792 TSB AOUICULTVUAL JOURNAL. 



Six Months as a Stabieman in California. 



By Jas. p. Godrfby. 



I WAS very hard up, and I was down in 

 luck about geting a mount, so I said 

 to myself I will try a job in a stable on 

 some Ranch, and see what it's like. Hav- 

 ing lieard of a place in Sacramento, I 

 went there. It turned out to be a 

 thorough-bred stock ranch, which owned 

 about 300 brood mares and about 14 or 15 

 stallions, and amongst them was the 

 famous imported Salvator. . I found the 

 time-keeper, Johnson, who asked me, 

 "Well, what do you want?" 



"I want a job among horses, anything 

 will do, and I can work well." 



"All right; I want a man in the hospi- 

 tal stable, which is rather a bad job, as 

 the horses are a bit wild, and you would 

 have not only to clean the boxes, but 

 bandage up the wounds, and watch the 

 stable all the time, for horses that may be 

 brought in sick." 



"All right, I will do my best." 

 "That's right, my lad; you cannot do 

 more than that; you can get to work to- 

 morrow morning." 



The next morning I went up to the 

 stable at 5.30, and first thing cleaned and 

 bandaged up the wounds, etc., of which 

 there were a good many. I went to 

 breakfast at 7 o'clock, and came back to 

 work, and turned the horses out for the 

 day in small paddocks made for the pur- 

 pose, and had two or three hours' hard 

 work cleaning the boxes and filling the 

 racks with hay. I got finished at about 

 12 o'clock, and then went to dinner. 



At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I had to 

 make a sort of mash of bran and oats 

 mixed, of which I put half 

 a pail into each of the man- 

 gers, and got finished about four 

 o'clock, when I had to go and get the 

 horses in again. I had then finished 

 for the day, but had to stop round the 

 place so that if a sick horse came in I 

 could boss him or her up and get it 

 settled for the night. At 6 o'clock I 

 went down to the dining hall for supper. 

 Such was my life for the first three 

 months. 



The second three months were the 

 worst, as the bad weather was coming on. 

 In America nearly all foals have an ill- 

 ness which is called "distemper," or "in- 

 fluenza," or "catarrhal fever," or "epi- 

 zootic catarrh." They get a swelling in 

 the throat, which, if it is external, is easy 

 to cure, as you have only to lance the 

 swellings when ripe, and wash out the 

 matter inside. Internally, it is a different 

 thing, as the horse has great difficulty 

 in breathing, and you have a lot of work 

 in getting poultices, etc., and then two 

 chances to one that they do not recover. 

 I had altogether forty-two boxes to clean 

 out, and look after the inmates, and my 

 wages were risen from 30 dollars to 45 

 dollars a month. I got up at 4.30 every 

 morning, so as to get done cleaning, etc., 

 by the time that the vet., a Dr. Mc- 

 Cullum, came from Sacramento. After 

 about a month I was cornered in a box 

 by a vicious mare, who lashed out at me 

 for some few minutes. She caught me 

 only once, but it was a bad kick on the 

 knee, and I had to ask for a man to come 

 and help me. As more horses were be- 

 ing brought in every day, I got another 

 stable in order, with the man who was 

 helping me, and altogether there were 

 58 boxes to clean between the two of us. 

 The man left, and I had to get another, 

 who was a very lazy fellow, and did not 

 do his work well. 



I do not think that I have ever worked 

 so hard in my life as I did there. I got 

 tired of it, so after a bit I got a man to 

 change jobs with me on the ranch for 

 a week, so as to give me u spell. When 

 I got back again there were 17 colts 

 and fillies well^ so that I was able to do 

 without the extra stable. But I could 

 not stand the work continually, so after 

 finishing the month out I left, and had 

 a holiday, and then went back to the 

 tancli, herding the horses on the prairie, 

 or what there is of it left. When I left 

 I was bitten with war fever, and so came 

 out to South Africa, where I had a good 

 spell for a time at the front. 



