The morning call., 1893-09-17


business when she made them as they are
and fancied that they were assisting the
animal to breathe more freely, when IN re-
| ality they were only preparing the way Ter
| the lodgment Of all sorts OF lore gn SUB
! stances IN the nasal passages and destroy
ing the natural protection OF the organs OF
| respiration. 1t is truly amazing when We
| think of it how cnrlOusly we nave gone
! about to Improve" the anatomical max
up of the horse. A sensible writer on
! horse matters recently summed up our sins
of this sort in a telling fashion:
| The Creator has taken the greatest care TO
make the whole hoot as light as possible.
Happy thought" says man, "let us hang on
! pound or so on each hoof and make the horse
waste mis- strength in lifting II"
| He has made the wall exceedingly strong.
| "HapDy thought Let us weaken it by cut
! ting IL away"
He has made the wall nearly as hard as iron.
/ "Happy thought! Let US soften IL by 'stuf
He has furnished the hOof with an elastic pad
called the frog" so as to prevent any isr when
/ away the pad and make the horses weight
come upon ring of IRON"
! Again. he sole OF the hoof has been formed
| aTchwise of successive layers OF exceedingly
hard horn. Ii bids defiance 10 hard and sharp
edged objects. so the sole inspires Us with
another happy thought. Let US pare 1t so thin
! that IL not only cannot resist the pressure OF
! The horses weight upon stone, but that IL
! yields 10 the pressure OF the human thumb"
The cOronary ring, from which the n0eTs OF
| the wall secreted, Is guard Dy "A psnt-
! house of hair, which causes wet TO shoot of as
| IL does from the caves OF a house. Happy
| thought! Let US snip away the hair aud let the
1 water make It's way into the cOronary rlng."
! SO aiteI working his sweet Will upon the hoof
man wonders at its weakness, and lays down
| the stupid axiom THAT one horse eau wear
! out four sets OF legs" which is equivalent 10
! saying that the Creator ala not KNOW now 10
make a horse.
This is a pretty good showing of what
we have done For the horses feet alone.
| We have accomplished almost as much
! with other portions of his anatomy.
| Nature gave him a long tail, which is an
ornament to the creature as well as de-
| fense from his enemies-the flies. Happy
| thought, said man. I'VE will cut this tail
off and thereby strengthen the back of the
| animal" for pray do not forget that in
this ridiculous hypothesis and In no other
arose the brutal and senseless practice of
| docking the tails of horses, which a few
| fools in the present generation are trying
10 introduce into California On the plea Of
style. l saw handsome carriage horse
| that has long been my admiration pass my
window the other day. l had watched
! his cOmings and gOings for year or more
| a proud, notwithstanding fellow. with a
high. nobly carried head, SOFT silky name
and long, flowing tall l had not seen him
| for some little time and had wondered
why. l scarcely recognized him. His
name had been trimmed to a length Of
about four inches along his neck; his fore
| lock was gone altogether, and of his long
! D6autllui ldll DuI q SHOTE OEuSu Ieualutu,
/ just dlsfgurng Tapping mop of hair,
utterly useless for the purpose for which
| nature intended it, and presenting an ap-
pearance that stopped just short OF the
! Indecent. The poor animal looked as
| though he was ashamed of himself, and |
| know | felt ashamed Of his owner.
| What is our Society for the Prevention
i of Cruelty TO Animals about in these days
when our horse-Owners seem TO be gone
| daft on the question Of style? There is
] r.rl-f EH,Fnd fnr aIr
ket street every day In the week, what
with the beating OF our horses, the over
| loading of dEays, The checking up of heads
on our steep city hills. 0verdriVing, under
feeding, docking, nicking and otherwise
mutilating the animals, the CALLED, sore
| footed, sick and disabled creatures goaded
| on by cruel drivers, the clipped animals
| left standing, un blanketed. by the hour at
the mercy of our cold trade winds. / AMY
such one standing shivering the otFAS
day, his head checked so high he cOu# "a
MT lower it an inch, tied to a ring in TIE
| sidewalk by SO short halter-strap thst'he
could not raise it an inch; and qnverng
with the cold. he was sight to make any
| kind heart ache. l could not endure the
| sight, so l Ventured into the Office where
| his owner sat TO remOn strate. He was pO-
| llte!y taceti0us at my expense. 1T is nat
ural for ladies to be tendeI-hearted," he
| said, "but that horse is all right. Why,
I've driven horses all my life, and was
| brought up among them. They're used to
chat sort of thing. BE don't mind 1t Bit"
However, at my entreaty be did 60 out
and threw the buggy robe over the horse,
AMI dld not demonstrate when l let the
checkrein down and gave the Door fellow
a chance to stretch his tired, cramped
neck. l was tempted to suggest to the
owner that to drive horses all his life and
lot 20 know or care more than that about
them spoke volumes both for his heartlesS-
ness and his tupidity, but when a man
tells you he understands horses, partlcu-
larry If he says he twas raised among
them," no matter how grossly ignorant he
may appear about them, DO not attempt to
teach him aDything-you cannot
i have. In this article, pointed out in
stances where a checkreln seems neces-
sary. AS our horses are now, they fire.
Quently are necessary. In nearly all i'll
stances they are convenience and an i'm
provement to the appearance of an ami
NAL This fact, however. is by no means
proof that they always must be necessary.
There is no reason why we should not.
have breed of horses that hold their
heads well naturally, and in the hands OF
a sktlliui trainer, ana none other shauld
be trusted with breaking a horse, the ami
NAL could readily be broken of pulling and :
Juggling. In fact few colts have this ten,
dency at first, and in most cases IL is the
checkren that gets up the habit 10y en-
cOufaging the young animals to lean on
the bit,' as the phrase goes, and the REIN
finally becomes necessary to correct the :
mischief it has itself caused.
II may be necessary TO Keep UP. the beads
of horses trotting In a race, but it is:a Gu
rious circumstance that running horses,
whose heads are never checked up afeDoJ
| liable to this description OF accident: 1t
is worth consd eTing " neither the ten ifencv
in the trotter has not been produced by
the very cause that Is now supposed t0ob-
viate it. Our trotters have been: Selong
accustomed to the support of the beaEing-
rein that they will not hold up theiroWn
heads without it and transmit this ac-
9uired weakness to their progeny.
But we should have war on the over
head-c eek, war on the docked tail. the
ridiculous binders and ali the other bar-
barities that are being perpetrated in the.
name OF fashion, and it is an encouraging
sign oil the times that our thinkers and our
newspapers are devoting so much time and
atte ntlon to the matter as has been done
OF late. Miss RUSSELL.
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