Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1885-03-06

Collar Calls and sweeny.

Whoever by his own practice or by
advice to others shall assist in adding to
1.-THE comfort, and lessening the cruelty to
which our noblest animal, the horse, 10
subjected will have done praiseworthy
act, and deserve the thanks OF all humane
men.
Probably no one item, in the long list
Of abuses to WHICH the horse is subject.
causes more pain 10 the animal, and an
noyance and loss, TO the owner. than
CALLED and sweenied shoulders, iths6ss OF
horses that work to the pillow or draw
heavy wagons
II is no uncommon thing to see intelli-
gent and humane farmers working stock
day by day with great patches Of skin
rubbed from their shoulders by an lift
ting collar, the owner vainly trying to
push his busy spring work and at the
same time heal the refractory sores on
the shoulders Of his stock.
This is one of the cases where very
emphatically the ounce Of prevention
is better than the pound Of cure !" and.
as the busy season is rapidly approach
ing, farmers would do well to heed 4 few
hints from one who never has horses
with CALLED or sweenied shoulders In
the first place, thfn. look to your col
lars and see that they are of the proper
size and right kind Of material even IL
you have to spend b few dollars for new
ones to replace some which, though not
worn out, humanity, as we'll as economy
demand that you throw away. sa 81
A good collar should be stuffed with
curled hair, and lined with ticking, and
when new, should be just large enough
to meet aud buckle in the first holes,
and when the horse has his head elevated
to about the position in which you want
him to carry it willis at work; there
should be about space enough between
the collar and neck at the bottom, to
thrust in the fingers Of one hand this,
to prevent choking when pulling hard,
more space than this will allow the col
lar to slip up and down, and cause gals
and sweeny.
Ia purchasing new collar for par
ticular horse, see that it fits as above d.
rected. do not take the say 80 Of the
harness maker or your teamster, because
a collar always getslarger as il isused and
will soon become too large to be used
with safety.
The names should fit tightly in their
place on the collar with hooks the work.
ing from two TO three inches above the
points" Of the shoulder according to
the size Of the horse, and the shape Of
the upper part Of the neck.
And, now, having thus fitted collar
and names, see that they are kept 80
adjusted, for as the warm weather comes
on the horse will lose flesh and the collar
need frequently to be taken up accord
ingly.
Should the collar become too large after
having been made as small as possible IL
may be easily adjusted by placing pad,
made of old cloth, carpet, sheep skin, or
sack and put ii under the entire collar SO
that edges may be doubled up and tho
names be placed upon them to keep them
in place.
A good plan as the time draws near
to pat your horses to blowing, is to
bathe their shoulders about twice week
with decoction Of white oak bark, alum
water or some other astringent wash to
tougher the skin; for, no matter If the
horses have been kept at work during
the winter, the change TO blowing viii
always render them liable to gals. l
might add to the above that while get
ting we'll padded collars for his horses.
let the farmer not forget to carefully pad
the shoulders themselves with health "
flesh by liberal feeding