fleecing the unwary buyer is still in vogue but far less
common than was the case before the advent of the automobile. Still it
will be well to take glowing horse-sale advertisements with a large grain
of salt, and better still to purchase a horse through some reliable
commission man or dealer.
Landing a Sucker.
Dr. H. W. Hawley, an experienced veterinary horse buyer at the Chicago
Stock Yards, says in the June, 1903, number of the Chicago Veterinary
College “Quarterly Bulletin,” that most of the tricks of the horse
dealing trade, though not all of them, are performed by scalpers. It
takes only a few glances or questions for the sharper to know just the
sort of horse the city buyer is looking for, and the scalper, with the
aid of his colleagues, proceeds to “land a sucker.”
The gentlemanly scalper, with a disinterested manner, informs the buyer
that he saw a lovely horse in a certain barn, the color being mentioned,
but not being a horseman he knows nothing as to the soundness of the
animal, nor as to the price. Word is sent along the line, and everything
is ready. The horse is led out and just suits; is sound and all right,
but the sum asked is $25 to $75 more than the market price. Perhaps the
unsuspecting buyer will offer $10 or $15 more than the auction price, but
he is allowed to go away with a polite, “Thank you, for the offer.”
Another disinterested party whispers in the buyer’s ear that the horse
will be sold at auction. Sure enough, the animal is led to the auction
stables, and care is taken that the buyer sees it passing.
The auctioneer and ringman are posted, and they wait for the sucker. The
horseman starts the animal at pretty near his value. The bidding is
rapid. The sucker gets in, and under excitement bids two or three times.
Perhaps one of the regular eastern shippers bids once, but as a rule, the
sucker, the auctioneer, and the scalper are the only bidders. The latter
can usually tell when the victim has made his last bid, and the horse
is knocked down to him at a good profit, which is divided between those
concerned.
Sometimes the auctioneer is fooled by the sucker refusing to bid again.
In such a case the scalper kicks out of his last bid and the horse is
sold to the sucker at his previous bid.
A Horse That Was Right There.
A New Hampshire horse dealer was “burned” by trading for a horse that
would work anywhere and pull strongly except when he came to the foot of
a hill; there he would balk and refuse to pull a pound. After he had kept
the horse about a month a stranger came along and was “taken in.” The
horse looked well and a trade was made for another horse and considerable
“boot.” The buyer asked the dealer if the horse was a good worker and was
told, “You bet! He will work any place you put him and when you come to
the foot of a hill I tell you _he’s right there_!”
So the buyer discovered, and on complaining bitterly to the dealer was
reminded of his honesty and candor in stating that at the foot of a
hill he would always be right there. No doubt he paid more particular
attention to the plausible talk of the dealer the next time he had
occasion to “dicker” for a “hoss.”
An Honest “Hoss” Dealer.
There lived in Michigan a shrewd old horse dealer who gave folks due
warning to beware when he donned his selling clothes. He used to say:
“When I say, ‘Hoss’,—look out! I’m a-goin’ to trade. But when it’s
‘Horse,’—nawthin’ doin’! Ye’re perfectly safe.”
It is related that this character had a balky horse put on him by brother
dealers in a neighboring town; but a few days later he got even, and with
the same “hoss.” The former owners failed to recognize the beast, for in
the interim it had been clipped, roached, docked and bishoped, besides
receiving a few artistic spots of dye, and having had “tug marks” and
“collar galls” manufactured by skilful shaving at the right places. In
his new fix he looked a young, handsome, hard-working animal, but when
the deal was made and the new owners hitched him up, they realized at
once that both they and the horse were “stuck.”
A Sharper’s Smooth Sayings.
Elsewhere we have told of a balker that “was right there at the foot of
a hill” or that would “stand without hitching.” The scalper and crafty
dealer use many catchy phrases of this sort, and they fool the buyer
unless he has sharp ears and quick comprehension.
A few additional catch sayings may prove of interest: A dealer having
a horse with defective eyesight fitted him out with close blinkers and
said to the buyer, “He doesn’t look very well.” Another said of a heavey
horse, “If he ain’t windy you needn’t take him.”
Again, as to looks, and ability in harness, one said, “If he don’t suit
you in harness you can take it off,” and again, “Single I bought him;
double I broke him myself.”
Some of the dealers are wits and most of them have quaint expressions and
sayings. The following sample will suffice: A dealer was seen exercising
a horse so badly foundered in his hind feet that he not only walked on
his heels but stood with his fore and hind feet almost on the same spot
under his body. “Say! What are you goin’ to do with that critter!” asked
a bystander, and like a flash came the answer, “Take him to Indiana to
tramp sourkraut in a barrel.”
The Winter Board Trick.
A farmer read an advertisement in a city paper asking for a winter
home and board for two family horses that the owner desired to leave
comfortably provided for in the country during his absence in Europe.
The farmer went to the city to investigate and found a fine pair of
horses in a swell stable. Soon a bargain, profitable to the farmer, was
arranged at a specified rate per week for board, stabling and care during
the winter, but as the pleased stranger was about to leave for home, the
stableman said, “Here, you are a stranger to me, and therefore you ought
to put up some security for having such a valuable pair of horses in your
care.” After some discussion, the farmer was induced to deposit $100 as
security, and went home, congratulating himself upon the good winter’s
profit he would have in looking after the horses which were to be shipped
to him by train the following day. In due course, two horses arrived,
but they were old “plugs,” worth perhaps $5 a piece. The swindle cost
the farmer $90 and his expenses, for when he went to the city to hunt up
the sharper, he found the stable in the same old place, but the bird had
flown, and no one could tell him where.
How Horses Catch Cold.
An old time farrier wisely says: “Many farmers and tradesmen get too much
drink when they go to market, and then set off home, riding like madmen,
and calling at some public house on the road to get more of the _soul and
body destroying evil_, leave their horses to stand sweating at the door,
where it is no wonder that they get cold. Wagoners, carters, and coal
carriers, are also often guilty of this abominable practise.”
Tricks in Measuring Horses.
It is often important to have a horse not less than some given height,
and great care has to be taken in making the necessary measurement with
the “hand stick” (hippometer). If the horse is under or over the desired
height the dealer may irritate the animal so that an exact measurement is
difficult or impossible to make.
If the horse is undersized the dealer will try to stand him with the
hind feet low. In the stable or yard everything is prepared so that this
may be easily done. Another plan is to put on abnormally thick shoes,
or those having calkins; the animal’s head is kept lowered so that
the withers will be correspondingly heightened. Opposite methods are
practised when a horse is a trifle too high for show-yard requirements or
mating, and such tricks have given buyers of horses for the army no end
of trouble.
When a horse is to be measured stand him on a level floor and then see
that the measuring is honestly done.
[Illustration]
Secrets About Stallion Selling.
Palming Off a Grade Stallion on a Company.
The fact that several bogus pedigree registry associations are in
existence, although they have not received the approval of the Department
of Agriculture at Washington, makes it possible for dishonest stallion
peddlers to obtain fraudulent registry certificates and, by using them,
to fool the farmer. It would be well if no registry associations were
allowed to engage in the interstate business of recording the pedigrees
of breeding animals without first obtaining the approval of the Secretary
of Agriculture.
A stallion whose sire was said by the owner to be “Middleton II” and out
of a dam of part Morgan blood, was given a grade license certificate by
the Department of Horse Breeding, of the College of Agriculture, of the
University of Wisconsin. Some time later the horse changed hands and
the buyer, who was an experienced organizer of stallion companies, had
him recorded in a bogus stud book which issues a handsome, gold sealed
registry certificate. On this the stallion was given an entirely new and
wholly false pedigree, the sire being set forth as “Grove Revenue” and
the dam as a well-bred Shire. On the strength of this attractive registry
certificate of notable ancestry and the help of a few confederates, the
stallion was sold to a company of hard-working farmers in one of the
northern counties of the state for $1,800 in shares of $75 each. Some of
the notes were discounted and the peddler disappeared, but now the matter
is in the courts, as the Department of Horse Breeding discovered the
swindle and put the company “wise.”
Another case has been discovered where a grade stallion was sold for a
good price as pure-bred on the strength of a registry certificate from
the stud book alluded to and “imported” according to the statement of the
peddler. The owner in this case also learned too late that he had fallen
a victim to sharpers, and will now seek redress in the courts.
Many similar cases could be cited and they serve to show the importance
of studying the registry certificate furnished with the horse and making
sure that it was issued by a stud book association approved by the
Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.
Stud Books Approved by the Government.
The following registry associations have been approved by the Department
of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.:
American Association of Importers and Breeders of Belgian Draft Horses—J.
D. Connor, Jr., Wabash, Ind., Secretary.
American Breeders’ Association of Jacks and Jennets—J. W. Jones,
Columbia, Tenn., Secretary.
American Clydesdale Association—R. B. Ogilvie, Union Stock-yards,
Chicago, Ill., Secretary.
American Hackney Horse Society—Gurney C. Gue, 308 West 97th St., New
York, Secretary.
American Breeders’ and Importers’ Percheron Registry—John A. Forney,
Plainfield, O., Secretary.
American Saddle Horse Breeders’ Association—I. B. Nall, Louisville, Ky.,
Secretary.
American Shetland Pony Club—Mortimer Levering, Lafayette, Ind., Secretary.
American Shire Horse Breeders’ Association—Chas. Burgess, Wenona, Ill.,
Secretary.
American Stud Book (Thoroughbreds)—W. H. Rowe, New York, Registrar.
American Trotting Register Co.—Frank E. Best, 355 Dearborn St., Chicago,
Registrar.
American Suffolk Horse Association—Alexander Galbraith, De Kalb, Ill.,
Secretary.
Cleveland Bay Society of America—R. P. Stericker, West Orange, N. J.,
Secretary.
French Coach Horse Society of America—Duncan E. Willett, Oak Park, Ill.,
Secretary.
French Coach Registry Co.—Chas. C. Glenn, Columbus, O., Secretary.
German, Hanoverian and Oldenburg Coach Horse Breeders’ Association—J.
Crouch, Lafayette, Ind., Secretary.
Morgan Horse Register—Joseph Battell, Middlebury, Vt., Editor.
National French Draft Horse Association—C. E. Stubbs, Fairfield, Iowa,
Secretary.
Percheron Society of America—Geo. W. Stubblefield, Union Stock-yards,
Chicago, Secretary.
Percheron Registry Co.—Chas. C. Glenn, Columbus, O., Secretary.
Stud Books Not Certified by the Government.
The following registry books are not at the date of this writing, August
4, 1909, certified by the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.:
American Horse Breeders’ Trotting Registry Association, 161 High St.,
Boston, Mass.
American Horse Registry Association—N. J. Harris, Des Moines, Ia.,
Secretary.
Arabian Horse Club of America—H. K. Bush-Brown, Newburgh, N. Y.,
Secretary.
American Iceland Pony Club—Geo. H. Simpson, Wheaton, Ill., Secretary.
American Percheron Registry Association—S. M. Heberling, La Grange, Ill.,
Secretary.
Coach and Draft Horse Association of America—Frederick Wightman, La
Crosse, Wis.
Hartman Stock Farm Registry Record Co.—Adam Krumm, Columbus, O.,
Secretary.
International Consolidated Record Association—H. A. Jones, Penn Yan, N.
Y., Secretary.
Morrisons’ International Roadster Register—Des Moines, Iowa.
The American Jack Register—W. L. De Clow, Cedar Rapids, Ia.
The National Standard Pacing and Trotting Horse Breeders’
Association—Thos. C. Parsons, 1023-5 Williamson Building, Cleveland, O.,
Registrar.
The Standard Jack and Jennet Registry of America—Kansas City, Mo.
Story of a Company Stallion Deal.
A few years ago a suit for the payment of fraudulently obtained notes
for the purchase of a stallion was thrown out of court by Judge Carland,
of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for want of equity. A transcript of the
evidence shows that there were the best of reasons for the Judge’s action.
It was alleged by the defendants, a number of farmers, that their names
were secured in a book, by reason of representations made by an agent of
the horse importer that they were signing a call for a meeting of farmers
to consider the matter of buying a stallion for $5,000, and that when
twenty names were secured a meeting would be called.
The names were secured and the meeting called, but instead of being asked
to consider the matter of buying the horse the signers were informed that
they had already agreed to buy the horse and jointly and severally pay
$5,000 for him in four equal yearly payments, the first payment to be
in two years, with six per cent. interest on all payments. In a proof
of this it was shown that a brief contract in small type was printed at
the top of the page of the book in which the names were signed which
bound the signers as alleged. Upon this revelation the meeting became the
opposite of one called to consider the purchase of the horse, as may be
readily imagined.
The evidence shows that the defendants either did not know there was
any printing matter on the page they signed, or if they did see it did
not read it, and were told by the agent that it had nothing to do with
the matter under consideration, or to be exact, one farmer testified:
“I looked the thing over: I noticed this contract at the head of it and
I asked what that fine print was there. He (the agent) said that it was
an Iowa contract and did not cut any figure in this State.” Another
explanation was testified to by another witness, quoted further on. Some
witnesses testified that a broad rubber band or a turned leaf concealed
the contract. The agent testified that he did not call any of the
defendants’ attention to the contract, didn’t know if they saw it, but
“supposed they did, for they had the book in their hands.”
All the defendants testified that they would not have signed the book if
they had known the contract was there. Regarding the matter of what the
meeting was to be called for, one farmer testified as follows, and he was
corroborated by the other witnesses for the defense, and by at least one
witness for the plaintiffs:
“Question: State what that conversation was, what he (the agent) said and
what you said.”
“Answer: He told me he was trying to sell a horse and wanted me to sign
a book. I asked the object of signing the book and he said it was just
to call a meeting and get the men together and see if they would buy the
horse. I asked him why he wanted our names on the book if he just wanted
to call a meeting, why didn’t he call it without our names on the book?
Well, he says, you fellows are strangers to me, your names are unfamiliar
and I want a list of them so that I will know who to notify when I get
ready to call a meeting, or else, he says, I may forget some of you who
would like a share in that horse. Then I asked if there was anything
binding about the book. I saw some printed matter and asked him what that
was and he said there was nothing binding about it. I asked him what it
was and what it was there for. He said it was just a memorandum showing
that the meeting was called for, and the meeting would be to make a
proposition to us to sell the horse and if we seen fit to buy the horse,
well and good. If not, he said he would be out so much time and no harm
done. That is the sum and substance of the conversation we had until I
signed the book.”
It seems clear enough that the defendants believed they were simply
signing a call for a meeting to consider the subject of forming a company
to buy the horse; at any rate the case seemed so clear to Judge Carland
that he did not seriously consider the question of compelling the farmers
to give their notes as demanded by the plaintiffs, and threw the case out
of court.
Horse Peddlers’ Confessions.
A peddler is a horse sharper who buys a cheap stallion of questionable
quality, soundness, prepotency or breeding, from some large horse
dealing firm, and then organizes a company of farmers for his purchase
at a handsome profit. The tricks of such men are many and shady, and a
few of them are here quoted for the benefit of farmers, who being thus
forewarned, should in future be forearmed against the wiles of these
glib-tongued confidence men.
The “Farm, Stock and Home” vouches for the truth of the following
personal confession of a stallion peddler:
The Sale of Les Epinards.
I had noticed in a farm paper the advertisement of an auction sale of
Percheron horses to be held at the farm of a breeder in an adjoining
state. I slipped down there a few days before the date of sale, and
picked out a nice looking, two-year-old stallion and on the day of sale
bid $320 and the horse was sold to me. A pedigree was thrown in, but
as it was written in the English language and the horse had a common,
pronounceable name, I discarded it and christened him Les Epinards.
At that time I didn’t know what Les Epinards meant, but remembered
having seen it somewhere. I shipped him to a small town and started in
to organize a company to buy him for $2,800. The pedigree proposition
bothered me until I heard Billie was organizing a company in the next
county. He very kindly lent me a pedigree that he had in his trunk which
answered very well for Les Epinards. It was natural for me to say that
the Epinards were celebrated breeders over in France who always named
their horses after themselves. The name and the horse made a hit, and in
six weeks’ time I had the signatures of ten farmers each for $280, four
of them good, and the others just well enough known to the banker to
cut down his discount 15 per cent. As it was a joint note, the banker
realized in full and I came out of the sale in this fashion:
Price to company $2,800
EXPENSES
Paid for the horse $320
Freight 12
Bank discount 420
Board 60
Paid cappers 150
Groom 55
Feed 18 1,035
---- ------
Profit $1,765
Now that’s what Tummy would call “financial acumen.” I bought a horse at
an auction sale for $320, shipped him to another county in the same state
and sold him for $2,800. It gradually dawned on me that there was more
money in the selling than there was in the breeding and raising. Tummy
was a wise boy, but I was beginning to learn a few things myself.
The same paper published the following, October 1, 1905:
The Sale of Transmigrator.
The easy money I made on the sale of Les Epinards as narrated in the
last issue, emboldened me to try a new dodge. A fair was being held in
Winnipeg. While there I fell in with a horse breeder who had a number of
Percherons on his farm, some distance to the east of that town. At his
invitation I visited the farm and was somewhat surprised at the prices he
quoted for fine-looking stallions. One two-year-old of necessary size and
shape he offered me for $300. It was not any part of my business to tell
him who I was, and I am inclined to think he took me for a farmer from
the states. In the horse peddling business the less people know about you
the better and easier it is for the peddler, so I never corrected him.
I bought the horse, imported him across the imaginary line dividing the
two countries duty free by making affidavit he was to be used exclusively
for breeding purposes and by satisfying the authorities with the pedigree
furnished me by the Canadian that he was a pure-bred animal.
With the rich selected feed my groom knew how to mix, helped along with
artistic grooming and care, Transmigrator—the name he was to be known
by—waxed fat and sleek. I could truthfully say he was imported, but as he
was a bit shy on prize winnings I could not harp much on that score. Blue
ribbons were cheap, however, and when we decked him out with a supply
of them, he looked as fit as the majority of horses I sold for certain
importers. Inasmuch as his pedigree was written in English, and certified
to by officials with easy names to pronounce, I resolved to give the
company a bargain, and put his price at $2,500. I always did believe in
being generous. I might just as easily have sold for $3,000, but I threw
off $500 on account of the understandable pedigree.
The company which bought the horse came near going to pieces after I
had secured the names of six farmers to the notes. A busybody in that
community insisted on making me a cash offer of $1,000. Of course, there
was no profit in that for me and I was perfectly right in refusing his
offer. What’s the use of farmers being educated to the beauties of the
company plan which benefits the bankers, the peddlers, the groom, and
the cappers, if we are going to sell the horse direct for cash. It’s
only the farmers that make the money by the cash or direct way of buying
a stallion. I never met a peddler who was looking out for the farmers’
interests. They are in the business to improve the quality of horses and
incidentally increase the size of their own bank rolls.
This reprobate even went so far as to actually buy a stallion from
a breeder for $975, and I must confess he was a good judge, for
he certainly got an excellent animal. My horse, however, had one
advantage—he had a longer name and was imported. On two occasions I
felt like quitting. Only four of the signers of the joint note could be
trusted for a peanut, so the banker said, and he insisted on my getting
two additional names acceptable to him. This was not an agreeable task,
and I worked like a Trojan, persuading the members of the company that
it was a more sensible thing to sign notes due in two years for $2,500
at only six per cent. interest rather than to pay $1,000 cash for a
horse that possibly might die as soon as paid for. I will not repeat in
cold print the arguments I used—they might be considered foolish by my
readers. The fact remains, however, I did get six good names on that note
and four fillers, making ten signers, who each agreed to pay me $250 for
Transmigrator. They could have bought a better horse for $1,000 cash from
breeders, within 100 miles. I made fair wages by the transaction, as may
be seen from the following:
Price to company $2,500
EXPENSES
Cost of horse $300
Banker’s discount 375
Freight 37
Board 49
Feed 25
Paid cappers 160 946
---- ------
Profit $1,554
Some Veterinary Secrets.
Secret of Preventing Navel and Joint Disease.
When a new-born foal speedily develops abscesses involving the navel and
the joints of the extremities, the cause is an invasion of the navel by
filth germs and this may easily be prevented. A mare foaling in cold
weather should be provided with a clean, fresh bedded, disinfected,
light, airy, whitewashed box stall in which to have her foal. In the
summer season she may be allowed to foal on grass where filth germs are
less liable to be found than in old, dark, dirty stables. But no matter
where the foal is born, care must be taken to thoroughly disinfect the
navel cord (umbilicus) as soon as it has been severed or tied. For this
purpose a 1:500 solution of bichloride of mercury (corrosive sublimate)
is usually recommended, but we advise the use of a much stronger solution
to be prepared as follows: Dissolve ½ ounce of finely powdered corrosive
sublimate in 1 pint of boiling water to which has been added 1 dram of
dilute hydrochloric acid. When cold add ½ ounce of tincture of iron, as
coloring matter; label the bottle “poison” and keep it out of the reach
of children.
At the birth of a foal immediately wet the stump of the navel with this
solution and repeat the application twice daily until the cord dries
up, and falls off and no raw spot can be seen. The solution at the time
of using may conveniently be held in a shallow wide-mouthed bottle into
which the stump of the cord may be inserted and immersed. As soon as the
cord has shrivelled up remove it, if it will come away readily. The new
raw surface can easily be got at with the solution. Use of the solution
will also tend to prevent leakage of urine from the navel.
It is best to avoid, wherever possible, tying the navel cord at birth.
The natural way is for the cord to be broken at birth, either when
the foal is dropped or by the mare rising, and so causing it to break
by stretching it. When this happens the walls of the fetal urinary
passage (urachus), the arteries and the vein of the umbilicus retract
and close the opening; whereas these vessels are liable to remain open
for entrance of germs if the cord has been ligated, or cut off and the
ligature quickly removed, besides allowing the escape of urine by way of
the pervious urachus.
Symptoms of Bad Teeth.
In some old horses whose molar teeth are diseased or irregular, perfect
mastication of hay becomes impossible. After the animal has chewed for
a time, the teeth and tongue tend to form a ball (bolus) of hay which
is forced out of the mouth instead of being swallowed. This is termed
“quidding,” and when it is seen it may be taken as an indication of the
need of a veterinary dentist with his instruments. In other cases the
partly masticated food is gathered in a pouch between the molar teeth and
cheek, and this can be plainly seen and felt by the careful examiner.
This pouch is sometimes called the “granary,” and from the outside its
presence is indicated by an elongated tumor which has a doughy feel when
pressed with the finger.
When a diseased molar is present in the mouth, or when a “granary”
exists, there is a foul odor, which should lead to the discovery of the
condition. To distract attention from this odor it is said that horse
dealers always take the precaution to cleanse the mouth of the horse with
vinegar.
A chronic discharge from one nostril (nasal gleet), accompanied by a
fetid odor, should warn the buyer to make a critical examination of the
teeth, for if one is diseased and is the cause of the discharge, it will
have to be removed by trephining, and that means expense and possibly
loss of the services of the horse for some time.
Remedies for Tail Rubbing.
Idle, overfed, and insufficiently groomed horses often persistently
rub their manes and tails to allay itchiness of the skin, induced by
collections of dandruff which have escaped the curry-comb and brush. The
hair on the root of the tail soon becomes harsh, stubby and stands on end
so that the part becomes an eyesore, and especially so when continued
rubbing has produced sores, cracks and an exudate of serum, blood or pus.
A Virginia horseman once advised the writer that tail rubbing could
quickly be cured if, at the outset, the following simple plan of
treatment be adopted: Twist a lock of the upright hair of the affected
part around the second finger, and then pull until the skin “gives” with
a cracking sound. Repeat the pulling, lock by lock, until all of the
part has been treated when the rubbing will cease. If it does not do so
promptly, repeat the treatment as required. This plan is known also in
Scotland.
Another horseman advised that when a mare persistently rubs her tail the
cause may be a collection of filth about the udder; a thorough washing
with castile soap will end the trouble.
Dealers who handle fine carriage horses and are preparing such animals
for sale put each in a box stall during the feeding process and prevent
tail rubbing by putting a wide plank shelf-wise on brackets around the
inside of the walls of the box. When the horse attempts to rub, the edge
of the plank will strike several inches below the itching part, and so
make tail rubbing impossible. Another effective plan of prevention is
to put a wainscot of boards upon the lower part of the walls so slanted
outward at the floor surface that the horse backing to the wall cannot
get his rump against any surface upon which to rub.
A Cruel Cure for Heaves.
An old horseman once told the writer that he had cured many a horse of
heaves by simply amputating a portion of the tongue. “Guess I’ve cut off
enough pieces of tongue,” said he, “to fill a half bushel basket;” and he
seemed to take pride in a statement which would strike any humanitarian
as the climax of barbarity. The same man also strongly advocated the
amputation of the tip of a horse’s tail, when for any reason the animal
had gone down paralyzed.
It always is well to examine a horse’s tongue before buying, as
mutilations are not infrequently met with. Cases are on record where a
brute has put a twitch on a horse’s tongue, to make him stand still in
the shoeing shop, with the result that a portion of the organ has been
torn off during the struggles of the poor beast. Severe biting of a
fractious horse, or tearing by a nail or other sharp object, may also
injure the tongue more or less severely and perhaps lessen the value of
the animal.
When a considerable portion of the tongue has been lost, the horse is
unable to drink without plunging his head up to the eyes in the water,
and he also has difficulty in grazing.
Stitches are sometimes put in the tongue of a horse to make it sore and
so prevent it from cribbing.
An Astringent for Scours.
The following interesting remedy is taken from the “Complete Farrier,”
published in 1850:
“But when the disorder (a scouring) continues, and the horse’s flesh
keeps wasting away, recourse must be had to astringents. Tormentil root,
dried and pounded in a mortar, and put through a sieve, is one of the
best astringents yet found, though very little known. I heartily wish my
fellow creatures would make more use of this valuable root than they do.
The dose is from an ounce to an ounce and a half. I believe that this
valuable root has done more good in my time, in stopping looseness and
other bowel complaints, than anything else.”
An Old Operation for Spavin.
A few years ago it was recommended as a new treatment that the saphena
vein be obliterated at the place where it passes the seat of spavin,
before using the firing irons. We recently ran across an allusion to
this method of treatment which shows that it is by no means new. It
is referred to as follows in the “Complete Farrier and Horse Doctor,”
published in 1850, the writer being John C. Knowlson, of New York, a
nonagenarian “horse doctor” of the old school: “Before you fire a horse
for bone-spavin, be careful to take the vein out of the way, for it
generally lies over the spavin, and you cannot fire deep enough to come
at the callous substance without its removal. In order to destroy the
vein, cut a nick through the skin to the vein, just below the spavin, and
another just above it, and put a crooked needle under the vein and tie
both ends: then cut the vein across between the tyings, both above and
below, and you may either draw out the piece or leave it in.”
The same author says relative to the treatment of bog-spavin: “As soon as
you discover the vein puffed up or forming a bag, lay on some blistering
ointment, and in four days after bathe the swelling well with hot vinegar
with a little saltpeter dissolved in it. Also put a bandage round it
to disperse the swelling as much as you can. If this method does not
succeed, you must make two incisions in the skin lengthwise, as the vein
runs, one just above and the other just below the joint, and lay the vein
bare: then put the end of a buck’s horn under it, raise it up, and fasten
it in both places with waxed thread; then cut the vein in two just within
the tyings, and, if you think proper, draw the severed piece out. This
method of proceeding will cure most bog-spavins at the beginning.”
Facts About Pigment Tumors.
On gray horses that at 10 or 12 years of age are turning white in color,
purple-black malignant growths, known as pigment of melanotic tumors,
frequently appear where the skin is black in color, and constitute the
disease termed melanosis. The common seat of such tumors is the skin of
the tail, anus, vulva, and lips, and while most often external, may be
present internally. Such tumors are practically incurable, returning
after having been amputated and cauterized. They usually burst and
discharge bloody pus, and give the affected part a loathsome appearance.
In young horses of gray color, a careful examination will often disclose
small rudimentary tumors, and horses so affected should be bought with a
right understanding of the consequences. Fatal attacks of a mysterious
disease may be caused by internal melanotic tumors.
As an indication of the probability of these tumors being present
internally, the French veterinary scientists, Goubaux and Barrier, say in
their “Exterior of the Horse”:
“The hairs of the mane, like those of the tail, are ordinarily straight.
One of our associates, Mercier, has communicated a remark on this
subject, which was also believed by the Arabians: that it is in the
white or gray horses with _frizzled_ or _curly_ hairs in which melanotic
tumors are always found in the interior of the body, although none may
have any apparent trace on the exterior, particularly under the tail and
around the anus. This remark, the correctness of which we have verified
a number of times, both on the living subject and in the cadaver, is
very important, because of the dangers to which animals affected with
melanosis are exposed.”
[Illustration]
Secrets of Buying and Selling Horses.
Auction Sale Rules.[2]
At the Chicago Stock-yards the auction sales of horses, conducted in the
“Bull ring,” at Dexter Park, are regulated by certain definite rules
which should be understood by horsemen and farmers.
When a horse is brought in for sale a sign stating how the horse is to be
sold is immediately exposed on the auctioneer’s rostrum. There are six of
these signs, viz., (1) Sound. (2) Serviceably sound. (3) Wind and work.
(4) Work only. (5) Legs go. (6) At the halter.
Terms on all sales are strictly cash.
All horses must be examined and tried by purchaser as soon as bought, and
must be tried and accepted on the premises during the day of sale, as all
guarantees on horses expire with that day, and on delivery of the horse.
In no case can a horse be rejected except on the day of sale, unless sold
as sound and proved to be a cribber, heavey, crampy or lame. If proven to
have any of the four named faults, the purchaser shall have until 9 A.
M. the following day to reject the horse. Purchasers failing to try and
examine horses within the required time forfeit all right of rejecting
them, and no horse sold to wind and work shall be rejected for any cause
except he proves windy or will not work.
Should any question arise for adjustment between buyer and seller the
matter shall be referred to three members of the Union Stock-yards Horse
Exchange, the decision of a majority of whom shall be final.
Any person found guilty of doping a horse to hide the fact that the
animal is windy, heavey, crampy, cribby or lame, shall be expelled from
the market and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
The following is an explanation of the principal rules governing sales in
the auction ring:
=1. Sound.=—A horse sold as sound must be perfectly sound in every way.
=2. Serviceably Sound.=—Must be virtually a sound horse. His wind and
eyes must be good: he must not be lame or sore in any way, but sound,
barring slight blemishes, and these blemishes must not constitute any
unsoundness. A spot or streak in the eye, which does not affect the
sight, will be considered serviceably sound as long as the pupil of the
eye is good. A further explanation is given as follows by F. J. Berry
& Co., a well-known horse commission firm at the Chicago Stock-yards:
“Blemishes must be nothing more than splints; the horse may be slightly
puffed and a little rounding on the curb joint, but he must not have a
bad-looking curb, and must not have a brand. He may be a little cut in
the knees, but he must not stand over on the knees or ankles. He may
have a little puff on the outside of the hock, but he must not have
thoroughpin, or boggy-hock, ringbone, or jack, although he may naturally
be a little coarse jointed; but the front part of the hocks inside must
not be puffed. He may have slight scars or wire marks but these must not
cause any deformity of the body, legs or feet, and must be nothing more
than a slight scar. He must not have any scar from fistula or poll-evil.
He must not have a hip down, and if one hip is a trifle lower than the
other, it must be natural, and not a deformity like the cap of a hip
down. He must not have side-bone, or any bad blemishes that deteriorate
his value more than a trifle, but must be sound, barring slight blemishes
that do not hurt him or change his value very little, and in no case more
than the above-mentioned blemishes. Car bruises must be of a temporary
nature.”
=3. Wind and Work.=—A horse sold to wind and work, must have good wind
and be a good worker, and not a cribber, but everything else goes with
him.
=4. Work Only.=—He must be a good worker, but everything else goes with
him. Ability to work is the only thing guaranteed.
=5. Legs Go.=—Everything that is on the horse’s legs go with him. Nothing
is guaranteed except that he must not be lame or crampy. He must,
however, be serviceably sound in every other respect.
=6. At the Halter.=—Sold just as he stands without any recommendations.
He may be lame, vicious, balky, a kicker or anything else. The title only
is guaranteed; the purchaser takes all the risk.
[2] Exceptions to the above rules may be announced from the
auction stand and defects pointed out, in which case they are
recorded and go with the horse.
Reputable Dealers Protect Their Patrons.
The horse buyer who patronizes a reputable commission firm or dealer in
the Chicago horse market, or in any other great selling centre, will be
honestly and fairly dealt with. The rules against cheating are stringent,
and trickery is not countenanced among the leaders of the trade. Doping
an unsound horse may be punished by expulsion from the market, and
tricks, like the application of “soup” to make a horse act mean, are
prohibited on “horse row.” It is when a buyer deals with a “scalper”
who conducts his business “under his hat,” or patronizes the dealers
who conduct a questionable business at small sales stables on the side
streets near the stock-yards, that he may expect to get “the short end of
the deal,” and we would strongly advise our readers to give such dealers
and sales stables a wide berth.
As an illustration of how dishonesty is regarded among horsemen in some
of the markets, the following well-authenticated incident may be told.
In Kansas City a horse that had been overdosed with drugs to conceal the
symptoms of heaves dropped dead while climbing an incline. The story of
the “accident” spread through the market, and the next morning, when
the owner of the drugged horse offered another of his animals in the
auction ring, the auctioneer is said to have stopped, told the story to
the audience, pointed out the man who gave the drugs and the owner, and
added, “Now, this man has a load of horses to sell to-day and you folks
can be your own judges about buying them.”
The seller from the country is as likely to “put up a job” on the
commission man or dealer as the latter is to cheat the greenhorn buyer,
and we agree with Dr. Hawley, who says: “Horsemen in general are not more
dishonest than men in any other branch of business which offers like
opportunities for trickery; neither do I believe they are more dishonest
than the men who buy from them.”
Two Sides to a Horse.
When a horse is first led out for the intending buyer to examine him
in the dealer’s stable, it is a common trick to stand the animal close
against a wall. By this means objectionable features of the “other side
of the picture” are hidden, and the pleasing aspects of the proposition,
plain to the eye and hand of the purchaser, alone are considered by him
in making his choice. If the horse is sold subject to such examination
and without a written guaranty, there is no recourse for the purchaser
when, perchance, the next hour or day he finds on the off side of the
horse a “wall-eye,” a brand mark, a big shoe boil, a knocked-down hip, a
fistula of the withers, or some other objectionable and troublesome or
even seriously hurtful blemish or condition.
The intending purchaser should get the horse away from the wall and make
a tour of inspection around him, looking carefully at every part and
detail, and then using the hand, if necessary, to corroborate or correct
what the eye has seen or suspected. It is always best to look at the
horse from a little distance before closing in, and making a more careful
inspection. Close inspection deals with minute things, and may make one
overlook or fail to see bigger and more important things which would
appeal to the eye when taking in the entire side of the horse at a look.
When a dealer is extra particular to draw attention to one side of the
animal, take it for granted that there is something on the other side
which is worth looking into.
A Little Ill to Distract Attention from a Big One.
Often we have seen tricks such as the following practised in the “bull
ring” at the stock-yards. A horse having a small spot or speck in its
eye which does not implicate the pupil, is sold to “wind and work” (See
Auction rule No. 3, page 50).
The grooms and ringmen loudly draw the attention of the audience to the
condition of the eye, and repeatedly assert that it does not amount to
anything. This is done on purpose to distract attention from some far
more serious defect that otherwise would be noticed by the prospective
buyer. Dr. Hawley says of this scheme, “The horse is kept constantly in
motion with the whip. The auctioneer and salesman are always looking for
an angel to drop in, and one usually does. The horse is ordinarily sold
to the angel on his first bid.”
Beware of Hoof Dressing.
When the hoofs of a sale horse are seen to be newly daubed with black
hoof dressing, polish, or varnish, look out! or rather, look in! for
there may be vital need of the artificial coating to hide serious
defects. The dressing, if wet, will soil the examiner’s hands, hence he
will be less likely to handle the feet and therefore fails to discover
that a quarter crack or sand crack has been concealed, or the fact that
the hoof has been rasped extensively for the removal of the rings and
ridges that if exposed to the notice of the prospective buyer, would tell
a plain story of chronic founder.
The sound, healthy, waxy appearing hoof needs no coloring or dressing
material, and when such things are freely used they are often applied to
hide the marks of the rasp.
Buying a Pair.
While a properly matched and trained pair of carriage horses should “act
like one horse” when in motion, the buyer should be careful to examine
each horse carefully “to halter.” The two animals should be capable of
being harnessed to the carriage indifferently to the right or left, and
no attention should be paid to the observations of the dealer, who may
explain how they have been accustomed to be driven always on the same
side, and who, as a rule, will harness the better one of the two horses
on the left side, and the poorer one on the right. The examiner naturally
pays most attention to the left horse, but he should examine each in a
thorough manner, for it often happens when this is done that one horse is
found to be of far inferior quality and of less value than its mate, on
the “nigh side.”
A “High English” Guaranty.
A thrifty German truck farmer once called the writer to examine a newly
bought work horse and to give him “a line” so that he would be able to
get his money back from the dealer, the animal having proved unsound. “I
have me a written guaranty and a witness that he been all right,” said
he, “and now you help me oudt mit a line.” An examination showed that
the horse was terribly afflicted with heaves, accompanied with coughing
and passing of gas. He heaved so hard that his entire body shook, and
the squeaking of the breathing apparatus was easily heard. Evidently
the horse had been skilfully “shut” or doped by the seller, and now
that the effects of the treatment had passed off the unsoundness showed
up plainly. Asked for his “guaranty,” the farmer kept iterating and
reiterating his statement that it was all right and duly witnessed. At
last he produced it, and it read to this effect, “This horse is hereby
guaranteed free from all encumbrances.”
“Do you know what ‘encumbrances’ means?” he was asked, and the answer
was, “No, I don’t know such high English words, but I guess it means
sound and all righdt in wint and limb, and to work, aind’t it?”
He got his “line,” and by paying $80 to boot brought back another horse
with a less comprehensive but more satisfactory guaranty.
Moral: It is best to understand “high English” and the language and
ways of the dealer when buying a horse at the yards, so that a written
guaranty may really protect the buyer.
An Unsound Horse Sometimes a Good Bargain.
Some kinds of unsoundness render a horse useless for work on the hard
streets of the city, yet do not unfit him for work on the soft land of
the farm. Where this is the case, it will often pay the farmer whose
pocketbook is not particularly well filled to pass by the young, soft,
untried, expensive horses that have been specially fattened to bring high
prices and buy a second-handed horse at a bargain price.
For example, suppose a big, strong gelding, getting along in years,
has four well-developed side-bones which render him stilty and stiff
in gait for city use, and which on that account is offered for $80, or
thereabout. Such a horse may prove a profitable purchase for use on
the land. Were he sound he would sell readily for $125 or over, for
city work, and when bought at a discount of $45 he will very likely do
more and better work on the farm than would a sound, young, fattened,
inexperienced horse at the higher figure.
In making this statement the writer has in mind more than one
corroborative instance of the sort in practise.
A Second-Hand Horse.
The owner who wants to sell his horse on the market should not clip off
the mane and forelock, and it is a mistake even to cut the latter or to
bang the tail. The stock-yard buyers, having special market requirements
to meet, prefer to do their own “toilet work” on the horses they buy, and
will pass by an otherwise good horse if he has been trimmed in a manner
to which they object.
A horse that has had the mane and forelock clipped off is looked upon
with suspicion on arrival at the market, and is likely to be termed
“second-hand,” meaning that he probably has been tried out in a fire
department and found wanting. It is therefore disastrous policy to
“roach” a horse before he has been thoroughly tested and found sound and
suitable.
Here is a case corroborative of this assertion: A fine gelding was bought
for a fire department after a fairly thorough test for “wind.” While
being led a long distance behind a sulky from the country to the city
the horse became fractious and broke away from the driver. On arrival in
the city he was immediately taken to the engine-house and met with the
unanimous approval of the fire laddies and chief. The next morning the
mane and foretop were clipped off and the horse was then sent out for a
practise run. At once he proved terribly nervous and a rank roarer when
in motion, but perfectly sound in wind the moment he stood at ease.
The commissioner who bought the horse at once took him back, refunded the
purchase price, and sent him to the stock-yards. There he was instantly
dubbed “second-handed”; ran up a bill of expense for his owner who could
not find a buyer and finally contracted stock-yards distemper in virulent
form. Eventually the animal was sold for less than half the purchase
price and expense account, but not until the mane had grown in again
sufficiently to disarm suspicion. Removing the mane or foretop will be
certain to detract from the value of the horse in the market.
“Protecting” the Buyer.
In some sales-stables, when a coachman commissioned by a rich layman to
purchase a single horse, or match a pair in his behalf, has stated his
needs, looked over a few animals, and hinted at what he can afford to
pay, he is asked by the dealer: “How much shall I protect you?” That
means how much commission will you expect if the deal is consummated;
and the coachman is not slow to ask a handsome rake-off. Another plan of
making a profit, is to get as low a price or option as possible from the
dealer, and then add a profit by having the seller charge a higher price
than the option and afterward hand the balance to the buyer’s agent.
Unless the commissioner is paid a special fee by his employer for making
the purchase, these methods of making living wages for the work involved
in the deal are considered perfectly legitimate by men connected with the
horse markets.
Splitting the Profit Three Ways.
In the great horse markets, when a gentleman’s coachman, or a man who is
deemed by him to be an expert judge, is commissioned to buy a certain
style of horse at not over a stated price, the expert can easily arrange
to make a double profit. He seeks out some scalper friend, and gives him
a detailed description of the sort of horse wanted. The scalper then
visits the stable of his associates in the business, selects a horse that
“looks like the job” and secures an option on him at a price considerably
lower than the buyer has said he will be willing to pay. He now brings
in the expert, and if the horse suits that worthy, he is purchased at
the option price and turned over to the employer of the expert at his
specified price or a trifle less. Then the scalper and the expert divide
the profit, or if another man “on the inside” has been used in the deal,
the profit is “split three ways,” to give him a slice. The buyer is
usually well satisfied with his bargain, and probably could not have
bought the horse cheaper at first hand.
A Glossary of Market Terms.
In each of the great horse markets of the country certain technical,
trade and slang terms are used in speaking of horses, and the intending
buyer will do well to familiarize himself with them, else he may learn
their meaning by dear-bought experience. In preparing the following
glossary many of the terms explained are such as one hears in the Chicago
market and elsewhere, and the writer has also freely quoted from an
article entitled, “The Veterinary Horse Buyer,” from the pen of Dr. H.
W. Hawley, V. S., in the Chicago Veterinary College “Quarterly Bulletin”
for June, 1903, and from Bulletin No. 122 of the Illinois Agricultural
Experiment Station, in which Prof. Rufus C. Obrecht deals elaborately
and instructively with the subject of “Market Classes and Grades of
Horses and Mules.” In many instances it has been thought well to explain
technical matters relating to practical subjects as well as to interpret
the special term used by horsemen.
=A Bull.=—If a horse grunts when stood against a wall and threatened
with a stick or whip, he is called a bull (or grunter) and by many is
considered unsound in wind, or a roarer. The test is not conclusive, as
not all roarers grunt and many sound horses grunt when so treated, or
even when the rider places his foot in the stirrup. It is also used to
describe a wind-broken horse that chokes at work. A heavey horse does not
grunt when tested in the above mentioned manner.
=A Bull Heaver.=—A bad choker.
=A Canard.=—A bit windy.
=A Cold Collar.=—Balky.
=Afraid of the Floor.=—Has chorea, or St. Vitus’ dance.
=A Gravel.=—Suppurating corn. It is not due to gravel.
=A Little Careless.=—Knees bent forward, or sprung.
=A Little Coarse or Full in the Hock.=—Spavin.
=A Little Nappy.=—A little balky, or a dummy.
=A Little Ouchey.=—Founder, or navicular disease.
=A Little Strong in the Mouth.=—A cribber.
=A Little Stamp On.=—Branded.
=A Little Reading on Him.=—Branded.
=A Little Rounding.=—Curb.
=A Hole In.=—There is “a hole in” a horse when he has some defect
temporarily non-apparent.
=An Angel.=—A greenhorn buyer who bids on an unsound horse. He usually
gets him on his first bid.
=At the Halter.=—“Sold to halter,” or “at the halter” means without
guarantee of any kind. The horse likely will be wild, balky, unmanageable
or so unsound as to be useless.
=Beefy Hocks.=—Coarse, meaty hocks having too much connective and adipose
tissue. The hock should be clean, hard, free from beefiness, puffs and
bony growths.
=Bellows to Mend.=—Wind-broken; heaves.
=Bench-Legged.=—Knees bent toward one another.
=Blind-Spavin.=—Occult or hidden spavin among bones composing hock joint.
=Blue Eye.=—Eye showing a bluish or pearly cast, indicating unsoundness
and disease which may or may not have caused blindness.
=Bobber or Jig Back.=—Weak loins causing bobbing or wobbling of the hind
quarters.
=Boggy in Hocks.=—Distension of the capsular ligament of the hock joint
indicated by a large or small, soft, fluctuating, synovia-filled swelling
at the front of joint. Such hocks appear dropsical. The condition
constitutes bog-spavin, and by some is termed wind-puff or wind-gall.
=Bowed Tendon.=—A thickened, bulging unsoundness of the back tendons
(flexors). Caused by an injury.
=Broken Crest.=—Coarse, thick, broken over crest under mane. Seen in
stallions. Sometimes used to mean fistulous withers.
=Broken Down.=—Fetlock bending too near ground, or tendency of toe to
turn up as a result of injury to the tendons. Cause of acute lameness at
time of accident.
=Broken Knees.=—Scarred knees showing results of a fall. May be new or
chronic. Especially objectionable in saddlers.
=Buck-Kneed.=—Knees bent forward.
=Buck-Shinned.=—Bulging profile of front of cannon bones.
=Bull Pen.=—A horse auction sale ring.
=Burglar or Robber.=—This is an expression used by “gyp” dealers to
denote a good-looking horse with some slight defect which they can
remedy temporarily. This horse is sold, the buyer discovers his defect
in a short time and brings him back and trades him in or sells him at a
reduced price. Such a horse is stock in trade and the “gyps” sell him
over and over again, trade him in and make money on him every time.
=Calf-Kneed.=—Opposite of buck-knees. Knees bent backward.
=Capped Hock.=—New and sore, or old and painless, swelling or callous of
the point of the hock joint; due to bruise.
=Careless.=—A horse is “a little careless” when he stands with knees
sprung.
=Car Bruise.=—Swellings, tumors, abscesses, on parts likely to have been
bruised in shipping. Sometimes an excuse for such things not so caused.
=Cartilage.=—A prominent lateral cartilage at quarter of foot. May or may
not be a side-bone.
=Chest Founder.=—Wasting or falling in of muscles of front of chest.
=Chestnut.=—The horny projection found upon the lower inner aspect of the
forearm and lower inner aspect of the hock joint. Considered a vestige of
an additional hoof of the prehistoric horse.
=Clefty; Clifty.=—Flat, clean, fine quality cannon bones.
=Coarse-Footed.=—Having side-bones.
=Cocked Ankle.=—Fore or hind ankles (fetlocks) bent forward. Common
in young, overfed and under-exercised colts. When chronic, indicates
shortening of flexor tendons and sometimes high ringbone.
=Cold-Footed.=—“A little cold-footed” means stringhalt.
=Coon-Footed.=—Long, sloping pasterns, throwing fetlocks low.
=Coupling.=—The region of the lumbar vertebræ, loins, or space between
last rib and hip.
=Cow-Hocked.=—Standing like a cow with hocks together and toes turned out.
=Crampy.=—Chorea, St. Vitus’ dance, or slight stringhalt. The affected
animal jerks up a hind leg on backing out of stall, and at the same time
the tail elevates and quivers, and the muscles shiver.
=Crest Fallen.=—Broken over crest under heavy mane. Often means fistulous
withers.
=Cribber.=—A horse that fixes his teeth or rests his chin on any object
and then sucks wind.
=Crock.=—Old, crippled horse.
=Cross-Firing.=—Striking one fore foot with opposite hind foot when
trotting.
=Curb.=—A bulging enlargement at back of hind leg just below hock and
resulting from an injury to the tendon and its sheath.
=Curby-Formed Hock.=—An acutely bent or set hock giving a sickle
appearance. Hind feet are thrown too far under body.
=Cushion.=—A small puff toward front of outer side of hind cannon just
below hock joint.
=Cutting.=—Interfering or striking with feet on joints.
=Cut in the Wind.=—“The least bit in the world” unsound in wind.
=Dead Spavin or Ringbone.=—Lameness of spavin or ringbone subsided as a
result of firing and blistering, or other treatment.
=Dimple.=—Point of hips lightly deformed by accident constitutes a
“little dimple,” slightly hipped.
=Dizzy.=—A dummy.
=Docked.=—Having had part of tail amputated.
=Docked and Set Up.=—By operation the tail is made to carry high, after
being docked.
=Droop Croup.=—Short, steep croup; tail set low.
=Dropped Soles.=—Bulging, or convexity of soles at points of frogs, due
to descent of pedal bone in acute founder.
=Dummy.=—Softening of the brain following sunstroke or heat exhaustion.
Horse is dull, sleepy, stupid; takes hay into the mouth and forgets to
chew it; and if the fore feet are placed crossing one another, they may
be kept in that position indefinitely.
=Ergot.=—The horny spur located at the back of the fetlock joint. The
ergot is considered a vestige of an additional hoof of the prehistoric
horse.
=Ewe-Neck.=—Low crest with head held in straight line and marked
depression in front of withers.
=Falls Out of Bed.=—Pulls back on halter rope.
=Feet Sore from the Planks.=—Has chorea; a shiverer.
=Family Broke.=—Takes the whole family to drive him.
=Feather in Eye.=—Scar on eyeball, due to cut; it does not necessarily
impair vision.
=Filled Hocks.=—Swelling of joints, indicating poor circulation,
grossness. As a market term, it may mean bog-spavin and thoroughpin.
=Fistula.=—Fistulous withers. An abscess with opening discharging pus
from sinuses (pipes) connecting with diseased tissues of the withers.
=Fitty.=—Has fits when hot.
=Flat-Footed.=—Low heels, dropped sole; founder.
=Forging.=—Noisily striking the fore shoe with toe of hind shoe when
traveling.
=Founder.=—Laminitis. Inflammation of the sensitive laminæ of the foot,
leading to lameness, dropped soles, rings and ridges in hoof wall and
tendency to walk on heels.
=Freezer.=—A palsied horse; “hind feet froze to the floor.”
=Glass-Eye.=—Amaurosis or palsy of the sight in which, from paralysis of
the optic nerve and retina, the eye is stone blind, yet bright, lustrous
and prominent. The pupil is widely dilated and does not contract when
exposed to bright light. As a market term, may mean cataract, watch-eye,
wall-eye, or that condition in which the iris is pearly white in color
and not necessarily diseased.
=Gill Flirt.=—Perineum between rectum and vagina lacerated at foaling so
as to unite passages.
=Goosey.=—A horse that is nervous in the stall.
=Goose Rump.=—A short, steep croup and narrow at the point of the buttock.
=Go Down, or Kidney Faller.=—Collapses in hind quarters when worked.
=Gristle.=—A forming side-bone or enlargement of the lateral cartilage
due to tread, bruise or wire cut.
=Guinea.=—A Greek or Italian buyer.
=Hand.=—Four inches. Width of the palm of the hand, used in measuring the
height of a horse from the ground surface at the sole of the foot to the
highest point of withers.
=Hand Stick.=—Used for measuring the height of horse.
=Heaves; Heavey.=—“Broken wind,” or “emphysema of the lungs,”
characterized by coughing, passing of gas from the rectum, and double
bellows-like the action of the abdominal muscles in breathing.
=Head Strong.=—Halter puller in stall.
=High Blower.=—Broken winded or may be soft from feeding and idleness.
=Hillside.=—Hipped.
=Hipped.=—Point of hip-bone (ilium) fractured (knocked down), making that
hip lower than the other when viewed from the rear, and not unusually a
serious unsoundness. When distortion is great, the shaft of the ilium may
have been fractured. The latter condition may render a mare unfit for
breeding purposes.
=Hip Sweeny.=—Wasting (atrophy) of the muscles of the hip. Often serious
in mares, being associated with fracture of the pelvis, and unfitting
them for breeding purposes.
=Hitch.=—Stride of one hind leg too short.
=Hog-Back.=—Arched or roached-back. The opposite of sway back or hollow
back.
=Interfering.=—Striking the fetlock or cannon with the opposite foot as
it passes, either in front or behind, or it may be an “ankle knocker.”
=Jack.=—A small, round, bone-spavin. As a market term, often applied to a
prominent spavin.
=Jibber.=—A green, raw, unguidable horse.
=Knee-Banger.=—Knees interfere.
=Lady-Toed.=—Cow-hocked horse. They are almost sure to hit their
fetlocks, shins or knees.
=Legs Go.=—See Market Rules No. 5.
=Light in the Timber.=—Light boned below knees and hocks.
=Little Green.=—Awkward, poorly broken; may not pull.
=Lop Ear.=—Ears dropping over. May be a dummy.
=Lugger.=—Pulls or lugs on the bit.
=Lunker.=—An exceptionally big, heavy-boned horse.
=Makes a Little Noise.=—A slight roarer or whistler.
=Mallenders.=—Scurfy or eczematous condition of skin back of knees.
=Mecatched.=—Jewish term for a heavey horse.
=Mechanical Choker.=—A horse that roars when pulling a heavy load uphill,
by getting the chin down to the chest, but is otherwise sound.
=Megrims.=—Fits; staggers; sudden falling.
=Michigan Age.=—Old.
=Michigan Pad.=—See Cushion. A puff on forward edge of hind cannon just
below hock.
=Moon-Blind; Moon-Eyed.=—Eyes diseased or blind from periodic or
recurrent ophthalmia.
=Mug.=—A greenhorn or buyer from the country.
=Nicked.=—Tail operated upon by severing the muscles to “set up” or
straighten it.
=Nickel’s Worth of Hair Off.=—Wire cut.
=Nigger-Heeled.=—Front toes turned out; heels in.
=Old Skin or Skate.=—Aged, decrepit, or worn-out horse.
=One Bum Lamp.=—One eye blind, diseased or unsound.
=Outside Cushion.=—Same as Cushion or Michigan Pad.
=Over-Reach.=—Stride takes hind feet farther forward than the point at
which the fore ones were picked up.
=Paddle.=—“Winging” out with fore feet.
=Palsy.=—Shiverer; chorea.
=Parrot Mouth.=—Upper incisor (pincher) teeth protruding over lower
incisors. Upper jaw longer and projecting over under jaw.
=Pig-Eye.=—Small, retracted eyes. Characteristic of some horses of French
breed. May indicate imperfect vision.
=Pigeon-Toed.=—Front toes turned in. Opposite of nigger-heeled.
=Pilgrim.=—An old, worn-out horse. A good old “has been.”
=Pin-Hipped.=—Hipped from fracture of point of ilium.
=Pink-Eye.=—Pinky, as a market term, applied to moon blindness. Correctly
speaking, epizootic, cellulitis, or influenza, especially affecting the
membranes of the eyes.
=Plug.=—An old, worn-out horse, or one of poor shape.
=Poll-Evil.=—Swelling and abscess, similar to fistulous withers,
affecting poll of head.
=Pones.=—Lumps of fat on body of mule.
=Posting.=—Rider rising and falling in saddle with each alternate step of
horse when trotting.
=Puffs.=—Soft swellings involving joints or tendons. Distensions of
synovial bursal and capsular ligaments. Thoroughpins, wind-galls,
bog-spavin.
=Quarter Crack.=—Fissure in wall of hoof running from hair toward sole at
quarter.
=Quittor.=—Enlargement of the hoof head (coronet) having one or more
openings (pipes or sinuses) discharging pus and connecting with diseased
cartilage or other tissues.
=Rat Tail.=—Slim, almost hairless tail.
=Rejects.=—Horses returned to seller on account of unsoundness, or for
other reasons.
=Rickety.=—Horse affected with rickets (rachitis). Same as Bobber or Jig
Back.
=Ridgeling. Original.=—Cryptorchid. Testicles retained in abdomen or
inguinal canal.
=Ringbone.=—A bony growth (exostosis) affecting the long or short pastern
bones and coffin bones.
=Ripper.=—An unusually good, big horse.
=Roach Mane.=—Mane cut short.
=Roarer.=—Horse makes a roaring noise when exhaling air, the condition
being due to paralysis affecting the nerves and cartilages of larynx.
(Laryngeal hemiplegia.)
=Sallenders.=—Scurfy or eczematous condition of the skin in front of hock
joint.
=Sand-Crack.=—A fissure of the wall of the hoof at the toe.
=Scalper.=—A horse dealer who handles cheap or questionable horses. He
may have no regular stable or business headquarters.
=Scalping.=—Striking front of hind coronet, pastern or cannon against
front toe when speeding.
=Seam in Foot.=—Blemish, old scar, or healed crack in the hoof wall.
=Seedy-Toe.=—Separation between wall and sensitive laminæ of hoof at toe,
the space being filled with white, dry, powdery horn; sometimes with pus;
“toe clip” is a common cause.
=Serpentine.=—A horse that extends and withdraws his tongue as a serpent.
=Serviceably Sound.=—See No. 2, Auction Rules. The term is incorrect, as
a horse is either sound or unsound.
=Shadow Jumper.=—Nervous, skittish; afraid of his own shadow.
=Shell-Bone.=—Side-bone.
=Shipping Fever.=—Influenza contracted on cars, or it may be acclimation
fever.
=Shaky in Stall.=—A shiverer.
=Shiverer.=—Afflicted with chorea (St. Vitus’ dance).
=Shoe Boil.=—A serious abscess, or open pus discharging sore or tumor of
the point of the elbow. Caused by the horse bruising the elbow upon the
floor, not necessarily upon the heel of a shoe, as commonly supposed.
=Short Leet.=—The best horse selected by the judges from a number of
competing animals in the show ring, and among which the prizes are
distributed after further examination.
=Sickle Hock.=—See curby-formed hock.
=Side-Bone.=—A lateral cartilage of foot at quarter, turned to bone
(ossified).
=Side Wheeler.=—A pacer.
=Siffon.=—Jewish horse-dealers’ word (spelling in doubt) meaning to run
in bids on a greenhorn to boost price of horse.
=Slab-Sided.=—Flat-ribbed.
=Smokes His Pipe.=—Lip torn where bridle bit rests.
=Smoky Eye.=—“A little smoky.” Eye cloudy, whitish, pearly in color, or
opaque.
=Smooth Mouth.=—Cups or marks worn off incisor teeth, indicating great
age.
=Spavin.=—Bony enlargement or exostosis upon lower, inner, front aspect
of hock joint.
=Speck in Eye.=—A small scar of spot, not on pupil, and as a rule, not
impairing vision.
=Speedy Cutting.=—Striking the inside of the hind cannon against the
front foot as the hind is brought forward and passes the front foot on
the outside in over-reaching when the horse is speeding.
=Splay-Footed.=—“Nigger-heeled.”
=Splint.=—A bony growth on course of splint-bone on either side of
cannon-bone below the knee.
=Split Hoof.=—Quarter-crack. Sand-crack.
=Stag; Staggy.=—Thick and coarse in throat-latch and crest from late
castration.
=Stocked Legs.=—“Filled” or dropsical, swollen legs below knees and
hocks, the result of a lack of exercise or of sickness.
=Stringy; Stringhalt.=—The hind leg is jerked up at each step in walking
and trotting. See Cramp.
=Stifled.=—Patella of stifle out of place. Any disease of the
stifle-joint.
=Stump Sucker.=—See Cribber.
=Sweeny.=—Wasting, (atrophy) of the muscles of the shoulder.
=Switcher.=—Tail switching, nervous mare, that may also throw urine.
=Talks to the Driver.=—A roarer.
=Takes a Little Hold.=—A cribber.
=Ten Minutes Short of Work.=—Balky.
=Tied in at Knees.=—Light bone and tendons, making the part markedly
constricted under knee.
=Thoroughpin.=—A fluctuating, bursal distension which can be pushed from
side to side under the large tendon just above the hock-joint.
=To Bush on Gristle.=—To get a rebate on purchase price from a seller
when a side-bone has been found after sale.
=Too Much Daylight Under Him.=—A leggy horse.
=Tongue Loller.=—Tongue hangs from mouth. May be paralyzed.
=Trephined.=—A molar tooth removed by punching downward into mouth by
means of an instrument inserted upon tooth root through an orifice cut
(trephined) in bone of jaw.
=Trot Cut Short.=—Short stride of fore legs.
=Wall-Eye.=—See Glass-eye.
=Washy Coupled.=—Long and loose in coupling and cut up flank. A poor
keeper that tends to scour when warm or tired.
=Weaver.=—A horse that sways and swings backward and forward in stall.
The action is akin to that of a caged bear, and the habit is learned
by imitation or in idleness. It may indicate a high-strung, nervous
temperament and the tendency to it may possibly be transmitted by an
affected sire or dam. It seems to arise from the restlessness and longing
to escape from “prison life,” or, in short, suggests the “call of the
wild.”
=Weed.=—Has heaves.
=Wiggler.=—See Bobber.
=Wind and Work.=—See No. 3, Auction Rules.
=Wind-Galls.=—Puffs or bursal distensions at the sides of the tendons at
and above fetlock joints.
=Windy.=—Unsound in wind, a whistler or roarer.
=Whistler.=—A form of roaring in which there is a slight or pronounced
whistling noise made in exhaling air.
=Winging.=—Paddling or throwing the feet outward when in motion.
=Worker.=—See No. 4, Auction Rules.
=Wears the Pants.=—A pacer requiring hopples, or wearing them.
=W. W.=—Short for “wind and work.”
[Illustration]
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