The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1886-12-30
HORSE HABITS.
Something About Equine
Ways and Peculiarities.
Horses Disposed to be Gentle or Savage
According to Treatment.

~ ~~~''sAA~~s
A gentleman who has made study Of
horses and their characteristics for years
and who is the owner ola number Of fine
animals, was shown by New York
Mail and Erpress reporter, an item that
has been going the rounds of tho press
about horse becoming insane.
81 do not believe thero is any such
thing as insanity among horses" he said.
ga horse may become wild and unmanage-
abe from pain, such as the toothache, or
because of cruel and brutal treatment or
fright, but it is only temporary affection
But will not deny that many horses
are natural fools. l have in fact seen
many such on which there was no
dependence, and characteristic of
which is the taking up of II mouthful of
hay and tossing it about making fire.
quently no headway in eating. Such
horses show no affection, and stranger
can drive them as readily as one who has
handled them for years, which is not the
case with IN intelligent horse. One
thing that makes horse nervous are
these fancy curb bits, which hurt horse
considerably, and attribute great deal
of this so-called viciousncss to these con-
trivances. No, sir; / do not even be-
lieve in natural viciousness in a horse.
To ill-trcatmcnt this is all due. Take
high-strulg, nervous horse and it does
not require much il-treatmcnt to
make him vicious. have seen
horses and owned them which would
be perfectly gentle in harness and in the
stable, but the moment they would
see me take up stick or whip would at
once seem to change their dispositions
and try to jump upon me and otherwise
do me harm. Out West last summer l
came across a black horse which had
killed three men, and which worked six
mates to death. lie was worked twelve
years day and night on a stage coach.
He would trample both men and his
mates to death the moment they came
too near him. But lie was il,-trcated,
| brutally treated, all the time. Why,
every time they put harness on him
they would keep him goadcd with a
| pitchfork SC that he trembled with fear
all the time. 1t was quite sight to see
| him harnesscd. After the harness was
snapped about him heavy rope was
tied about his neck and then he would
be dubbed over the head and backed
out of the stall. Then the rope would
be thrown over beam and the men
would take the bride and club him with
it on the head so as to stun him before
they could get it on. He was large,
powerful animal, and fine looking. Yet
to-day that horse isas gentle as kitten.
Why so9 Because he passed into other
hands from which he received kind
treatment; that is all he needed.
II have light sorrcl horse named
Rowdy, which l have owned about two
years. He was very high strung and a
notorious runaway when got him. The
man who sold him TO me confessed that
no impression could be made on the
horses mouth. l began with gentle
treatment and letting him know that l
was his master and drove him with a
straight bit. At the start he kicked
straight out Of the traces. Now
he is subdued and gentle, and
the moment speak to him he obeys and
will come everywhere to me at the sound
of my voice. He has trait that causes
much amusement. We allowed him to
run in pasture with a mate. Rowdy was
always great fence jumper, but his
mate was not on the start. When to-
gether, Rowdy would leap fence and
then seeing his mate decline to follow,
would at first coax by jumping it over
sevcra. times back and forth, and at
last, seeing this would not succeed,
would begin biting the other one and
pushing it with his nose until he COM
PEELED it to jump.
While west noticed that frequently
horses are guided the same as oxen,
without reins, and that it is very easy
to teach them to obey in this way. 1t is
like everything else about horse-let
him have conf lencc in his master and
he will do anything. saw an odd in
stance Of a ba!ky horse out there. 1t
was in Michigan and he was attached to
light buggy. The horse was very
large, and would weigh 1900 to 1900
pounds. They were on level and after
going about eighty rods the horse
stopped short and would not bulge. He
was beaten, knocked and whipped bul
without avail. Then yoke of cattle
was brought up and fastened, to which
was a chain which was fastened about
the horses neck That horse wa:
! dragged half mile by the cattle, and
then was rs stubborn as at first. III
was finally left alone and after standin.
seven hours started up all right of hi
, own accord. Tie trouble is that wher
horse gets balky people lose their tenn
pers, and this only makes matters worse
The only sure remedy for q balky hors,
is to blindfold him by banding his eyes
l never knew this to fail, as it seems Il
take away the animals attention from
t the subject over which he is stubborn.
Cure of S0mnambulism.