Part 15

Auction Sale Rules.

At the Chicago Stock-yards the auction sales of horses, conducted in the “Bull ring,” at Dexter Park, are regulated by certain definite rules which should be understood by horsemen and farmers.

When a horse is brought in for sale a sign stating how the horse is to be sold is immediately exposed on the auctioneer’s rostrum. There are six of these signs, viz., (1) Sound. (2) Serviceably sound. (3) Wind and work. (4) Work only. (5) Legs go. (6) At the halter.

Terms on all sales are strictly cash.

All horses must be examined and tried by purchaser as soon as bought, and must be tried and accepted on the premises during the day of sale, as all guarantees on horses expire with that day, and on delivery of the horse. In no case can a horse be rejected except on the day of sale, unless sold as sound and proved to be a cribber, heavey, crampy or lame. If proven to have any of the four named faults, the purchaser shall have until 9 A. M. the following day to reject the horse. Purchasers failing to try and examine horses within the required time forfeit all right of rejecting them, and no horse sold to wind and work shall be rejected for any cause except he proves windy or will not work.

Should any question arise for adjustment between buyer and seller the matter shall be referred to three members of the Union Stock-yards Horse Exchange, the decision of a majority of whom shall be final.

Any person found guilty of doping a horse to hide the fact that the animal is windy, heavey, crampy, cribby or lame, shall be expelled from the market and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

The following is an explanation of the principal rules governing sales in the auction ring:

=1. Sound.=—A horse sold as sound must be perfectly sound in every way.

=2. Serviceably Sound.=—Must be virtually a sound horse. His wind and eyes must be good: he must not be lame or sore in any way, but sound, barring slight blemishes, and these blemishes must not constitute any unsoundness. A spot or streak in the eye, which does not affect the sight, will be considered serviceably sound as long as the pupil of the eye is good. A further explanation is given as follows by F. J. Berry & Co., a well-known horse commission firm at the Chicago Stock-yards: “Blemishes must be nothing more than splints; the horse may be slightly puffed and a little rounding on the curb joint, but he must not have a bad-looking curb, and must not have a brand. He may be a little cut in the knees, but he must not stand over on the knees or ankles. He may have a little puff on the outside of the hock, but he must not have thoroughpin, or boggy-hock, ringbone, or jack, although he may naturally be a little coarse jointed; but the front part of the hocks inside must not be puffed. He may have slight scars or wire marks but these must not cause any deformity of the body, legs or feet, and must be nothing more than a slight scar. He must not have any scar from fistula or poll-evil. He must not have a hip down, and if one hip is a trifle lower than the other, it must be natural, and not a deformity like the cap of a hip down. He must not have side-bone, or any bad blemishes that deteriorate his value more than a trifle, but must be sound, barring slight blemishes that do not hurt him or change his value very little, and in no case more than the above-mentioned blemishes. Car bruises must be of a temporary nature.”

=3. Wind and Work.=—A horse sold to wind and work, must have good wind and be a good worker, and not a cribber, but everything else goes with him.

=4. Work Only.=—He must be a good worker, but everything else goes with him. Ability to work is the only thing guaranteed.

=5. Legs Go.=—Everything that is on the horse’s legs go with him. Nothing is guaranteed except that he must not be lame or crampy. He must, however, be serviceably sound in every other respect.

=6. At the Halter.=—Sold just as he stands without any recommendations. He may be lame, vicious, balky, a kicker or anything else. The title only is guaranteed; the purchaser takes all the risk.

Exceptions to the above rules may be announced from the auction stand and defects pointed out, in which case they are recorded and go with the horse.

Reputable Dealers Protect Their Patrons.

The horse buyer who patronizes a reputable commission firm or dealer in the Chicago horse market, or in any other great selling centre, will be honestly and fairly dealt with. The rules against cheating are stringent, and trickery is not countenanced among the leaders of the trade. Doping an unsound horse may be punished by expulsion from the market, and tricks, like the application of “soup” to make a horse act mean, are prohibited on “horse row.” It is when a buyer deals with a “scalper” who conducts his business “under his hat,” or patronizes the dealers who conduct a questionable business at small sales stables on the side streets near the stock-yards, that he may expect to get “the short end of the deal,” and we would strongly advise our readers to give such dealers and sales stables a wide berth.

As an illustration of how dishonesty is regarded among horsemen in some of the markets, the following well-authenticated incident may be told. In Kansas City a horse that had been overdosed with drugs to conceal the symptoms of heaves dropped dead while climbing an incline. The story of the “accident” spread through the market, and the next morning, when the owner of the drugged horse offered another of his animals in the auction ring, the auctioneer is said to have stopped, told the story to the audience, pointed out the man who gave the drugs and the owner, and added, “Now, this man has a load of horses to sell to-day and you folks can be your own judges about buying them.”

The seller from the country is as likely to “put up a job” on the commission man or dealer as the latter is to cheat the greenhorn buyer, and we agree with Dr. Hawley, who says: “Horsemen in general are not more dishonest than men in any other branch of business which offers like opportunities for trickery; neither do I believe they are more dishonest than the men who buy from them.”

Two Sides to a Horse.

When a horse is first led out for the intending buyer to examine him in the dealer’s stable, it is a common trick to stand the animal close against a wall. By this means objectionable features of the “other side of the picture” are hidden, and the pleasing aspects of the proposition, plain to the eye and hand of the purchaser, alone are considered by him in making his choice. If the horse is sold subject to such examination and without a written guaranty, there is no recourse for the purchaser when, perchance, the next hour or day he finds on the off side of the horse a “wall-eye,” a brand mark, a big shoe boil, a knocked-down hip, a fistula of the withers, or some other objectionable and troublesome or even seriously hurtful blemish or condition.

The intending purchaser should get the horse away from the wall and make a tour of inspection around him, looking carefully at every part and detail, and then using the hand, if necessary, to corroborate or correct what the eye has seen or suspected. It is always best to look at the horse from a little distance before closing in, and making a more careful inspection. Close inspection deals with minute things, and may make one overlook or fail to see bigger and more important things which would appeal to the eye when taking in the entire side of the horse at a look.

When a dealer is extra particular to draw attention to one side of the animal, take it for granted that there is something on the other side which is worth looking into.

A Little Ill to Distract Attention from a Big One.

Often we have seen tricks such as the following practised in the “bull ring” at the stock-yards. A horse having a small spot or speck in its eye which does not implicate the pupil, is sold to “wind and work” (See Auction rule No. 3, page 50).

The grooms and ringmen loudly draw the attention of the audience to the condition of the eye, and repeatedly assert that it does not amount to anything. This is done on purpose to distract attention from some far more serious defect that otherwise would be noticed by the prospective buyer. Dr. Hawley says of this scheme, “The horse is kept constantly in motion with the whip. The auctioneer and salesman are always looking for an angel to drop in, and one usually does. The horse is ordinarily sold to the angel on his first bid.”

Beware of Hoof Dressing.

When the hoofs of a sale horse are seen to be newly daubed with black hoof dressing, polish, or varnish, look out! or rather, look in! for there may be vital need of the artificial coating to hide serious defects. The dressing, if wet, will soil the examiner’s hands, hence he will be less likely to handle the feet and therefore fails to discover that a quarter crack or sand crack has been concealed, or the fact that the hoof has been rasped extensively for the removal of the rings and ridges that if exposed to the notice of the prospective buyer, would tell a plain story of chronic founder.