THE horse's rescue. 285 



rubbish, and keep it off, and his horse's neck would 

 get well in a very short time ; then put something on 

 him fit for a horse to work in, and if you must use 

 that cart-tongue and ox-yoke, there are plenty of 

 hickory saplings ; cut one, run it under the forward 

 axle, bend it down and strap it to the tongue. That 

 ■will take two-thirds of the weight off these poor 

 horses' necks. What is the use of these horses stand- 

 ing tied all day to posts with this weight on their 

 necks? It gets painful. lalw^ays keep all the weight 

 off my horses' necks that I can. It is not much 

 trouble, and if it is it will pay you, and save your 

 horses suffering more than you are aware of. They 

 will endure more ; their necks will keep their shape, 

 and will not get sore if they have a good collar well 

 fitted, and hames to fit them. You cannot have nice 

 horses and have them all chawed up with rubbish for 

 harness. 



"Say, Doan," says another, "my mare is getting 

 wind-puffs on. What do you do for them?" 



" Keep the horse natural ; that is the way I do it." 



"You're a good talker." 



The fact was I was getting very tired talking, and 

 keeping so many horses all sailing, doing all of the 

 work, but very little pay. I begun to get a little sour. 

 I could not help it. They did not use and take care 

 of their horses as w^ell as I did, and the}^ could spoil 

 them faster than I could cure. I am ni^t going to 

 give up this horse figlit yet. I am going to come out 

 with this old white mare. I will give them one good 

 surprise before I leave this town. These are facts I 

 am writing. They are no dreams or fictitious tales. 



