MARKS OF AGE, AND ABUSES. 481 



We invite the reader's attention to a number of the most 

 common abuses of the horse, and shall freely express our 

 views concerning them, together with our reasons for enter- 

 taining them. 



ovEii-woRKma. 



It is strange how little attention is paid by the majority 

 of farmers and teamsters to the equal distribution of labor 

 among their working stock. IN'early as often as otherwise, 

 we find horses unequally paired to do the same amount of 

 work. For instance, a small horse with a large one, or one 

 that is thin and feeble with another that is in good condi- 

 tion and of unimpaired strength. 



Then, too, not half the time is there any reasonable ac- 

 count taken of the weight of the load and the character of 

 the road to be gone over. Is the load made suitable to the 

 animal's physical strength, or must he draw as much as else- 

 where over a bad or hilly road, a quagmire, or a plowed 

 field, and nearly tug his life out in pulling beyond his strength ? 

 The philosophy of light loads and quick trips seems to have 

 been almost forgotten. Many horses have been ruined by 

 severe strainings, either manifesting great lameness or other 

 injury at once, or gradually failing afterward, until they be- 

 came nearly worthless. 



So of overwork in the plow. Hundreds of times have we 

 seen one small horse before a large 

 ^R plow in heavy land, where, to do the 

 work well, was enough for two horses 

 to accomplish. Such exhibitions are 

 very common at the South, as nearly 

 all the land in that section is broken 

 up with one horse. 

 Young horses are often 4)ut to work too early, before the 

 bones are properly hardened and the joints sufficiently strong. 

 In this immature condition, the young animal is not able to 

 bear constant and severe exertion, and if it is exacted of 

 him, the owner must expect that the least serious injury 

 which the horse can sustain will be limbs and joints enlarged 

 31 



