The La Jara chronicle., 1910-04-22
CARE OF THE SHOULDERS
OF YOUNG HORSES.

The care of the shoulders of young
horses is one of the most important
factors to keep in mind during the
first few weeks of the spring work.
A horse can not do satisfactory
work with shoulders that pain him
every time he takes a step. The
horse may be looked upon as ma
chine that is expected to do 50 much
work. and if some of the mechanism
is out of order, then the amount of
work is lessened. But, also. the ami
NAL muat be locked upon as crea-
ture with feeling and ambition, TAX
| ing pride in its work, that is Will
ing, obedient and therefore valuab e
servant. and should be properly cared
for
The first thing of Importance to
consider in the draft horse is the
collar. Most of the injured shoul
ders are the result OF pocrly fttin$
collars, and the faut usually lies in
a collar being too large. 1t is good
idea to have a harness maker fit th2
collars to your horses. He may be
able to remove padding and in other
ways make the collar over so that II
wi fit nicely. Heavy collar pads are
to be avoided if possible. They ar
hot and cause the shoulder to sweat.
this keeps the pad and shoulder wet.
and the skin becomes soft and bis
ters easily
Dirty collars are probably as re-
siponsible for sore shoulders as j
fitting ones In the spring tn
horses hair is long and holds large
quantities of dirt and scales from
the skin. He is soft from lack OF
work and sweats profusely. This
forms gummy dirt that adheresS Ia
hard. rough surface. The ordinary
farm hand feels that his duty is dom
If he scrapes the dirt from the colla1
with the back of his jack knife. This
method, however, is not an especia ly
good one for the leather of the col
lar, and a smooth surface is not
left. A damp sponge used in The
evening as soon as the collar is TAX Il
off will, in one CIR two minutes, re"
move the dirt. This may be follow
ed by an oiled rag; if this is done
the cellar in the morning, should b.
soft and smooth
Careless driving, jerking a hcrs.
out of the furrow and into it agaiu
allowing him to work with his head
around on one side, al tend to pro
duce sore shoulders.
OF course. the first precaution tc
take is not to ask the colt to do q
full days work until he learns some
thing about his job and ceases tt
fret. The shoulder will then gradu
ally become toughened. 1t is a goot
idea to sponge the shoulders witt
cold water-just plain cold water
Alumni water has been used to goot
/ advantage; also weak solutions o.
tannic acid. Alcohol tends tt
tougher the skin.
| The injuries to the top of the mech
| very frequently terminate in fistulas
withers, etc. blister near the poin
of the shoulder is likely to become
callous and form what is known as
cold abscess." IL fitting collar:
and poor drivers are equally respon
sible for a condition known as
| "sweeny"
1t has been the earnest endeavol
of this article to show that the
farmer is directly responsible for the
sore shoulders of the young horses
that by observing a few simple
things he may avoid loss of time
| expense and suffering or perhap:
. permanent injury to his animals.
If an accident occurs and in spite
} of careful attention a horses shoml
ders become injured. do not wal
until a fistu'a has developed, or Al
abscess has formed, or the animal Ii
"sweened," but seek the advice O
a veterinarian while there is still {
injury. This is not the proper place
to teach the treatment of such con
ditions after the injury has beer
done it takes years of school worl
to do that, but it is good oppor
tunity to impress upon the minds o.
horse owners that such unfortunate
things may be entirely avoided.
II. f. KINGMAN.
SHEEP ON THE IRRIGATED FARM