Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1883-01-10
The Useless Check-Rein.

animals. As horsemen are deslrous OF
showing their horses to good advant-
age, | will consider the subject from
an aesthetic point of view.
Why men possessed of ordinary IN
telligence in other respects should re-
sort to such d device as the oyer-cht OK
for use on horses can only be account
ed for on the ground that when a new
fashion is introduced people often
adopt it without consideration.
The new check-rein, which passes
from the mouth over the horses head,
is a most foolish contrivance OF tor
ture which possesses not one excuse
for its use. The butcher who trans
ports number Of calves in his wagon
aad allows their heads TO dangle over
the sides of the box excuses himself on
the score Of the want of room. The
teamster who brutally pounds his
horses when they are unable to draw
the load claims that such beating will
sometimes impart more strength. The
drover who prods bis cattle with
sharp iron defends his barbarity on the
plea that the cattle can be more rapidly
driven when made to suffer from this
pain. But the man who fastens up
his horses head in an unnatural, pain
ful position, with nose extended and
eyes glaring upward at the sun, has
absolutely no excuse.
He cannot claim that the horse
travels better, is surer-footed, or draws
more. And he certainly cannot ex-
cuse himself on the claim that that the
animal presents better appearance,
for the exact contrary is the fact.
When the oyer-check is used the
horse's head is held unnaturally up
ward in such manner that great
pain must result, and the eyes are
prevented from seeing the roadway,
and thus the animal is continually liza
BILE to misstep, slip and fail. With
head held up thus and eyes blinded by
tie sun, and unable to see where he
steps, the horse is compelled TO travel
at rapid rate over cur common roads,
drawing buggy which often contains
two or three persons.
In cider to fully realize what the
horse has to endure, suppose we check
up couple of the drivers of these
horses into this unnatural position.
The first ten minutes these men
will probably endure this torture with
out much complaint, but as the hours
20 by and the pain in the neck be-
comes excruciatng and the mouth
bloody from the effort to get the head
down, they will understand aud ap-
prccate what causes the continual
restless tossing of the head which the
horse exhibits when he is thus tortur-
cd by the over-check To add to the
pain arising from this terrible, unnat-
ural position, let these men, while the
sun is binding their eyes, with their
burdens 10 draw or carry, unable to
see where they are to step, be whip
ped into run over the rough roads OF
the town, and we have the brutality of
the exhibition complete
The day Of watching the best horses
of our city as they are being driven will
reveal the fact that this torture is i'm
posed ou them under the impression on
the part of their owners that, rugged
out thus, with a straight strap over
their necks, they exhibit more style
The real fact is, however, that the
horse with neck strai9 htened, thus
having head and nose extended forward,
is greatly injured in appearance, as the
following illustrations show.
A well-fed, we'll groomed, spirited
horse is the most beautiful animal in
existence. This arises from his elegant
proportions, tie contrasts that come
from his supple movements and hand
ONE colors, and the graceful curves
that outline the body. All this is seen
from a study of the animal in a natural
condition. Particularly will the read
er observe the graceful arch of the
neck in the beautiful horse. This
curve of neck is one of the chief beauties
of this handsome animal ard this
feature of attraction is entirely destroy
ed when the neck is Strengthened by the
over-check
Nature abbors straight line. Those
beautiful things of hers which we most
admire always adhere to the curve.
Examine her works and see. The leaf,
the blossom. the tree, the waving grain,
forest, mountain, planet-all bave curv-
ing outlines. There are no straight
lines The same is true of all beautiful
animals. The human countenance,
when wasted by disease, becoming
thin, angular, and full of straight lines,
loses its exterior beauty. When health
comes back and the face swells into
graceful form with increasing flesh,
beauty returns. In lower life those
animals that exhibit theigreatest amount
of curve, accompanied by harmonious
proportion, are the most beautiful.
There need be no objection to the
side-check on the score of beauty when
it does not hold the horses head un-
reasonably high, particularly as, rest
ing at the side of the head, it does not
destroy the curve of the arching neck.
The over-check, in all cases, however,
detracts from the horses beauty for
three reasons, the first being even if
loose, the leather strap aattens the
name and Injuries it's appearance
second, if tight, it forms straight line
from the saddle to the top of the head,
which is contrary to the law Of beauty,
and third, it converts the curve of the
horses neck into a straight line, and
thus detraets from the grace and beauty
shown in the handsome horse, which
is allowed to hold its head naturally.
Every driver who fastens his horses
head into this painful position is un-
questionably liable to the State law for
cruelty to animals. The hope is, how
ever, that the judgment and good ia ste
of our horsemen will cause them of
their own free will to cease their torture
and restore to the animal that grace
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