Evening star., 1934-09-20
WAY TO END shady
HORSE DEALS T0[D|
First American Stud Book
DepIores Sharp Trades
Then in Vogue.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.


Virginia horse traders of the early
nineteenth century were crafty and
unscrupulous lot.
Everybody was considered fair game
In a horse trade on the court house
lawn and the pious church warden
lost no sleep over giving his neighbor
. good trimming. Richard Mason,
author of the first American stud book
and pocket farrier," an old copy of
which has been preserved in the rare
book division of the Library of Con-
gress, thought that it was something
of a sacrilege, so highly did he hold
the horse. Indignantly he wrote:
IF I were asked the two most beau
tiful objects in nature would answer
that woman, lovely woman, before
whose charms the soul of man bows
with reverence and submission, stands
unparalleled. Next to this matchless
paragon a beautiful horse displays ma
ture in her highest polish and great
est perfection; his gay and cheerful
appearance proudly prancing and
bounding; his elegance of shape,
smoothness of limbs, due proportion
OF form and gracefulnesS of action
united to a mild, soft, faithful and
patient disposition, raise him far
above the rest of brute creation. 1t
is much to be lamented that men who
entertain a proper idea of honor in
all the common affairs of life, so soon
as they become the owner of horse,
feel at liberty without doing violence
to their morals to knock off two or
three years from his real age and
express themselves with apparent de-
light Of the services, gaits and quail
ties to which he never had any sort
Of claim or pretensions; carefully
keeping secret every vice and de-
feet"
How to Foil Deals.
Mason gave various directions for
foiling the sharp horse traders
For example, horse always should
be bought at the full of the moon, for
it was then that the dreaded moon
eyes" could be detected, while the
animal might appear normal at
other times.
I'VE sometimes observe" he said,
"the eyes of horse to change color
and otherwise to vary in appearance
monthly. Eyes thus affected are
called moon eyes, from the prevalent
opinion that the affection increases
and decreases with the course of the
moon, insomuch that in the full
moon the eyes are muddy. They
discharge a thin, ichorous water and
at the new moon they clear up
again"
From this malady, he said, some
relief could be had by large bleed
ings," but warned that it was almost
always forerunner Of total blindness.
Cold Water Test.
Spawned horses, he said, often were
doctored by the traders so that they
appeared entirely normal. He di-
rected that such a horse, before the
deal was completed, be warmed up to
a sweat and then ridden in cold
water above the belly" Lameness
after such a treatment would make
itself evident In half an hour despite
the utmost skill of the unscrupulous
horse doctor.
Mason detailed several ways to tell
the age of horse, between and 0
years, such as observing the condi-
ton of the teeth, etc. But the one
way in which he had supreme con-
fdence was that of observing the chin.
All the other signs of age could be
concealed temporarily.
"T1he chin - he said 'sdoes not admit
Of the practice of those arts by which
the jockey passes of an old, broken
down horse for young one. The ap-
pearance of the chin can be changed
only by nature, and he who will be-
come an attentive observer will soon
be convinced that 1t is not more diff
cut to tell an old horse from q young
one by the appearance of the chin
than for a skilled physician to distin-
guish a cheek of health from one that
is wasted, diseased and Superannuated.
The chin of a young horse is round,
full, plump, full of wrinkles, the pores
close and small. That of a horse
advanced in years is fat, wrinkled,
habby, the pores open and large.
After some experience there will be
little difficulty in ascertaining with
certainty the age of a horse from
8 to 9 years. I sometimes have
met with travellers on the road
whom I never before had seen in
travelling along and have astonished
them by telling the exact age of their
horses from the chins. An examina-
ton of the lips and the nostrils may
aid, corroborate and strengthen the
opinion of age founded on the chin.
Those of a young horse are smooth
and free from wrinkles. Those of
an old horse abound In both"
He gives directions for the veteri-
nary surgery of his day-chief1y
"nicking," or shaping the horses tail
in conformity with the current aes-
thetics, and "foxing," or pairing down
the ears until they resembled those
of a fox The latter was done by
painting the desired contour on the
ear and then cutting around 1t with