Horse Secrets

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.”

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.

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:

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:

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.”