The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1884-02-13
Hints TO Horsemen.

While passing along a crowded
street the other day | noticed a
crowd of men about the PROSTATE
form of horse. He had fallen on
the slippery pavement and lay fiat
upon his side. The truck had been
run back, and the harness complete
" remove from his body. Whips,
clubs and curses, along with the
assistance of six or eight men, that
is, as many as could get hold of
him, could only succeed in getting
him on his fore feet, when with
desperate effort to rise, he would
lunge forward and invariably fall
upon the same side again. After
repeated efforts had failed, at my
suggestion the men took hold of the
horses feet and rolled him over Just
as a horse rolls" or "wallows, "
when first turned out. No sooner
had he landed on his left side than
he got up OF his own accord and
with perfect ease. The trouble may
nave been that in his fall the right
hip came in such violent contact
with the stones that, for the time
being at least, it was paralyzsd, or
made partially bel pless. 1t is, how
ever, often habit with a horse to
lie invariably on one side, and, if
persisted in for years, the habit may
become so confirmed that either in a
close stall or on aslippery pavement
ne cannot rise from the other posi-
ton. In this way valuable horses
have been lost at pasture by becom-
ing east" When a horse falls in
harness the first thing to do is to
hold his head down fiat on the
ground to keep him still, then un-
/ fasten the harness and run the wag-
on back. Now, be sure and loosen
the check rein and let the head have
full play. If he IS lying on one
front foot get it out from him, and
then, if he does not rise with ease,
roll him over and give him chance
with another set of muscles.
| was once driving two lively
young mules, when one of them
/ picked up nail with his hind foot
and SO painful was it that he could
not touch the foot to the ground. |
had no pinchers to remove the nail
and that mule had always been put
in the stocks when shod, for he was
sensitive about allowing any famili
arity with his hind feet. Fortunately
another team soon came to where |
was anchored and the driver made Il
slipnoosein the end of his whip. Get
ting on his hands and knees while
the mules head was turned in the
opposite direction, he crept up be-
hind hira and adjusted the slib-noose
over the head of the nail. Then re-
treating, and allowing plenty of slack
to the whip, he gave a jerk and
out came the nail Since then |
have seen a nail jerked from horses
foot with a strong string.
was once Il helpless witness of
the desperate efforts OF dozen men
to get a fine horse on his ieet again
that had fallen down on an icy hill
side. The horse was rot sufficiently
Ishary-shod to get hold that would
last in the final struggle to rise His
feet would invariably slip out in
front of him. An old negro driver
coming by began TO divest himself
of his blue army coat, as | thought,
to take a hand at lifting the horse,
which, by the way, is hopeless un-
dertaking, for there is no way of get
ting a hold. But the old man
spread his coat out in front of the
helpless beast, then, lifting his front
feet, one by one, he placed them on
the coat, ana the horse feeling once
more a sure footing arose easily to
his feet. 4 buffalo robe is even bet
ter than coat or shawl, and in icy
weather is usually at hand. Care
must be taken to spread the robe
: out in front of the horse. and he sure
that his feet are placed on it before
he attempts to rise.
Sometimes the horse is light, the
load heavy and the hill steep. The
horse cannot keep from slipping back
or past as he scrambles forward.
What he wants is something to hold
his feet on the ground. This can be
accomplished by giving him extra
weight In the late pnpleasantness
have often seen gray-coated artil-
lerymen mount the horses which
were trying to drag heavy gun into
position on an eminence. With two
or three men on the back of each
horse the hill was conquered-PbH.
Press.