Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1856-02-13
Abuse of the Curb and Check Reia.

The following extract, which we make
from an article in the Ohio Cuhipotor,
contains sound sense while it appeals to
The humanity Of horse owners. There
is no abuse of horses so common as that
by the use. or rather abuse of The check
rein, and especially where the horse is
standing hilched to a post. Our fingers
have often itched to follow the example
OF the editor of the Cuii0ator. and quiet
ly slip the Iein off the hook, and relieve
the tortured animal, which his ignorant
or unfee cling master has left standing be.
fore our office window, with his head
some two teet higher than the place ma
ture intended. We would like to see
some of those owners wi h their own
heads pulled back about six inches and
fastened there. 1t would make more
improvement in them, than it does their
horses; for the horses are no too lazy to
stand with their back tolerably strait,
nor are they half as round shouldered as
the masters
As we go upon our daily beat from
the cottage on 81 st. to the CutiVator Of
fee, our sense of korsemdniy is almost
daily outraged by what we see at the
rails and posts along the curb stone.-
Country people Come in with their gene.
rally well kept horses, and hitch them
up while they do their shopping or other
errands, which sometimes takes halfa day
or more. Now these people have not the
slightest intention to abuse their horses;
on the Contrary, many of them woull
fight fer their ste Is as soon as they
would for their wives OF children 4; but
this is the way they do it +: Most of those
who come on horseback ride a 81 anish
saddle with high pOmel. and with a short
bride rein They %dismount, and TO
keep the bride rein from getting over
the horses head. they hitch it back over
the pumcl, by which it is drawn tight,
and the horse head slightly curbed. 1t
the horse was in motion, this slight curb
would ceuse very little uneasiness, but
while all the muscles are at rest, this
tension soon becomes exceedingly pain
full, especially AS many Of these country
noises are not at any other time subject
ed to the curb. The horse bears it very
well for a little while, but 0 begins TO
step abeut and champ the bit, and if il had
the gift once youchsafed to Balaam's
ass, would repruve its owner with all
the modern Improvements of tie Ian
guage. But as the poor brute has no
such faculty, and as the rider is the ass
in this case, it must grin and bear il -
unless, indeed. the Editor of the CalLva
tor happens along, and quietly putting
his finger under the rein hllips it off the
horn, and gees on as innocently as if
nnthing had happened, while the ~reliev-
ed animal holds out his greatful nose
and says, ''thank you old fellow !" in a
kind of horse latin, that is perfectly in
telligible to the Editor aforesaid.
When the horse goes into harness,
again comes the abUminable curbS TO
make him hold up his head. As before
remarked, in a 1.-THE hcrse, with all his
muscles in action, a moderate curb is
not very painful, and is often useful after
long habit. in steadying his carriage f; it
is like every other bad habit in this re-
speet. But 10 hitch up the team to a
post, leaving the curb tightly drawn, is
an unmitigated abuse. Every day we
see fine carriage teams standing in that
way, left by the hour. The noble beast
first puts out his fore feet, then gathers
again, torelieve the aching muscles, and
all because the thoughtless driver had
neglected TO take the check reius out of
the hooks, or for fear his team would
get their heads down. On Sundays our
devotions are often very much disturbed
by such signs. Fine carriage teams
are truSsed up for two hours at the
church door, sometimes hot and in fly
/: they can only twitch their skin
and wag a stump tail; sometimes in win
ter, with a keen wind singing in their
ears, and their fore feet in the frozen
siush of the gutter. In such cases, if it
were not Sunday, and if it were not for
disturbing better worshippers, We would
like to throw a torpedo into the pew OF
the owner, who ought to be made TO sit.
astride of a sharp rail without any cush-
ion on it, all the time his team was hitch
ed up in that way.