The San Francisco call., 1896-08-30
Calls, Sitfasts and
Marbles
How Not to Arrange
the Harness for
Driving Down
the Hill

A kind-hearted man recently borrowed
my pet driving apimal with which to GO
on journey. 1 knew him to be KIND.
hearted man, or 1 should never have COM
mitted my equine friend to his care, but ]
was tated to learn, for the hundredth
time, 1 suppose, that
Evil is wrought by want of thought
As well as by want OF heart.
In the kindness of his heart her new
driver desired to make Madame as COM
Portable as possible, and so in the interests
OF mercy he buckled the harness girth verv
loosely. The sa me good intention
prompted him to let out the holdbacks,
that the breeching might not chafe her.
Then with light spring wagon and a
camping outfit he departed into the
mountains.
1t was very hot day. The loose
breeching was of no avail for holding back
the load, and during every descent the en-
tire weight bore upon the saddle. This
would have been bad enough had the
girth been snug enough to hold the saddle
in place, but it was not, nor was the shaft
band tight enough to keep the shafts
steady. Back and forth, from side to side
all day long the saddle-pad kept up a
ceaseless chafing on the mares back. and
by evening it was bruised and sore. Then
the harness was taken off, she was well
watered and fed and left to eniov a good
nights rest, but her tired back got no taste
of the brush. The second day was a
repetition of the first, and when camp was
made Madame's back was found TO be
badly blistered- What was to be done !?
The fence-rails and rocks, the trees and
dead walls for miles along the way had
abounded in the praises of a wonderful
hniment which all horsemen were ad-
vlsed to use. Eurekai We will have
someI And so soon as it could be pro-
cured the strong, blistering stuff was well
rubbed in on the already blistered flesh.
1t was similia similibus curantur with a
vengeance, only ''similia" and "similibusn
were both too strong and the "curantur"
was effected by the one obliterating the
other, like Aaron's rod, that swallowed
up the rest. When next 1 saw nv favor
ite 1t was evident TO me, before was near
enough to touch her, that something was
wrong. The signs of distress which the
equine countenance hangs out are unmis-
taxable, and they were all there, together
with well-expressed reproof for me that I
should ever have exposed her to such suf.
fering.
1t seemed hard, and yet I see horses on
the streets of San Francisco every time I
go downtown who are enduring quite as
much as she did on that trip. These
warm days are particularly hard on our
faithful equine servants, and we owe it to
them If we cannot tighten the burden at
least to fit it to the back as inteIligently as
may be- The backs and shoulders of our
City workhorses show, more often than
not, unmistakable signs of neglect. Nor
are the animals, in the majority of cases
at least, properly harnessed. / saw a
horse tied on Market street some time aeo
whose harness had twisted about until the
saddle-pad rested upon his side. His back
was badly chafed where the leather pad
rubbed, all day, as he travelled up and
down over cobble-paved hills. In nine
cases out of ten the hreeehing is too loose
Tor hill work. 1t is a bad thing to have
this part of the harness too tight, as then
1t can materially shorten a horses stride
and by that much increase his labor, but
1t should be tight enough TO carry the
load on down grade, as otherwise all the
weight comes upon the tugs, which, sus-
pended from the saddle, bear directly
upon the back just behind the withers.
The shaft bands should always be buckled
snug, and should come back of the tup
loops. 1t is bad plan to wrap the shaft
straps about the shafts so that they come