, 1890-08-09
LIFE OF A CAR HORSE.
HOW THE STOCK IS SELECTED AND
KEPT IN CONDITION.

Are Selected
Much pity is wasted on the street car
horse. People have got into the way Of
imagining that he works about twelve
hours out of the tw~enty-four, that he
is harshly treated and poorly fed, and
that, in fact, his whole life, from the
time he leaves the country until he is
sold, worn out, to the jobber, is nothing
more or less than the most disheartening
kind of a "demnition grind" The idea
Is entirely While he does
work the street car horse works hard,
but he is never overtasked. He repre-
SCENTS so much money, and the aim of his
wner Is to make him last as long as
possible. With this end in view, and
profiting by experience, the managers of
car stables have reduced the working
hours of the stock to q minimum, made
great improvements in the system of
feeding and established rules, the proper
fulfllment of which insures to zach ami
NAL just as much care and attention as
| his more fortunate brethren in the upper
circles of equine society are wont to re-
ceive.
The car horse is all right. Less pity
and a little more consideration would
LID boOh. vi lllSIhIlCt, IL bOli1t
people, the majority of whom are of the
gentler sex, would occasionally conde-
scend to walk half a block instead of
compelling him to make additional and
unnecessary stops and starts, he would
be profoundly grateful. In his case it is
the first few steps which cause him the
most trouble, and the less of this kind
Of exercise he has the better he is pleased.
As a rule he is well treated by the driver,
for cruelty detected generally means in
slant dismissal.
A BUYER TALKS.
In search of information relating to
the daily life Of the car horse, the writer
a few days ago called upon Mr.. Newber-
ry s. Frost, who does all the buying Of
live stock for the Atlantic Avenue Rail-
road company. Mr.. Frost was quite
willing to let the public into his conf
dence, and this is what he said:
I'VE have at present in our various
stables somewhere in the neighborhood
of 900 horses, all Of which were raised
in the west. We used to get our stock
from this and neighboring states, but
now it is chiefly drawn from Iowa, Mis-
souri, and Illinois. The horses are brought
on in droves and sold in New York.
What we want and try to get is q closely
built animal from 1871 to 16 hands in
height and weighing from 1850 to 1000
pounds. Under the former figure they
would not be up to our work, and IL
above the latter they would be apt to
wear themselves out entirely too soon.
"As to price l should say that the ave-
rage would be about $3.50. A great
number of what, we call ranch horses,
that is horses raised on the plains, have
been disposed of for something like s120.
We do mo buy any ranch horses. They
are hardy enough, but have not the
weight for railroad work. All our horses
are raised on farms. They are carefully
selected and not finally accepted until
they have satisfactorily undergone a ten
days trial. There are plenty of horses
which are suitable for agricultural work,
but which are of no account whatever
between the tracks. In regard to age,
we do not a horses under 8 nor over 8.
WHAT GOOD A RI HAS DONE.
IAN animal that is sound In wind and
limb will last, with proper care, about
Ave years. Some last a great deal longer,
but that is nea the average. We have
some few now that we nave had over
twelve years, and they arc still in good
condition. 1t would not be out of the
way to state that the working life Of a
street al horse has, by proper attention
and careful feeding, been heightened to
the extent of at least a year. Thus we
get Eve years work now where former
ly we got no more than four.
~ cannot tell exactly how many hours
constitute a horses working day or night,
but the distance run by each is about
sixteen miles. The speed maintained is
six miles an hour, and this rate has to be
kept up whether the car be empty or
filed. 1t is steady work and hard, but
it is the starting which tells most heavily
on the horses. Their feet generally give
way first, and when the feet are I'M
sound the animal is no longer Of any use
to us.
Condemned horses are sold to dealers
who make a speciality of buying from
railroad companies, and by these men
are sold again to farmers and peddlers.
A great many go to the country, for the
farmers would just as soon have them as
higher priced animals. A horse which
is not fit to keep up a six-mile-an-houI
gait may still do good work on a walk,
and that is as fast as the farmers and
peddlers want them to go. To each OF
our horses is fed fifteen pounds of q
mixtule of ground oats and corn and
nine pounds Of hay each day. The meal
Is mixed in the proportion Of two bush
els Of corn to one of oats Some horse.
eat more than others, of course, and in.
dividual appetites must receive consid
Grafton, but the figures given are about
the average. Stable foremen are selected
On account Of their practical knowledge
of horses, and over all a veterinary sur,
geon has supervision Brooklyn Eagle
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