BULLETIN No. 4 



VACATIONS FOR WORK-HORSES 



{Especially from the Economic Point of View) 

 By GILBERT TOMPKINS and HENRY C. MERWIN 



(ABRIDGED) 



THE EFFECT OF CITY WORK ON 

 HORSES 



There are thousands of 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, they would in six 

 months' time be worth almost 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. 



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 

 driver, or from 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 Feet. — ^Unquestionably the 

 best way to make 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 whole 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 years 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 positively painful to him, and any 

 movement but a slow one almost impos- 

 sible. W'ork-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 



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