River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1903-03-12
SHIPPING THOROUGHBREDS.
Horses When They Are Sent
Across the Ocean.


Few persons have an idea of the de-
tails attendant upon the shipping of
thoroughbred from this country to
England on one of the Atlantic Trans
port line steamers which handle most
of this line of business. A thorough
bred is not handled like a dray horse.
The race is as much entitled to COM
fort and consideration as a first-class
cabin passenger. His owner is So
licitous as to his welfare and is will
ing to pay well for it. The slightest
jolt due to the rolling of the ship in a
heavy sea might disable a thorough
bred so that his trip to the other side
would all be in vain. therefore the
greatest care must be taken that the
quarters on board ship are provided
with precautions against such acct
dents, says the New York Sun.
The railroads have gradually met
the demand for the traffic in race
horses and now run whole trains of
specially constructed horse cars for
the accommodation of thoroughbreds.
According to the laws of the United
States horse brought over railroad
to seaport town preparatory to an
ocean voyage must have Is hours of
rest in a stable after leaving the cars
before he is led up TO the gang plank
to his stall on shipboard. The New
York Central road has specially con-
structed stable for this purpose at
Thirty-sixth street and. the North
river, and other trunk lines are MAX
ing preparations to provide similar
quarters. These stables and the quar-
tiers for the horses aboard ship are I'M
der the direct jurisdiction of the Unit
ed States bureau of animal industry.
of which the chief executive for the
port of New York is DR.. William II.
Rose
The inspectors employed by this bu-
reau have many duties to perform,
among them close scrutiny of each
ship before horses are allowed to go
aboard. According to the require
ments of the law, each stall must be
eight feet in length and two feet six
inches in width. These are the accom-
modations for ordinary horses, but
the box stalls for thoroughbreds are
generally ten by eight feet, with the
walls and roof thickly padded. The
floor of one of these stalls is covered
with six inches of peat moss, over
which at night a heavy mattress of
| straw is thrown so that the racehOrse
can enjoy a comfortable sleep. But
| the same mattress is not used two
nj fc IN laN
| that the racehorse must have a clean
bed every night.
The inspectors disinfect every
thing before ship sails, including
stalls, blankets, feed trougha, water
pals, pitchforlls and currycombs. A
horse cannot go aboard until he has
received a clean bill of health from
a veterinary surgeon who represents
the bureau, while the attendants
who sail with the animals must make
affidavit that they are all practical
horsemen. Uncle Sam also sees to
| it that the horses, whether they are
| poor beasts of burden or rich racers,
| receive proper rations. They get all
the hay they want, the thorough
| breds receiving extras in the shape
| of bran mash mixed with oats, flax
seed meal and oatmeal, with corn in
cold weather.
Some of the box stalls are built on
the main deck with powerful fans to
produce ventilation. The old plan of
g"slinging" a horse aboard a steamer
has been done away with, big gang
planks having been substituted. A
thousand horses can now walk
aboard in the same time it used to
take to get an animal onto the deck
by means of sling. When one of
the Atlantic Transport liners lands
| a load of horses on the other side
they are put into the company's
| stables on the dock and cannot leave
until more veterinaries have gotten
in their work. Horses shipped to
this country must pass through
what is known as ''horse quarantine
under the watchful eye Of a veter-
mary attached to the department of
agriculture. So much care is exer-
cised that it is estimated that not
more than one horse in a hundred
dies from the effects of an ocean
voyage The attendants on these
''horse ships" say that they have
never seen a thoroughbred suffer
! from SeaSickDeSS