New-York tribune., 1900-11-25
TRICKERY WITH HORSES.
CUNNING DEVICES OF INGENIOUS HAN
DLERS-VARIOUS METHODS OF OBJ
TANNING UNFAIR ADVANTAGES.

TANNING UNFAIR ADVANTAGES.
There has been a great deal of talk on both
sides OF the Atlantic OF late IS to racetrack
doping" and with regard TO various devices
used 10 give the impression that horse or
mare q colt or a hy. possesses style and a
distinction which arc deceptive and misleading
An incident at the Horse Show last week called
out much comment. Some OF the officials at the
Madison Square Garden suspected that GER
tain owner had been "doctoring'' his entries in
sucn a way as to incite them to efforts Of which
they were incapable in their ordinary condition
The owner against whom suspicion was directed
succeeded In clearing himself completely from
every possible cause of reproach, but the Vigi-
lance OF the Horse Show management was hea't-
lily commended by every one competent to pass
Judgment in such matters. No one with h'sH
sense Of honor would dispute the merit OF tne
custom which is adhered to at all properly coH-
Quoted horse shows. that artificial means
ghall be employed 90 bring about heettng ana
ttansitor, exsltation among the competitors
which will give them unfair advantage
Crafty stratagems with bits or straps or mar
r4es lotions liniments. stimulants and drugs
which cause the horses TO act in m.Aher
wholly different from their usual behavior ana
movement. are properly under a ban at every
show which is in the hands Of men who COM
Ia the rivalry for the honors and prizes of such
exhibitions as that which ended last night in
This city the custom and the practice are that
animals are to be brought into the ring in the
iorrn which they present In private life, so to
speak II this were not generally understood
horse shows might sink far below their present
standard
THE YANKEES ARTIFICIAL PRODUC-
TIONS.
Every one familiar with the subject knows
however. ttat wonderful variety of inventions
and appliances has been used in this century TO
attain certain results with the descendants or
the equine pair that Noah fed with sodden hay
and damp cats until the ark grounded upon
the topmost crest of Ararat Even the Verlest
novice has learned that the trOt was not nat
ural gait for the pampered jades which sped
over the steppes Of Asia in the days of Tanner
lane The trotting motion has been cultivated
and developed. like the high knee hackney
action America is acknowledged all over the
world to have been more prolific in the produc-
ton of inventions than any other country.
The fast 1rotter a Yankee construc-
tion When Columbus discovered this con-
tInent and for centuries afterward the trotting
ouadruped as a speed machine had never been
thought Of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome,
with all their glories. never sent trotter to the
front and in the archives of Babylon and Nine
veh Egypt and Ethiopia, mention of the tim
ing watch was ever found. Arabia and Bar
barry had their sleek patricians of antique equine
ancestry and those Oriental horses could run
long distances over the baked sands in
heated rivalry with the ships of the desert, the
dromedaries of high descent There was no
looming" in those days and there was no trot-
ting either. The walk, the canter, the gailop
the dead run were the equine gaits when Job
10
battle charger end when the Moors overran
Spain many centuries later. 1t was reserved for
the Yankee Of the present age to amaze the
world with the American trotter, PAGER and
roadster-an artificial and not natural products.
The thoroughbreds lineage can be traced back
to the oldest and proudest strains of Yemen,
passing through the importations from North
ern Africa to England In the reign of Charles
II The running horse of to-day in Great Brit
ain, America, France Germany, Austria, Italy
Russia, Australia and New-zealand represents
the results OF long continued and careful selec-
ton and breeding. and the constant study of the
most effective methods for developing the un-
daunted spirit the indomtabe courage and the
unr1valled speed. Therefore. to some extent, the
thoroughbred runner Of this generation is
artificial product. and delicate, hothouse Great
ure, which requires almost as much medical at
tention as an invalid heiress. Nevertheless, the
Gated array OF harness, with network of straps
and buckles, of lines and hoppIes similar to the
Intricate machinery which has been used to
correct the gait and increase the speed Of GER
tain American trotters and PAGERS. Some of the
animals that have gained startling records on
the trotting tracks OF the United States carried
almost as much rigging, tophamper, life lines
sheets and bobstays a 70-footer in a light
breeze on Newport. and were comical and
ridiculous to look upon. Nevertheless these
winners Of laurels. covered as they were with
an lnterlacing network of all sorts of queer
eontraptions whirled a sulky over the ground
with amazing velocity. That elaborate eouip-
ment OF peculiar boots, hopples, brides bits
eurrs and strange contrivances enabled them
to break records
HIGH KNEE ACTION CULTIVATED.
generations ago in England high knee action
on the part OF hackneys was brought about in
various ways. Some Of the experts enlisted the
AID or surgeons. whe treated various muscles
and tendons and JOINTS with diversified snnIt-
ances, and up in the air went the hacknev.s
hocfs. Another practice for the securing Of
lofty knee action the frequent exercise of
the horse In deep straw. He could not fan m
acquire a skyward movement when he was
lereed to raise his feet OF the straw at every
Etrloe still another plan was to put heavy
shoes on the fore feet and then to drive the hack
nes through ploughed ground. Up his knees
Wcuid jump toward his nose and the desrad
cHmbing toward the stars became habituel
Rubbing the legs of horses of all classes with
aon.aas ns anu a. hnanents OF every imaginable con-
eocton is an old story The binding of the limbs
with tight bandages TO keep down swellings
ana 10 restrain tendencies 10 lameness and
weakness was undoubtedly common on the
plains of Shinar long before JAhu The Co. t
Sinshl heeced the progenitor Of Mark Twain