The Democratic advocate., 1881-08-27
MAKING STYLISH HORSES.
How a Country Horse is Taught City
Manners.

How Country Horse is Taught City
Manners.
A horseman tells a New York Times
reporter the following: "a country horse
comes in and buy him He is awkward,
gawky and countryfed. He is, in short,
compared with city horses, just what an
awkward backwoodsman is compared with
polished gentleman. First of all, fat
ten him up, give him good feed and have
him carefully groomed twice day to get
him smooth. 1t is new experiment for
him and he likes it, 1t is like boarder
in Water street boarding house going
to a first class hotel to live. 1t makes him
good natured and happy. Then l take
his neck in hand. No matter how sleek
and fat and shiny he may be, no gentle
man would have him in front Of his car
riage as long as he carries his nose out in
the air aud his neck is straight like a piece
Of board He must be made to arch his
neck and to pull in his chin. l put a
'mouthing iron on him. This is solid
iron bar, ike heavy bit, with rings on
the ends At the middle of it three heavy
iron tassels are fastened so they will rest
on the top of the tongue. This weight of
iron makes him lower his chin and draw it
in toward his breast. put surcingle on
him, put straps through the rings in the
ends of the mouthing-iron, fasten the other
ends Of the straps to the sureingle, and
brace them up tight. This makes the
horse arch his neck. He must do it
whether he wants to or not Two or three
weeks Of this treatment viii get him in
the habit Of holding his head properly.
II is painful to horse, of course Some
times they mako fuss, and have known
them to faint with the weight of iron on
their tongues. But they generally stand
it very well. The mouthing-iron is re-
moved only while the horses are feeding,
and the feed box is so arranged in a short
stall that the horse has to keep his chin
drawn back to reach the oats. You can
always tell horse that has been treated
in this way, for it drives up the glands on
the side Of the head, towards the ears, and
swells them. They remain distorted per-
manently.
"This makes the head and neck question
all right. But the horse still drags his
feet along the ground like man in loose
slippers. l send ton or less of straw in-
to a clean part of the stable yard and have
it spread loosely o7er the yard till it Is per-
haps two feet deep, but loose. While the
mouthing-iron is still in the horses mouth,
| have one of the grooms take him out
into this straw aud walk him about for
three or four hours every day. This soon
gets him in the habit Of stepping high, for
be lifts his feet well up to get them clear
of the straw. While one groom leads the
horse, another goes behind and turns the
straw up with a pitchfork to prevent it
from packing. This process, siDgularly
enough, has the same effect upon the groom,
in limited degree, that it has upon the
horse. Il teaches him to step high, and
does. him no harl. If the owner Of the
horse should see him after he has gone
through two or three weeks of this train
ing he would not recognize him.
''The front end of the horse by this time
is all right. Now for the other end.
What looks mere uRgracefnl than to see
horse with his tail held down close against
his fanks like COW or mule? He must
be taught to hold his tail out and gise it
graceful curve. Formerly this was done
BY nieking the tail on the under side so
that it became sore, and the horse then
held it up because it panied him whenever
it touched his body. But Mr.. Bergh con-
sidered this cruel, as it undoubtedly was,
and put stop TO it in this city. As soon
as the head and neck are rigtt the horse
is fastened in a stall, with pulley in the
ceiling Immediately over his tail; a cord is
put through this pulley, with a weight of
ten or fifteen pounds on one end. The
other end is fastened to the upper part of
the horses tail The weight keeps the
tail elevated, and gives it pretty curve.
1t does not answer to do this while the
mouthing- iron is at work, for the unusual
sensations at mouth and tail at the same
time would fret him too much, aud, per-
haps, injure his health. There is some
little risk in the tail improvement. The
horse will fight hard to whisk his tail out
of the fastening, SO it has to be strapped
pretty tight. If he pulls too hard on it,
the strain may cut and the sore become
irritated. | have known horses to die of
loekjaw from this process.
"These are the principal methods en-
ployed, the surgeon concluded, "to turn
country boobies into city swells. Thou
sands Of horses are so trained every year"
I