BULLETIN No. 4 



VACATIONS FOR WORK-HORSES 



{Especially from the Economic Point of View 

 By GILBERT TOMPKINS and HENRY C. MERWIN 



Everyone will admit that to give a 

 work-horse an annual vacation is an act 

 of humanity, and, we believe, it can be 

 shown that it is an act of economy also. 

 Se\'eral years ago one of the writers of this 

 Bulletin w^as asked the following question 

 by the owner of an old horse, not a work- 

 horse in this case, but a carriage horse — 

 " What shall I do wdth him? He is getting 

 old and stifT and too slow to use. Shall 

 I kill him, — or what?" The answer was : — 

 " Try giving him a summer's rest, or per- 

 haps even a vacation of six months. Take 

 his shoes ofi, let him haxe plenty of grass 

 or bran, and reduce his grain about one- 

 half." Six months later the writer met 

 the owner of this horse, who exclaimed: 

 " I am much obliged to you for giving me 

 a new horse!" Being asked what he meant, 

 he replied that the vacation given to his 

 old horse had so rejuvenated him that he 

 was almost as good as ever, and was doing 

 his work as a carriage horse with satis- 

 faction to his owner and himself. Similar 

 cases will be found stated in the appendix. 



Another experience was the follow^ing: 

 A humane person bought an old cab horse 

 in the city, — a very old horse, much over 

 twenty. This horse was so stiff and re- 

 duced in strength that it was wdth some 

 dif^culty that he was driven out to the 

 country. Six months later he had lim- 

 bered up completely, and was supple and 

 active enough to run away with the 

 farmer who had charge of him. There 

 are thousands of work-horses hard at work 

 in cities to-day who have begun to run 

 down hill, and will be worthless or nearly 

 so within a year or two; and yet if these 

 horses could be given a rest and a chance 

 to recuperate, the>" would in six months' 

 time be worth ahnost as much as the price 

 originally paid for them. 



Horses are scarce and high, with no 

 prospect of lower prices or of a better 



supply, and if a profit is to be made from 

 the use of them, the loss occasioned by 

 wear and tear must be kept down. Any 

 business that considers merely its annual 

 income without regard to the depreciation 

 account will soon be in a bad state. It 

 is well known that an average horse will 

 last twice as long with one kind of a driver 

 as he will with a worse kind, and with an 

 annual vacation instead of constant, un- 

 remitting labor, his health and usefulness 

 will be correspondingly increased. Work 

 and action must be followed by rest and 

 relaxation. Even iron and steel have their 

 limits, and machinery itself cannot be 

 overtaxed without a loss of efficiency. 



Flesh and blood, mind and nerve, energy 

 and courage, all these must depend on 

 rest periods in which nature may bring 

 them back to their normal strength. 

 This is more widely recognized every year 

 in its application to human beings, and 

 it is time that those who own or use horses 

 should realize that the same principle is 

 equally applicable to horse-flesh. 



THE 



EFFECT OF CITY WORK ON 

 HORSES 



Work-horses in the city, if worked too 

 hard or too fast, or if not properly cared 

 for, or if weakened by age, deteriorate in 

 the following different ways: 



(1) They become thin. 



(2) Their feet become sore or diseased. 



(3) They become grain-burnt or other- 

 wise weakened in digestion. 



(4) Their muscles become tired and 

 strained. 



Let us take these up in their order. 



(1) The first symptom of age in a 

 horse is apt to be a falling-off in flesh. 

 Others become thin from having a bad 

 dri\er, or from being over-hurried in their 

 work, or from poor feeding. A short rest 



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