The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1848-01-06
miscellaneous.


Under this head much prejudice exists
and many false notions prevail. One person
supposcs that if he buys a horse when he is
young, it must last him so much the longer
than ii he had bought him at more advanced
age. Others, again, imagi that having pur-
chased young horse, they are not likely to
be serious losers by him, if they sell him
again while the mark remains in his mouth
This may be all very well with those who
have more horses than they can possibly OK
erciSe, and which are, therefore, unused to a
days work. But such is not the fate of the
horses we are now abiding to, those which
are doomed to hard daily toll on the high
ways, resting only on the Sunday from their
heavy drudgcry With what joy we may
suppose the poor animals welcome the return
Of that day, unless it be their pitcous lot to be-
long to some untceling or thoughtless employ
or, in which case that day Of repose to others
is to them converted into the most laboriouS
of all the week.
Persons in business full we'll know that they
do not pay mems wages to persons in their
employment until they have arrived at the
age OF twcnty'onc not from any just
motive, but because they have not attained
the strength of manhood TO enable them to
perform mems work. 1t is their competency
to go through so much labor that entities them
to full wages. Now, the horse must be from
seven to eight years old to put him on par
with man OF twcntyOne. Yet people are
so m$judgng, or rather they are so ignorant
Of this fact, that they imagine the horse is
better calculated for hard work, or long Jour-
ncys, before than after the age mentioned.
If experience could teach them, they might
readily perceive the younger the horse is the
sooner he will be strained and Worn out, by
being Orcrtaskcd. Where the work is light,
carrying no heavy loads,) and the stay fire.
qucnt, at places no great distances apart, and
provided you drive moderately, six year old
horse may SUIT your purpose; that is, if you
are particularly anxious to have q mark in
his mouth If not, one seven or eight would
be preferable. In cases where the loads arc
carried light, and you do not often rest any
length OF time on your route, or if your vehi-
Gle Is heavy, and you do not drive at a very
moderate pace, never choose q horse under
eight years old, and then he will last you long
or and serve you better than any young one.
Stage-coach proprietors, and all great dealers
i'll horses, do not consider them aged until af-
ter the sixteenth year; and provided they
have not been subject to ill-usagc, they will
be found sound and in good condition long
after that period.
Old Elves, the celebrated miser, would
not permit lis colts to be broken in until they
were SIX years old: the consequence was that
when his horses were upwards of twenty years
Of age, upon their backs he was able to beat
any other cattle in the field in hunting. All
that is required for work are young legs and
what arc termed old mouths. This doscrip-
ton of horse is absolutely necessary for the
heavy wagon and for four wheeled carriages.
1t must nevertheless be admitted, that hors-
es may also be too old; but so long as they
arc sound upon their legs and keep up their
condition, they are always better suited for
hard work than young ones. At the present
moment there is living gray mare, the pro-
pcrty Of Il surgeon in the neighborhood Of
Finsbury-squarc, upwards Of forty years old,
yet which still docs her work in admirable
style! 1t is an attcstcd fact, that at thirty
six years Of age, this surprising animal per.
formed distance Of eighty miles a day, two
successive days, and one hundred miles in
one day; and that too without exhibiting any
remarkable symptoms of fatigue!! This, it
will be said, is Il rare instance Of the powers
of the horse, and so it is but it is so chiefly
from the disposition of most owners of horses
to overwork them when young, and so wear
them out before they are old. The mare in
question is still perfectly straight on her legs,
and free from all complaint, except a slight
asthmatical cough, observable only on foggy
days, and then only on coming out or going
into the stable. 1t occasions no real inconve-
nicncc, and is merely a sign of the natural
effects Of time on her constitution.
1t may be here worthy of remark, that
many persons are using very old horses, ina
ginning them to be much younger than they
really are For instance, gentleman keeps
horse until he supposes him TO be sixteen,
or thcrcabouts. lie then thinks Of disposng
of him as being worn, and getting younger
The animal is accordingly transferred to deal
err, who sees him well upon his legs and fresh
for his age. lie then bi$Aops* him, so as to
make him appear OF the age for which the
dealer wishes him to pass Should he chance
to find a considcrate owner, he passes ON
again, until he is a second time regarded as
too old for further service. Again sold to
dealer, ground young again, resold and new
purchaser pleased with the idea Of his young
horse. Cases of repeated bishoping are now
less common than formerly; but that they
have occurred, there can be no doubt and
the old gray mare alluded to would probably
have undergone this operation more than
once, if she had ever been so unlucky as to
have fallen into a dealers hands. The Dow
ager Lady Lonsdale had two old hunters as
carriage horses, the one thirty -ninc, the other
forty-one or forty-two years Of age. Some
time since, two horses were working as car
riage horses, ut Dulwich, even older. The
late Mr.. Ashley was presented by the Duke of
Leeds with Barbary horse, that became very
celebrated, performed rs waiter, and lived
to the great age of forty-thrcc. It was not
long since recorded in BelPs Life in london,
that horse had died upwards of fifty years
Of ugc. ~ 4 *
1t would be almost objectionable not to
notice the epitaph upon the charger Of Sir
Ralph Aborcrombic, who was killed at the
battle Of Alexandria, in Egypt, on the DIST
OF March, 1901, and who was father of the