Horse Secrets

Part 1

HORSE SECRETS

WRITTEN, COMPILED AND NOW DISCLOSED

BY A. S. ALEXANDER

Professor of Veterinary Science, and in charge of the Department of Horse Breeding, College of Agriculture, University of Wisconsin.

ALAS! HE CANNOT TALK! “I don’ see much use in de scientis’ folks studying monkey talk, but a study of hoss talk dat ’ud let de animal tell all about hisse’f befo’ a trade comes off ’ud save a heap o’ hard feelings.” “Uncle Ezra,” in Washington Star.

PHILADELPHIA—1909 WILMER ATKINSON COMPANY Price, 25 Cents

Copyright, 1909 WILMER ATKINSON CO.

INTRODUCTION

Dr. A. S. Alexander, the writer and compiler of “Horse Secrets,” has had upward of 25 years’ experience in matters pertaining to agriculture, horse breeding, veterinary science, press writing and teaching. He was the author of the first stallion service legislation and inspection regulation in America, the first law of the kind having been written by him and enacted by the Wisconsin Legislature in 1905. Similar legislation now is in force in some 16 other states, and it is accomplishing much for the improvement of horse breeding.

Horse trading offers unusual opportunities and temptations for sharp practises. Both buyer and seller equally need to be horse-wise and alert. Dishonesty is discountenanced in the great horse markets, but it is common among scalpers, “gyps” and small traders outside of the recognized markets and is likely to be practised by either the buyer or the seller.

The items published in these pages disclose many sharp practises which, aside from their interest as facts not generally known, are valuable as information for the man who would engage intelligently in horse buying and selling.

The writer and publishers of this book desire to expose these tricks, and to decry their practise in the markets and among outside dealers and breeders. “Forewarned is forearmed,” and the information here given will doubtless save many a man from loss, and tend to make dishonesty less rife because less likely to succeed.

In mentioning the various tricks herein disclosed, the exact methods have not been given in detail. We have no desire to instruct readers so that they may “go and do likewise”; for the same reason doses have not been given for the administration of the various drugs and “dopes” used by tricksters.

The matter relating to the purchase of stallions should prove specially interesting and valuable. It is a matter of general knowledge among the initiated that stallions are frequently sold at excessive prices to companies of farmers, and that “peddlers” of such stallions are unscrupulous in their methods of obtaining signers to the notes taken for the purchase of such horses. The facts published with respect to this business should serve to warn farmers that they are apt to be cheated in purchasing a stallion on the “company plan,” and that it is always best, safest and most profitable to purchase a stallion direct from a reputable breeder or importer, for by so doing much money will be saved and the horse bought will be much more likely to prove sound and suitable and to give satisfaction.

Dr. Alexander desires in this place to acknowledge his indebtedness to the publishers of the various farm and stock papers from the pages of which extracts have been taken.

WILMER ATKINSON CO.

Contents.

Page

HORSE FEEDING SECRETS 7

Secret of Hand Raising a Foal 7

Secret of Feeding Silage to Horses 8

Secret of Fattening Drafters 9

Secret of Feeding Molasses 10

SECRETS OF VARIOUS VICES 12

Secret of Stopping Halter Pulling 12

Secret of Preventing Mules from Kicking 13

Secret of Tying a Mare with a Foal 13

Secret of Handling a Balky Horse 13

Part 2

Secret of Curing a Stall Kicker 16

SECRET TRICKS IN HORSE TRADING 18

Secret of Shutting a Heaver 18

Secret of Plugging a Roarer 18

Diamond Cut Diamond 19

Making a Horse Act Mean 20

Blowing Air Under the Skin 20

Stopping a Switcher 20

Turpentine and Gasoline Tricks 21

Gingering a Show Horse 21

Unnerving and Cocaining 22

Keep an Eye on the Sign Board 22

Secret of Hiding a Spavin 23

Artificially Induced Knee Action 23

Artificial Tail Trick 24

Keeping a Horse “In the Air” 24

The Loose Shoe Trick 25

Wire Marks Over Side-Bones 25

Wedging a Cribber 25

Making an Artificial Star 26

Black Spots on a White Horse 27

Broken Crest or Wrong Lying Mane 27

Concealing Discharging Sinuses 27

The Galloping Past Dodge 28

Keeping a Horse on Edge 28

An Eye for An Eye 28

Examine the Ears 29

Bishoping—An Old Trick 30

Part 3

How Bishoping is Done 30

MISCELLANEOUS SECRETS 32

The Widow Trick 32

Landing a Sucker 33

A Horse That Was Right There 34

An Honest “Hoss” Dealer 34

A Sharper’s Smooth Sayings 35

The Winter Board Trick 35

How Horses Catch Cold 36

Tricks in Measuring Horses 36

SECRETS ABOUT STALLION SELLING 37

Palming Off a Grade Stallion 37

Stud Books Approved by the Government 38

Stud Books Not Certified by the Government 39

Story of a Company Stallion Deal 39

Horse Peddlers’ Confessions 41

The Sale of Les Epinards 41

The Sale of Transmigrator 42

SOME VETERINARY SECRETS 44

Secret of Preventing Navel and Joint Disease 44

Symptoms of Bad Teeth 45

Remedies for Tail Rubbing 45

A Cruel Cure for Heaves 46

An Astringent for Scours 47

An Old Operation for Spavin 47

Facts About Pigment Tumors 48

SECRETS OF BUYING AND SELLING HORSES 49

Auction Sale Rules 49

Part 4

Reputable Dealers Protect Their Patrons 50

Two Sides to a Horse 51

A little Ill to Distract Attention From a Big One 52

Beware of Hoof Dressing 52

Buying a Pair 53

A High English Guarantee 53

An Unsound Horse Sometimes a Good Bargain 54

A Second-Hand Horse 54

“Protecting” the Buyer 55

Splitting the Profit Three Ways 55

A Glossary of Market Terms 56

Horse Feeding Secrets.

Secret of Hand Raising a Foal.

An orphan foal can be successfully raised on cows’ milk if the work is intelligently and patiently conducted. Mares’ milk is sweeter than cows’ milk, but less rich in butter fat; therefore, in using cows’ milk for foal feeding, choose that which is poor in butter fat—3 per cent. or thereabout—and sweeten it with sugar or molasses. The latter sweetening has the advantage of acting as a mild aperient.

It should be remembered that the first milk (colostrum) of the mare contains a purgative principle for the removal of the meconium from the intestinal tract of the foal, and as the orphan foal does not receive this natural cathartic it is apt to suffer from constipation, which may prove fatal. To prevent this inject into the rectum of the foal, twice daily from birth, two or three ounces of warm water containing one to two teaspoonfuls of glycerine, and continue this treatment until the bowels have been moved freely.

A mixture of equal quantities of cream, molasses and warm water also makes a good injection fluid for a young foal, and some horsemen insert a small, thin tallow-dip candle into the rectum for a like purpose.

At first the foal should be fed once an hour, but gradually the times of feeding may be reduced in number. Feed the milk blood warm, giving at first half a cupful at each meal and with it three tablespoonfuls of lime water to the pint of milk. The foal will take the milk readily from a large rubber nipple fitted on the neck of a feeding bottle which must be often well scalded. A kid glove thumb perforated and fitted over the spout of a small teapot will do almost as well as a rubber nipple and feeding bottle.

Hand-fed foals tend to scour. When such trouble starts withhold two or more feeds of milk, and give one to four tablespoonfuls of castor oil in milk, according to the severity of the attack and the size of the foal, and repeat the dose every time there is any derangement of the digestive organs.

Soon the foal may be fed but six times a day, then four times, and in a few weeks it will freely take milk and lime water from a clean pail. At this stage sugar may be omitted and the lime water be given only once a day. The secret of success is to feed a little milk often and to keep all utensils scrupulously sweet and clean. As soon as he will take to it, the foal may be allowed to lick oatmeal in small quantities; gradually increase the amount and add wheat bran. After six weeks give a little sweet skim-milk in place of a part of the new milk, and by increasing the amount day by day the foal may at three months old take skim-milk entirely and continue to drink it freely three or four times daily while eating grass, grain and bran.

Secret of Feeding Silage to Horses.

It is commonly believed that corn silage cannot safely or profitably be fed to horses. Investigation shows that this belief is ill advised, for some horsemen feed silage successfully.

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