Others become thin from ha\ing a bad 

 driver, or Irom being over-hurried in their 

 work, or from poor feeding. A short rest 

 will often do wonders for a horse in this 

 condition. 



(2) The F'eet. — Unquestionably the 

 best way to majce a horse's feet last in the 

 city is to shoe him with rubber or leather 

 pads and plenty of tar and oakum under- 

 neath. This keeps the feet soft, and 

 deadens the concussion. But, with the 

 best of shoeing, horses' feet will give out 

 on the pavements, and nothing will tend 

 to preserve their feet more than an occa- 

 sional let-up during which their shoes can 

 be removed, their feet can get back to the 

 ground, their heels can expand, and fever 

 in the feet may be reduced by the moisture 

 of dew and wet grass, swampy land, etc. 



(3) The Grain-Burnt Horse. — It 

 must be remembered that a horse at work 

 in the city is not in a normal condition. 

 The constant feeding on dry food, and es- 

 pecially on such stimulating food as oats 

 and corn, produces an unnatural condi- 

 tion of the blood. All city horse-owners 

 know and dread the disease of the kidneys 

 called " black-water." This is especially 

 a Monday morning disease, and when a 

 Sunday and a holiday come together, so 

 that the work-horse has two days of con- 

 tinuous rest, many cases of black-water 

 always occur. One year in Chicago there 

 were 150 deaths from this disease in one 

 day. Even if a horse does not suffer from 

 acute disease of this kind, his w^hole system 

 becomes feverish and abnormal from years 

 of high graining without any chance to get 

 back to nature, such as a horse gets by 

 being turned out to grass. Everybody 

 who has seen a horse turned loose in a lot 

 after being confined in a stable must have 

 observed how he first paws up a little turf 

 with his forefoot, and thus gets at the earth 

 underneath. He is more anxious to eat 

 this earth than to eat the grass, and it is 

 certain that the earth is wholesome for the 

 horse. It has a cleansing effect and is a 

 cure for worms. Nothing, in short, is so 

 good for the digestion of a horse, especially 

 after long >ears of confinement in a stable 

 and high feeding, than an opportunity to 

 eat grass and earth. 



(4) Tired Muscles. — Not everybody 

 realizes that a horse, to the eye, may be 

 in perfect condition, and yet his muscles 



may be so tired and strained that move- 

 ment is positixely painful to him, and any 

 movement l)ut a slow one almost impos- 

 sible. Work-horses and hack-horses in 

 this condition are often seen in the street, 

 especially when they begin to grow old. 

 These horses look fairly fat and sleek, but 

 they are tired, their heads droop, they have 

 no life and they lack energy and quickness 

 of movement. Nothing but a rest will 

 restore these horses; but a rest of a few 

 months will do it, and it will increase their 

 value at least one-half. The writer of 

 this Bulletin remembers seeing a horse used 

 by a rural free delivery mail-carrier that, 

 being naturally a good feeder, and having 

 all the grain that he would eat, was in fine 

 bodily condition; but he did double the 

 work of an ordinary horse, that is, he 

 travelled twenty-three miles a day for six 

 days in the w^eek, and he was so tired and 

 stifif that it was difficult to urge him from 

 a walk into a trot. It is from this stifTen- 

 ing of the muscles that a horse really grows 

 old, and if the muscles are restored by an 

 annual vacation the useful life of the horse 

 will be extended to an astonishing degree. 



A VACATION AT HOME 



Many stables, especially truck-horse 

 stables, are so situated that a horse can be 

 given a very good vacation without send- 

 ing him away. That is, there is a yard 

 connected with the stable where the horse 

 can be turned loose in fine weather, with 

 his shoes off. His feed should, of course, 

 be changed to meet the changed condition 

 of his life. His oats should be reduced at 

 least one-half, but always according to the 

 age of the horse, and plenty of bran should 

 be given to him, with carrots, turnips and 

 other vegetables, and, if possible, some 

 grass, now and then, sent in from neigh- 

 boring farms. In this way the horse can 

 derive pretty nearly all the benefits of a 

 vacation in the country without the ex- 

 pense of sending him away, and without 

 separating him from his well-known and 

 beloved companions. 



A VACATION IN THE COUNTRY 



It is hardly necessary to say that the 

 greatest care should be taken in selecting 

 the farm where the horse is to be turned 



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