The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-05-01

duce more or less permanent disteu
ton of the veins, which in all proba
5ility would ultimately become yarf
cose.
%. Its effect upon the arteries
| The pressure of the blood within che
| vessels. and the unnatural muscular
contraction OF the neck. would lead &c
aceration of their inner coats. result
ing In enlargement of the vessels and
| thus form aneuriSms.
| The consequences of the above con-
| ditions would lead to increased pres
sure upon the nerves of the neck, caus-
| ing pain TO the animal and further
1t would prediSpoSe the unfortunate
victim of fashion TO such diseases as
Inegrims, apoplexy, coma. infiamma-
ton and softening of the BRAIN
Hon. Chas. L. Flint, Secretary of the
Massachusetts Board of Agriculture.
in an address delivered at Boston Mu-
sic Hall, says
There is another point on which |
should like TO make single remark
allude 10 the prevailing use of the
check-rein upon our draft and team
horses. If a man has a hard days
work to do, if he wants to exert his
muscles and SinewS. he must have
those muscles free and unconfned:
nobody who has tried it can deny
that; and yet how does it happen that
principle that every farmer, every
mechanic, every laboring man of any
character, would admit in his own
case, is so constantly disregarded in
the case of the Woodworking and Oft
en- ill-used horse And yet you see it
every day
L have many times seen a team
overloaded with coal Juggling up yon-
der Beacon Hill, straining every nerve
often piled with the lash and some
times with the toe of a cowhide boot
while the power of the too-willing
horses was crippled by useless and
senSeleSS check-rein. Some of you
may have read a little work called
Bubbles by an Old Man. by Sir Fran
els Head, a distinguished soldier who
had galloped across the pampas of
South America, and seen those vast
droves of untamed horses in their ma
tive wilderness and freedom. and so
was good judge of the natural condi-
tons under which the horse eXerts his
strength to the greatest advantage In
that little work he contrasts the prac-
tees OF different nations in regard to
the check-rein, and points out clearly
that when a horse has real work to do
Whether slow work, as in our plows
and carts, or quick, as in galloping. or
in the headlong flight across the plain,
nature tells him not to throw his
head up and backward, towards his
tail, but forward and down, so as to
give the force of his weight into what
he is called on to do. He shows, that
nature never intended a large and
heavy animal, like a draft-horse, to
perform his slow work only, or chiefly
by the strain of the muscle; but, on
the other hand, by the power of weight
as the rule, assisted by the strength of
the muscle as the exception, when ex-
ira resistance is to be overcome.
nd what is the use of a check rein
on draft or team horse. anyhow?
There may be a necessity for it in
some young, unbroken, or ill-tempered
animals; but these are the exceptions
On most OF our heavy team horses it
can rarely be justified. If it be std.
to prevent them from falling, it may
be said in reply that it has quite as
often prevented an old horse from re-
covering from a stumble. 1t is to be
hoped that horse owners will look at
this matter in its true light
The foregoing are only few of
many European and American author
tiles, which | have found to the same
effect, and | have searched the books
in vain for single line to the con-
rrary.
l can only conclude, as the result of
my examinations, that the custom of
tying up horses heads with check
relns, like the custom of bleeding
calves before they are killed, is a relic
Of barbarism. contrary alike TO com
mon sense and scientific opinion, and
which has been permitted to exist so
ong because it has been nobody's bust |
ness TO call public attention to it.
GEO. T. ANGEIL
Boston. Mass