Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-02-29
Care Of Horses.

The horse is q noble animal. It is
one of the higher order of animals, and
stands next TO man in the scale of ami
NAL existence in regard to its brain
and nervous development. Next to
man, and TAR more than tie lesser en-
dowed OK, it suffers pain from injury
or from surgical operations, and neces-
sar1ly from exposure, disease or neg
lect- Its high nervous organization,
too. gives 1t great intelligence; a highly
refined instinct, which often approach
es to reason; strong subsection to
fear and terror, and a greater aptitude
to disease and injury than any others
OF the lower animals. For these rea-
sons, as well as for its important uses
and duties, the horse requires the most
careful, skillful and generous treat
ment. We call the man who will i'll
use horse a brute; he is worse, for he
is coward, knowing well that his Vie
tim viii patiently suffer his abuse and
cruelty without any attempt at retalia-
ton, and most brutes are free from this
contemplate vice of cowardice. But
in effect the horse suffers quite as
much from thoughtless, negative i'll
usage as from the active violence
Of brutal drivers. And probably
at this season the horses suffe.ings in
this way are greater than at any other.
The rigors of the season, the condition
of the roads. and n state of enforced
idleness while confined in narrow stall
in which free movement of the limbs is
impossible, and in which the poor ami
NAL passes the severest nights constant
ly shivering with cold, and very COM
monty insufficient food to maintain ade-
quate vital warmth; all these, too often
aggravated by other careless neglects,
amount to an aggregate of suffering and
misery which is painful to contemplate.
1t is not that the farmer purposely in
fiicts suffering upon his horse. He does
not think when he takes the animal out
to draw load or go upon journey on
icy roads that the shoes are smooth. or
that if sEarpened the calks are so HIGH
as to change the level of the foot and
throw it out of position so that every
movement is painful; nor does he think
OF the pains causel by the wrenching
of the joints and tendons as the animal
slips and attempts to recover himself.
Nor does he think when he reaches the
end of his Journey and leaves the horse,
heated with the exercise. 10 stand in the
cutting icy wind, how acutely it NAV
suffer in every quickened nerve from
the exposure. Yet it is cruel-cruel
neglect-none the less so beca .se il is
not intended to make the horse suffer.
There are so many points which
might be considered in this connection
that our space would be inadequate 70
treat of all of them; let us think of
To- 81 L.,
as to the stable. This should be tight
and warm, but yet airy. for pure fresh
air with its life-giving oxygen is indis-
pensable TO maintain the warmth OF an
animal. 1t should be light, to prevent
the intense pain and injury caused by
bringing horse from darkness into the
full sunlight reflected from snow. 1t
should Ee kept clean, so that the acrid
vapors of ammonia, which rot the har-
ness aud destroy the varnish upon car
riages, may not injure the tender men,
braneS of the eyes, throat and lungs.
Next, the feeding should be liberal in
the winter time, and some grain should
be given, especially when the weather
is unusually cold. With fairly good
stable, clio hing is not required in the
stall, but a soft, dry, warm bed is; and
q good blanket should be provided and
used when horse is standing out of
doors, and it should always be drawn
closely over the chest. 1t is Ii tie
thing perhaps to refer to the pain
caused by putting steel bit in a horses
mouth when the temperature is zero,
Lut if the owner will try it upon his
own tongue he will learn how it affects
his horse. Indeed, there is scarcely an
hour in the day at this season when
something is not occurring that might
provoke thought, and this thinking can
not fail to be profitable for tie horse as
well as for his owner IN. J.. Times.