, 1888-11-27
HIS HUMANE HOBBY.
A LOVER OF HORSES breaches
AGAINST THE CHECK REIN.

AAAbh
Down with the check reini"
Such is the war cry chosen by a gentle
man of Scandinavian extraction whose
name is q. w. Petersen. On Sundays,
and on week days, too, he may be seen
at various street corners talking to coach
men, Transfers and owners of horses. He
holds an oil painting In his hands n
shows 1t to the people he addresses as an
illustration of his arguments. The picture
represents q horse, O swan n a man, all
checked up high, and bears the following
peculiar inscription:
When under high pressure Of low pride
try the check rein on yourself"
Mr.. Petersen is laughed at and jeered
at by the people he addresses. He is often
taken for a crank and told roughly to
mind his own business, but with the
obstinacy and perseverance, Of Peter the
Hermit, he goes on preaching a crusade
against the check rein He Is one of those
characters who cannot be discouraged by
obstacles, and who, having once taken up
an idea, will follow 1t to the end
Laugh at me, take me for q fool" Mr..
Petersen says. ''but l will stick to my
business, and shall denounce the check
rein whenever there Is a chance"
Mr.. Petersen is not a member of the
Humane society. He is no professional
friend of animals. In foct. he minds his
own business every workday in the week.
But as soon as he feels himself at liberty
to spare an hour or two he takes his pic
ture and goes out on tho street to carry
on his eccentric propaganda. He is a
friend of the horses, and he suffers when
he sees them suffer.
REGARDLESS oil COMFORT
Fashion is the curse of this age" said
Mr.. Petersen; people will follow 1t re-
gardless of comfort. They will put
mountains on their backs and call 1t the
hustle. They will torture themselves in
order to comply with certain forms de-
clared to be the fashion. When people
torture themselves / do not care. Let
them suffer, they ought to know better,
/ then think to myself. But when / SEQ
helpless animals tortured for the sake of
complying with ridiculous demands of
fashion, / get indignant and cannot stand
It. The horse is one of the most beauti
full animals, because of his fine proper
tions and graceful, curved outlines. Now
look at that picture. What do you see
thereS You see the laws OF nature vio-
lated. You see a machine put up oil the
horse in order to do AWAY with the curved
limo his arched neck forms
THAT is the way l begin my converse
tion with the people handling horses and
using the check rein.
II tell them that this check rein is not
only d~isfgurtng tho horse but also tnjur-
ing his health. 1t robs him Of comfort. it
makes lin nervous, and he can't see
anything, because of being forced to look
upward into the sky. Then | point to
the swan, and ask the coachman what
that noble bird would look like II a check
rein would be put over her head. Then /
point to the checked up man, and ask the
coachman to tell me how he would feel II
he were checked up In n like manner.
How would you feel, manf i say.
Tho first few minutes you would proba-
bly, endure this constraint without much
complaint. But then you would begin to
kick. In a short time your neck would
begin to ache. and your mouth would be
filed with blood from the fruitless efforts
to get the head down. You would be-
CONF restless and begin to toss your head
just as your horse is doing 1t now. How
would you feel If. while the sun were
binding your eyes, with a burden to draw
or carry, unablo to see where to step, you
were whipped into a run, into a ditch or
depression in the rough street pavement
Would you feel comfortable That's
why you often see fine horses harnessed
to elegant carriages paw vigorously,
champ the bit, toss the head, and turn
the neck. They want 20 loosen the check,
lower the head, and get a rest
HOW THE DRIVER AXE IT.
THE driver smiles or laughs, or STAN
mers something. He thinks l am n queer
fellow, and goes on to explain that he
would not mind loosening the check, but
the people who employ him were opposed
to it, want more style. and 30 on.
"'Well, them l say, call your peoples
attention to the fact that the horses are
being tortured by the check rein. Tell
them that the horses would be killed in q
short time because of the silly fashion
81 thus go on lecturing. Often the
drivers and coRchmen really follow my
advice and remedy the thing. But often
the people are stubborn and do not caro-
to listen to what / say.
II have discovered that my painting
helps me a good deal In my work. / took
1t one Sunday to the Peoples church at
McVicker's. There was a long row of
carriages with fine horses standing In
front of the theatre. The horses were
all checked up / showed tho picture to
the ~coachmen- They laughed and fred
ut me oil kinds of silly remarks. Finally
q young couple drove up In a carriage to
the theatre. The horse was restless. 1
showed my picture TO the young gentle
man and explained to him the reason of
tho horses restlessness. The young gen
tleman thought he had q fool rom the
insane asylum before him. The uni
formed coRchmen stood around grinning
and awaiting developments.
"Well, l gave them a practical lesson
right there on the spot. / unchecked
the horse, and there he stood quietly and
comfortably, showing no signs of being
unmanageable. The check having been
loosened the horse dropped his head His
neck assumed its natural arched form.
He ut once became an object of admjra-
tion for all the drivers. The young gen.
tleman thanked me for my advice, and
the lady that was with him thought that
my picture was the best scheme devised
for the welfare of horses.
at is only a few weeks since I began
to use my picture, and ] find 1t much
more eloquent han words. Some time
in the near future l shall also have other
pictures copied and painted. III show
them a horse in its natural positionj a
pair of horses, one checked and another
loose; a span of horses, easy and grace
full, because of their not being over
checked; mt a pair of work horses with
check reins on. Tho pictures will be
more telling than words. and the crusade
against the check rein will make rapid
progress Chicago Tribune.