The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-30
MAKING OVER OLD HORSES.
Tricks of the Market to Make the
Ancient Hacks Frisky.

New York Journal.
While nearly every man in New York city
probably thinks he is quite capable of judg-
ing the points of any horse he Sees there, is,
really not one out of a hundred who could
fathom the twentieth part of the tricks
played every day in the places of the city
where horses are bought and sold.
Take one little scheme that the swindling
horse sellers OF today have continually in
practice. By common consent and by ira
dftion the best accepted way of telling
whether horse is old or young is to exam
inc his teeth. Twenty years ago almost any
amateur would have been able to pass upon
the age of a horse merely by making a
careful examination Of his mouth. But now
an old horse so deity that it takes a skilled
horse surgeon to find them out.
The trick is called "bishoping." An old
horse is taken and cavities are cut into the
front teeth by the use of a diamond drill
and jewelers. drill brace. 1t is an exceed
ingly delicate operation, but one that Is
readily to be accomplished with a steady
hand and good instrument. These 'eavi-
ties are afterwards blackened with nitrate of
silver, so that all trace Of their having been
recently cut are removed.
The horse Zip" is not in any way the
character he was quarter of century
ago, Then. though clever, he was a com
parativey ignorant bungler. Today he has
all the equipment Of horse science at his
command, and it takes wonderfully expert
veterinarian to guard against his frauds at
every possible point. 1t is a comparatively
easy thing to guard if the buyer is allowed
several days for careful examination before
he closes his purchase. This is given SO that
a thorough and complete veterinary examina-
ton may be made. Where no such time is
allowed the man who has an eye upon a
horse no matter how superb that horse may
look as he Is brought out for sale, mad pet
ter have a care.
Perhaps the most clever trick that is in
existence today in the patching up of a
worthless horse is the way animals are han
1ad Gvvon shoulders
ders whose muscles have wasted away. This
disease is a frequent one with old, worn-out
horses. 1t is overcome by blowing up the
skin, either with goose quill or by by
podermic syringe. The latter is much the
better method, for it leaves less of a wound
Blown up, these shoulders present capital
look quite young again. 1t takes several
days for the shoulders to assume their f1abbi-
ness, and it is trick that will deceive
nearly every one.
1t is, however, very easy to detect the
fraud. Close examination reveals that the
shoulders have no muscular development,
that the ridges of the muscles are not shown,
and that it is all one, even surface, simply
bulged out.
The same trick is tried over the eye In
old horses there is a hollow cavity which
does not exist in young animals little
! work with an empty hypodermic syringe
| gives a plump appearance to the flesh over
| the eye and makes the horse seem young
| again.
Glass eyes are very frequently inserted,
and it is an easy operation, six muscles and
the optic nerve having to be cut when the
| artificial eye is inserted. These eyes are
made to look very natural, indeed, and the
best way of telling that they are glass is
! to simply move a finger rapidly up and
down before the eye tc be tested. If the eye
| is a natural one and In good condition, the
| horse will wink and blink and commence
! to toss his head.
| The schemes that are resorted to to put a
! broken-down old horse into temporarily good
form are innumerable, and most of them are
| very clever What is called mechanical
lameness, i. e., defect in the articulation
OF the joints. cannot, OF course, be cured or
| even minimized. There is chance of
| patching up horse afflicted in that way.
! But, on the other hand, chronic lameness is
| very readily to be treated SO to deceive
| everybody but an expert. What makes a
| horse step lame under these conditions is
because the movement hurts it. The trick
! ster in this event injects one-half of a
| drachm of a per cent solution of cocaine
| in each side Of the leg in this way deaden-
ing the nerve. The horse steps precisely as
well as If he had absolutely nothing the
matter with him. and he will do so for an
hour at least, or during the time of the sale
| at any rate.
| A horse that kicks can be made as quiet
as lamb for long time merely by the
| injection of opiates, of which hyoscyomus or
| henbane is the best. Cocaine is also made
| use Of to render decrepit old steed lively.
Dr. W. J. Gill. one Of the best experts in
| New York city, told reporter that he had
| known cases where five grains of cocaine
properly applied would make a played-out
animal as lively as two-year-old for several
| hours.
DR.. Gill went on to say that any expert.
| of course, who looked over horse carefully
could easily detect the injection of drugs and
could make UP his mind as to the actual
| condition of that horse. Still another trick
/ is the repairing of defective hoofs that have
| cracks in them by filling up these cracks
| with gutta percha.
Two other tricks are well worth mentioning
| Both of them have regard to coach horses
While it is possible to buy horses of pretty
| nearly every other kind at low prices nova
| days, good coach horses still command a good
premium and good pair of them will bring
! high values. There is constant demand and
| an increasing one for horses Of this type.
| but they must have capital action and perfect
movement.