The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1897-11-25
THE OvcaCRAw CHECK.



Some Pertinent Uss,nAafA nm > Cruel AID
Iniiuna.sn uAtum..
During recent visit to Chic ago /
was surprised to note what sccm d At
first glance Il great superiority both In
style and carriage OF the horses OF that
city rs compared with those usually
seen on the drives in this vicinity. I
know from experience that We have as
good horselcsh hire rs can be found
anywhere, but upon closer invcstiga-
ton | discovered that the reason why
A. horses OF Chicago appeared supe-
rlor il gait and carriage to anything
here WAS owing to the tact that none
that noted wore what II called the
the overdraw check.
1t is M IN Tortulnte fact that most OF
our horses here are made to look abb
surd with their heads pulled up to nn
altog Their unnatural position, which
NUT bc us painful as it il lncking in
grace, as a result Of the general use OF
this abominatoa So far as can de-
termine the use of the ovcrtlrnw check
is unwarrantcd and unjustified by any
.,iuglc seas ble reason
Nature gives the wcll-brcd horse a
use 1T . tight check rein the head of
such ii Horse is drawn close to its
l'rcast. or when by employing the over
draw check the end OF the nose Is lift
ed ont into the air and the head tilted
back, all the beauty OF nature is taken
| away aaI h. horse is rendered unable
to perform its work 20 the best adj
vau.a C. Dranght horses are not thus
| checked. because horse cannot pull
prop ,rly with HI head drawn up into
the air any more than n man could.
No amount of checking can add In
any way to the beauty OF n homcly
horse, but only scrv to cxaggcrate
the poor creatures lack of beauty
Handsome horses are made ugly by
that process and ugly horses arc made
| to look worse. Vhers then is the adj
van tlgc?
Occa .ionaily. but rarely, horse
will need to be SLIGHTLY checked to be
made useful for driving or other pur-
,oses. These instances are extremely
rnrc and canlot b. cited with any truth
IS an excuse for the general practice OF
using tight check rein.
1t is curious i lea with many that a
|
the mir while working Anyone who
believes in that f:ll!acy has only t., look
at the photographs OF not.sl race horse
or the bes,-brcI stock in the country,
or to watch an unchecked team NJ
work, and the examination Will show
natural posture of the head very
different from anything one will be
able to note in majority of ths
chec'sel-up carriage horses OF tits ans
adjacent ctcs Some poss bly, mny
argue that, az an ill-bred or "a sicl,
horse will droop his head, therefore 9
well-brcd and perfectly able animal
ought to hold his head in the extreme
opposite direction, or in other words,
rs his nose points to the ground in one
instance it should be made to poin'
hcnyenward in the other.
When man undertakes to improve
upon nature in rearrnnging and shift
ing the natural postures OF the animali
Of this earth, he generally makes I
mistake
1t is really wonderful what An i'm
provement is visible in the appear
ancc of the horses of Chicago since thu
people OF that city have had the goot
sense to do away with the objection
able overdraw check, which was frs
introduced there fifteen years ago.
Fancy Rosa Bonhcur's famous paint
ing with the horses heads represented
in the position into which they woul'
be brought by the use of this particu
larly detestable piece OF harness.
does seem as though the averag
American citizen ought to be smar
enough and sensible enough to see no
only the absurdity, but the cxtrem
cruelty Of this thing and to do ava,
with it altogether.-W. W. Hallock, il
NJ " trt,nae