The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-07-21

head in the meal-barrel We pulled
him out and decided that he could not
be loose in his box, so we tied him to
the manger just as if he had been in
stall. He was all right now. 1t being
sunset, we placed hay and oats before
him and left him.
The night passed quietly. When l
went to the barn in the morning | saw
plainly that / had not fed the horse
enough. He had eaten everything |
had given him, all the bedding and
about one-half of the manger, which
was made of thick pine plank. Also a
shallow hole was gnawed out in the
partition. l fastened to give him his
breakfast, and | gave him in my anxiety
three times as much as the usual
quantity. | told my sister what l had
discovered, and she informed me that
we should have to have our stable and
eating-box lined thoroughly with zinc,
for it was not because Jacob was hun
CRY, it was because he was "cribber"
that he had done this thing.
She proved to be right. In less than
a week we had the zinc put on, and
only barely in time then to save the
walls and foundation. l watched the
horse once. saw him take hold of the
wood and pull and grunt. He was lost
and bewildered when he could not do
that. l think it was for lack of this
occupation that he got into trouble the
very first night after his dwelling was
repaired We were wakened about
midnight by noise which at first we
could not place; but of course as we
had had no real freedom since Jacob
had come we Immediately thought he
was the cause of it. We dressed hur-
riedly, lighted the lantern and went out
into the summer night, which was full
of sweet odors, and the hum of insects.
A whippoorwill was singing on the
grindstone under the cherry-tree as we
opened the back door.
When we reached the stall our hearts
sank. There was the horse sprawled
out, with yards and yards of hind legs
on the floor behind him. He was not
struggling now; he was lying perfectly
still, his head on his side. Although
we had never seen horse like this be-
fore, we were sure that he was in fit.
| ran to our nearest neighbour /
ruthlessly pounded and called until he
came to the window, when l informed
him that that gray horse was in fit,
and would he come right up? He said
he would, and l ran back, being per-
fectly breathless and helpless when l
reached home.
Gertrude was sitting on a stool be-
hind the horse, looking at him. He lay
just the same.
"He is coming" 1 said, and sank
down on the meal-chest
4 wouldn't run myself to DEATH"
she said. . | don't know that it is re-
quired of us that we give our lives for
this horse, though his family are in
Europe. Iwish they were here with us,
gazing at their pet"
The man came. He said the horse
he was only cast.
"Only cast" cried my sister. d" What
more would you have? How long does
horse stay cast?'
What you want is a good plank"
said our neighbor.
We found good plank. He laid
one end of it over Jacobs hind legs,
and there was ample opportunity so to
do; then he directed Gertrude and me
to get on the plank and stand firmly,
while he went in the STALL We did
not see what he did-we were too much
occupied with what we were doing, for
we obeyed him.
Immediately there was movement,
lurch, an upheaval. The legs were
drawn up, and we flew off across the
barn. Gertrude's nose began to bleed,
but l only sustained general bruises,
which l counted as nothing. The horse
was standing.
guess he's all right now" says
our friend. EN- hitch him up so high
he can't cit his head down; eff he can't
do that he can't lie down. I guess he
tried to roll. Better put him in mar
rerer stall. Too much room. Horses
don't try to roll in narrer stalls"
When daylight came we harnessed
our own horse and went for carpen-
ter to make a narrer stall. But we
never used it after it was made more
than half a dozen times. We turned
Jacob out to pasture and drove Ken
lucky, lame though she was. The rea-
son why we did this was because to har-
ness Jacob was more than we were able
to do often.
At our first attempt he got away
from us six times as we tried to put his
bride on. The instant we slipped off
his headstall he flung up his head even
higher than usual-mountain high it
seemed to us-and went out-of-doors if
he could, or back into his stall. One of
us led him out, the other stood on a
chair with the bride in complete readi-
ness to put it on his head. No, his teeth
were shut hard, and his head was, so far
as we were concerned, miles off. Only
those who have tried it on hot sum-
mer day know how eXasperated and
how helpless we were. But we did
not succeed. Then we went into the
house and rested. When we came out
the sight of that beast attached to a
low phGton made us feel that our labor
was thrown away. He looked higher
than ever; he was monstrous. He
would have looked tall in a T-cart or
an omnibus. When we sat down and /
took the reins, they came to me from
such height, and descended so far be-
fore they reached the little dashboard,
that ! was ashamed.
l think we had sufficient reason for
putting Jacob to pasture. He tumbles
down walls and fences, but we are
in comparative peace. When Mrs
Fletcher reached Liverpool she wrote
that she hoped we were enjoying that
dear horse, and she knew we should be