578 TRICKS OF HORSE DEALERS. 



who buy. Among the seller's tricks we will enumerate the follow- 

 ing: 



How Heaves is Concealed This can be accomplished by 

 giving a horse a third of a pound of small bird shot. The animal 

 will give no evidence of his having the heaves, until the shot shall 

 have been evacuated by him. Dealers also accomplish this sam 

 result by dosing the horse heavily with gin; this also has the 

 effect of rousing the horse's energies, and not infrequently a horse 

 which appears to be a good, spirited driver in the hands of the 

 dealer, will be dull and sluggish in the hands of the purchaser, be- 

 cause the effect of the drunkenness has passed away. 



How Lameness is Covered Up If a horse is lame in 

 one shoulder, the fact can be temporarily concealed without 

 difficulty by removing the shoe, and when it is replaced inserting a 

 bean or some other hard substance of that character between the 

 shoe and the foot. 'This process by making the horse lame in the 

 foot thus treated, will prevent his showing the lameness to which he 

 is addicted. 



Disease of the Navicular Joint This makes the horse 

 intensely lame, and is concealed by the operation known as neurot- 

 omy or " nerving," which is effected by making a small incision 

 about half way between the knee and the pastern joint on the out- 

 side of the front leg, at the back part of the shin bone. This cut 

 will reveal a small white tendon or cord, which can be cut off, and 

 the horse will travel on the hardest road without any limp whatever. 

 Sometimes this nerving process ought to be done; but a horse which 

 has been nerved ought not to be purchased unless the purchaser is 

 aware of the fact, and the operation itself should never be under- 

 taken except by an experienced Veterinary surgeon. 



How Old Horses are Made to Look Young This is 

 done by tiling the teeth and marking them by use of a hot iron in 

 imitation of nature. The cavities over the eyes of an old horse are 

 filled by puncturing the skin and filling the little holes with air 

 through a tube, and then closing up the puncture ; the brow of the 

 old horse then appears as smooth as that of the young one, but of 

 course in a very snort time the actual condition will be made mani- 

 fest. White hairs are painted out also. 



How Spots are Put Upon Horses and How the 

 Color is Changed To make black spots on white horses, half a 

 pound of quick-lime (powdered) is beaten up with four ounces of 

 litharge, and over the mixture lye is poured. The whole then is 

 boiled, and the scum skimmed off. Tnis scum contains the coloring 

 matter and is applied to such parts of the animal as it is desired to 

 have made black. Sorrel horses or bay horses are also dyed black 

 with a very similar composition. Four ounces of quick-lime are 

 boiled with four ounces of water, and the scum will afford the proper 

 coloring matter. If the hair of the animal is not greasy, it will be 

 made black in one night by this process. Horses are marked with 



