Part 11

It is related that this character had a balky horse put on him by brother dealers in a neighboring town; but a few days later he got even, and with the same “hoss.” The former owners failed to recognize the beast, for in the interim it had been clipped, roached, docked and bishoped, besides receiving a few artistic spots of dye, and having had “tug marks” and “collar galls” manufactured by skilful shaving at the right places. In his new fix he looked a young, handsome, hard-working animal, but when the deal was made and the new owners hitched him up, they realized at once that both they and the horse were “stuck.”

A Sharper’s Smooth Sayings.

Elsewhere we have told of a balker that “was right there at the foot of a hill” or that would “stand without hitching.” The scalper and crafty dealer use many catchy phrases of this sort, and they fool the buyer unless he has sharp ears and quick comprehension.

A few additional catch sayings may prove of interest: A dealer having a horse with defective eyesight fitted him out with close blinkers and said to the buyer, “He doesn’t look very well.” Another said of a heavey horse, “If he ain’t windy you needn’t take him.”

Again, as to looks, and ability in harness, one said, “If he don’t suit you in harness you can take it off,” and again, “Single I bought him; double I broke him myself.”

Some of the dealers are wits and most of them have quaint expressions and sayings. The following sample will suffice: A dealer was seen exercising a horse so badly foundered in his hind feet that he not only walked on his heels but stood with his fore and hind feet almost on the same spot under his body. “Say! What are you goin’ to do with that critter!” asked a bystander, and like a flash came the answer, “Take him to Indiana to tramp sourkraut in a barrel.”

The Winter Board Trick.

A farmer read an advertisement in a city paper asking for a winter home and board for two family horses that the owner desired to leave comfortably provided for in the country during his absence in Europe. The farmer went to the city to investigate and found a fine pair of horses in a swell stable. Soon a bargain, profitable to the farmer, was arranged at a specified rate per week for board, stabling and care during the winter, but as the pleased stranger was about to leave for home, the stableman said, “Here, you are a stranger to me, and therefore you ought to put up some security for having such a valuable pair of horses in your care.” After some discussion, the farmer was induced to deposit $100 as security, and went home, congratulating himself upon the good winter’s profit he would have in looking after the horses which were to be shipped to him by train the following day. In due course, two horses arrived, but they were old “plugs,” worth perhaps $5 a piece. The swindle cost the farmer $90 and his expenses, for when he went to the city to hunt up the sharper, he found the stable in the same old place, but the bird had flown, and no one could tell him where.

How Horses Catch Cold.

An old time farrier wisely says: “Many farmers and tradesmen get too much drink when they go to market, and then set off home, riding like madmen, and calling at some public house on the road to get more of the soul and body destroying evil, leave their horses to stand sweating at the door, where it is no wonder that they get cold. Wagoners, carters, and coal carriers, are also often guilty of this abominable practise.”

Tricks in Measuring Horses.

It is often important to have a horse not less than some given height, and great care has to be taken in making the necessary measurement with the “hand stick” (hippometer). If the horse is under or over the desired height the dealer may irritate the animal so that an exact measurement is difficult or impossible to make.

If the horse is undersized the dealer will try to stand him with the hind feet low. In the stable or yard everything is prepared so that this may be easily done. Another plan is to put on abnormally thick shoes, or those having calkins; the animal’s head is kept lowered so that the withers will be correspondingly heightened. Opposite methods are practised when a horse is a trifle too high for show-yard requirements or mating, and such tricks have given buyers of horses for the army no end of trouble.

When a horse is to be measured stand him on a level floor and then see that the measuring is honestly done.

Secrets About Stallion Selling.

Palming Off a Grade Stallion on a Company.

The fact that several bogus pedigree registry associations are in existence, although they have not received the approval of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, makes it possible for dishonest stallion peddlers to obtain fraudulent registry certificates and, by using them, to fool the farmer. It would be well if no registry associations were allowed to engage in the interstate business of recording the pedigrees of breeding animals without first obtaining the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture.

A stallion whose sire was said by the owner to be “Middleton II” and out of a dam of part Morgan blood, was given a grade license certificate by the Department of Horse Breeding, of the College of Agriculture, of the University of Wisconsin. Some time later the horse changed hands and the buyer, who was an experienced organizer of stallion companies, had him recorded in a bogus stud book which issues a handsome, gold sealed registry certificate. On this the stallion was given an entirely new and wholly false pedigree, the sire being set forth as “Grove Revenue” and the dam as a well-bred Shire. On the strength of this attractive registry certificate of notable ancestry and the help of a few confederates, the stallion was sold to a company of hard-working farmers in one of the northern counties of the state for $1,800 in shares of $75 each. Some of the notes were discounted and the peddler disappeared, but now the matter is in the courts, as the Department of Horse Breeding discovered the swindle and put the company “wise.”

Another case has been discovered where a grade stallion was sold for a good price as pure-bred on the strength of a registry certificate from the stud book alluded to and “imported” according to the statement of the peddler. The owner in this case also learned too late that he had fallen a victim to sharpers, and will now seek redress in the courts.

Many similar cases could be cited and they serve to show the importance of studying the registry certificate furnished with the horse and making sure that it was issued by a stud book association approved by the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

Stud Books Approved by the Government.

The following registry associations have been approved by the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.:

American Association of Importers and Breeders of Belgian Draft Horses—J. D. Connor, Jr., Wabash, Ind., Secretary.

American Breeders’ Association of Jacks and Jennets—J. W. Jones, Columbia, Tenn., Secretary.

American Clydesdale Association—R. B. Ogilvie, Union Stock-yards, Chicago, Ill., Secretary.

American Hackney Horse Society—Gurney C. Gue, 308 West 97th St., New York, Secretary.

American Breeders’ and Importers’ Percheron Registry—John A. Forney, Plainfield, O., Secretary.

American Saddle Horse Breeders’ Association—I. B. Nall, Louisville, Ky., Secretary.