176 



The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



They are the men who have the best horses 

 and treat them the best. 



Some time ago, when I was praising the 

 horses of a particular truckman to a man en- 

 gaged in a different branch of the horse busi- 

 ness, he replied, "Oh, that fellow; why he 

 spends every cent that he makes on those fine 

 blankets and the brass-mounted harness that 

 he uses; that isn't business." Well, I took 

 pains to inquire, and I found that this enthu- 

 siastic, extravagant truckman had laid up 

 $100,000 in twenty years ! On the other hand, 

 if you find a truckman with thin, gaunt, un- 

 cared-for horses, you find a man who has hard 

 work to keep out of bankruptcy. 



It is the custom in Boston and, I presume, 

 in all cities, for master truckmen to assign 

 particular wagons and horses for use by a par- 

 ticular customer : that is, the wagon is reserved 

 mainly, often wholly, for the customer's use, 

 and both his name and that of the truckman 

 appear on the wagon. These regular custom- 

 ers are beginning to complain, I am glad to 

 say, if the horses that haul the wagon with 

 their name on it, do not come up to a high 

 standard. "Why don't you have a fine horse 

 on my wagon?" they say to the truckmen. 

 "Why don't you exhibit in the Parade?" "Why 

 don't you paint that wagon and clean up the 

 harness?" 



There is another reason why quality in the 

 modern work-horse is demanded. The life 

 of a work-horse in the city is now a very 

 strenuous one. The streets are so slippery 

 especially in Winter, that he is in constant 

 danger of falling; and, when the going is bad, 

 the horse gets very tired before the end of the 

 day. Now we all know that a well-bred horse 

 will keep on his feet better and, in case of a 

 fall, will get up much quicker than a coarse- 

 bred one. The coarse-bred horse, if tired, is 

 often ready, and even glad, to fall, and, once 

 down, he is perfectly willing to stay down ; 

 whereas, the well-bred horse will leap to his 

 feet, if possible. There are, of course, many 

 exceptions, but this, as all horsemen know, is 

 true as a general statement. 



Then, again, the coarse-bred horse is much 

 slower to recover from illness or injury — es- 

 pecially when the blood is affected. For ex- 

 ample, at the free hospital for horses, main- 

 tained by the Boston Work-Horse Relief 

 Association, there have been an aston- 

 ishing number of cases of blood-poisoning, 

 which originated from some cut on the foot 

 or leg — sometimes from interfering. This is 

 a trouble peculiar to the city, and the "vets" 

 say that, in these cases, as probably in all other 

 cases of injury or illness, the well-bred horse 



makes a quicker recovery than the poorly-bred 



one. 



Quality, therefore, as well as soundness, is 

 necessary in the brood-mare. Sell the mare 

 with coarse hair, overhanging eyelids, meaty 

 legs, ragged hips and a sloping rump, and 

 breed from the fine-haired, large-eyed mare 

 with clean legs, hoofs of close texture, well- 

 cut sears and smooth hips. The demand for 

 work-horses like this is much in excess of the 



supply. 



A carload of such horses was recently 

 brought from the West to Springfield, Massa- 

 chusetts, arriving on a Saturday. A truck- 

 man in Boston, who heard of their arrival, 

 took a train at 2 or 3 o'clock Sunday morning 

 and thus got the pick of the lot— a pair for 

 which he paid over a thousand dollars. The 

 next train brought another Boston truckman. 



Express horses are, perhaps, even more 

 scarce. Percheron mares, bred to trotting 

 stallions of good bone and substance, should 

 produce such horses. There is also a large 

 demand for horses to draw milk wagons and 

 bakers' wagons. These wagons, with their 

 loads, are now so heavy that they require a 

 1 400 pound horse, and he must do his work at 

 a trot. It is not easy to find a horse of that 

 weight who is light enough on his feet to trot 

 without pounding himself to pieces. The de- 

 mand for this kind of a horse is rapidly in- 

 creasing. 



As for the carriage horse and the roadster, 

 their future depends upon the securing of sep- 

 arate macadamized roads for horse-drawn 

 pleasure vehicles in the parks and suburbs of 

 the cities. If it should thus become possible 

 for a man— and still more for his wife— to 

 take a drive in a carriage without the prospect 

 of meeting sudden death at the hands of some 

 reckless or drunken chauffeur, the carriage 

 horse and the roadster would come back, I be- 

 lieve to a great extent. There are hundreds 

 of people who would like to take a daily drive, 

 but they have been scared out of this innocent 

 and wholesome amusement, and have sold or 

 given away their horses. Minorities always 

 have to tight for their rights, and the horse 

 owners in this country have surrendered theirs 

 without a struggle. 



R. G. CROSBY FOR THIRD TERM 



It is certain that Riley G. Crosby will con- 

 tinue in his official office of president of the 

 Dorchester Gentlemen's Driving Club in 1915, 

 he having received the unanimous nomination 

 at the club's meeting, held on Dec. 7. 1914- I' 

 will make his third term in the executive chair. 



