St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1891-11-12
TORTURES FOR HORSES.


Horses are great sufferers from
toothache," said a veterinary sur
geon to Washington Star writer.
THE complaint is the real cause of
many a runaway that is attributed
to viciousness. Horses teeth are
very subject to decay, and no atten-
ton is paid to dentistry for their
benefit, as ought to be the case.
Thus it sometimes happens that the
metal bit striking upon the exposed
nerve of the tooth will set an animal
wild in a moment and start him off
upon run. In fact, for time being,
the poor beast is actually crazy and
not responsible for what he does.
Man who is usually merciful to
other animals, is most cruel to the
horse. The latter is under pain
which would makea dog or cat cry
aloud, and this is one reason why
its suffering is not regarded. Not on
ly is the beast as arule literally worked
to death, but all sorts ofunnecessary
tortures and rnutilations are inflicted
uponit The familiar checkrein is one
of the mildest tortures, though in it
more severe. People think it is fine to
to see noble pair of horses f1inging
their heads in the air and tossing
foam from their mouths. In reality
the poor animals toss their heads to
relieve the painful strain of the check,
which makes the bit so distressing to
the mouth causing the saliva to flow
When you see them shake their heads
so nobly making rattle of the har-
ness it is to relieve calling of the bits.
Checkreins ought to be forbidden by
law. They were in fashion as far
back as the time of the Pharaohs as
ancient sculptures in relief show,
and were, doubtless, adopted to
hold up the horses head and make
him look spirited.
"Fashion combines with ignorance
to torture the horse To achieve
sweetness the first thing necessary is
to cut away the name so as to
initiate the beasts which draw the
sculptured chariots of antiquity.
Nature has provided the animal
mercifully with tail for brushing
away the flies against which he is
otherwise helpless. Therefore the
mode requires that this useful and
necessary appendage shall be chop
ped off short, which signifies not
merely the cutting Of the hair, but
the amputa ton of several of the
terminal bones of the spine, the stump
being scared with red hot iron to
make it heal. Any sensible person
knows that to dock horses tail
&c 10 he
creatures beauty; but what does
that matteri if fashion has promulgat-
ed her decree?
ut is upon the improvement of the
boots of a horse, however, that
human ingenuity has been well-nigh
exhausted. After the farrier in shoe
ing the animal, has scooped the sole
to the thickness of paper, cut away
the frog, removed the pegs, lower
ed and cut open the heels and burned
away the wall with red-hot irons
the groom takes the matter in hand.
HoOfs are naturally notified with
various shades Of brown, gray and
black, but this does not please the
professional eye of the stableman, so
he blackens and polishes them care
fully with lampblack, thus choking
up the pores in the horn and prevent
ing the needful perspiration.
"Another diabolical invention for
the discomfort of the horse is the
binder, the object of which is to
prevent the animal from seeing
things that will frighten him. But
the fact is that binders cause fright
instead of preventing it, because, like
ourselves, this useful beast fears the
1mperfectly known. He is not
afraid of what he sees and under
stands, but with binders on he can
neither see nor understand anything.