MEN AND HORSES 



One fact has often forced itself upon the 

 attention of the Directors, namely, that the 

 welfare of the work-horse is bound up with 

 the welfare of the men who drive and care 

 for him. In stables where the men are well 

 paid and are treated with kindness and con- 

 sideration by the proprietors, the horses, in 

 turn, are well treated by the men, and look 

 sleek and contented. On the other hand, 

 in stables where there is bad feeling, or 

 utter want of good feeling, between the em- 

 ployer and his men, the horses suffer ac- 

 cordingly. Recognizing these facts, some 

 public-spirited women in New York and 

 also in Chicago have recently organized 

 clubs for teamsters, and even clubs for 

 teamsters' wives. This is a step in the 

 right direction. 



Bad teamsters seem to gravitate natu- 

 rally to employers who do not really care 

 about their horses. If the owner is a hu- 

 mane man, the spirit of humanity will per- 

 vade his whole business. If he is cruel or 

 simply indifferent, a spirit of brutality, or 

 at least of selfish indifference, will run 

 through his force. 



The highly developed nervous system of 

 the horse renders him peculiarly capable of 

 suffering. Rough usage, even if it stops 

 far short of absolute brutality, keeps him 

 in a constant state of fear or irritation. 

 Anyone who is accustomed to observe 

 horses can tell by a single glance at a given 

 horse whether the driver is a good, bad, or 

 indifferent one. The expression of the 

 animal's eye and the carriage of his ears 

 tell the story unmistakably. 



There are many teamsters who treat the 

 horse as if he were a machine, and there- 

 fore are guilty of continual cruelty toward 

 him, which reacts on their own characters. 

 Such men miss the opportunity of their 

 lives, and their daily labor becomes a deg- 

 radation and a curse to them. 



On the other hand, there are many hu- 

 mane drivers, who have a real affection for 

 their horses, and take the greatest pride in 

 their appearance. These men make good 

 husbands, good fathers, good citizens; and 

 their daily labor is not only a means of 

 livelihood, but a constant source of happi- 

 ness. To reward and increase this class is 

 the main object of the Boston Work-Horse 

 Parade Association. 



QUALITY IN WORK-HORSES 



Our judges are instructed not to award 

 blue ribbons or first prizes to any horse, no 

 matter how good his condition, unless he is 

 a horse of good type and quality. Quality, 

 it need not be said, is just as important in 

 a work-horse as in a race-horse. Quality 

 might perhaps be described as that fineness 

 of texture which good breeding produces. 

 The bone in a well-bred horse is more 

 dense and less brittle than the bone of a 

 coarse-bred animal. It is true, of course, 

 that well-bred horses are sometimes defi- 

 cient in quality, but no horse has quality 

 unless he is well-bred. The horse with 

 quality has more endurance, and he is less 

 subject to disease and to unsoundness of 

 feet and legs than is the low-bred horse. 

 Consequently it is more humane to use 

 horses with quality than those without 

 quality. Quality and beauty are usually 

 found together, and yet, as all horsemen 

 know, one may exist without the other. A 

 horse may have quality without being in 

 the least beautiful. For example, he may jj 

 have a yewe neck, a large head, long ears, ■ 

 a Roman nose, a sway back, flat sides, slack 

 loins, calf-knees, cow hocks and a rat tail; 

 and yet if his coat is short and silky, if his 

 head though large is bony and well-cut, if 

 his ears tliough long are well-shaped, if his 

 legs are flat and clean, and if his hoofs are 

 of fine, close texture, then the horse has 



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