Part 16

The sound, healthy, waxy appearing hoof needs no coloring or dressing material, and when such things are freely used they are often applied to hide the marks of the rasp.

Buying a Pair.

While a properly matched and trained pair of carriage horses should “act like one horse” when in motion, the buyer should be careful to examine each horse carefully “to halter.” The two animals should be capable of being harnessed to the carriage indifferently to the right or left, and no attention should be paid to the observations of the dealer, who may explain how they have been accustomed to be driven always on the same side, and who, as a rule, will harness the better one of the two horses on the left side, and the poorer one on the right. The examiner naturally pays most attention to the left horse, but he should examine each in a thorough manner, for it often happens when this is done that one horse is found to be of far inferior quality and of less value than its mate, on the “nigh side.”

A “High English” Guaranty.

A thrifty German truck farmer once called the writer to examine a newly bought work horse and to give him “a line” so that he would be able to get his money back from the dealer, the animal having proved unsound. “I have me a written guaranty and a witness that he been all right,” said he, “and now you help me oudt mit a line.” An examination showed that the horse was terribly afflicted with heaves, accompanied with coughing and passing of gas. He heaved so hard that his entire body shook, and the squeaking of the breathing apparatus was easily heard. Evidently the horse had been skilfully “shut” or doped by the seller, and now that the effects of the treatment had passed off the unsoundness showed up plainly. Asked for his “guaranty,” the farmer kept iterating and reiterating his statement that it was all right and duly witnessed. At last he produced it, and it read to this effect, “This horse is hereby guaranteed free from all encumbrances.”

“Do you know what ‘encumbrances’ means?” he was asked, and the answer was, “No, I don’t know such high English words, but I guess it means sound and all righdt in wint and limb, and to work, aind’t it?”

He got his “line,” and by paying $80 to boot brought back another horse with a less comprehensive but more satisfactory guaranty.

Moral: It is best to understand “high English” and the language and ways of the dealer when buying a horse at the yards, so that a written guaranty may really protect the buyer.

An Unsound Horse Sometimes a Good Bargain.

Some kinds of unsoundness render a horse useless for work on the hard streets of the city, yet do not unfit him for work on the soft land of the farm. Where this is the case, it will often pay the farmer whose pocketbook is not particularly well filled to pass by the young, soft, untried, expensive horses that have been specially fattened to bring high prices and buy a second-handed horse at a bargain price.

For example, suppose a big, strong gelding, getting along in years, has four well-developed side-bones which render him stilty and stiff in gait for city use, and which on that account is offered for $80, or thereabout. Such a horse may prove a profitable purchase for use on the land. Were he sound he would sell readily for $125 or over, for city work, and when bought at a discount of $45 he will very likely do more and better work on the farm than would a sound, young, fattened, inexperienced horse at the higher figure.

In making this statement the writer has in mind more than one corroborative instance of the sort in practise.

A Second-Hand Horse.

The owner who wants to sell his horse on the market should not clip off the mane and forelock, and it is a mistake even to cut the latter or to bang the tail. The stock-yard buyers, having special market requirements to meet, prefer to do their own “toilet work” on the horses they buy, and will pass by an otherwise good horse if he has been trimmed in a manner to which they object.

A horse that has had the mane and forelock clipped off is looked upon with suspicion on arrival at the market, and is likely to be termed “second-hand,” meaning that he probably has been tried out in a fire department and found wanting. It is therefore disastrous policy to “roach” a horse before he has been thoroughly tested and found sound and suitable.

Here is a case corroborative of this assertion: A fine gelding was bought for a fire department after a fairly thorough test for “wind.” While being led a long distance behind a sulky from the country to the city the horse became fractious and broke away from the driver. On arrival in the city he was immediately taken to the engine-house and met with the unanimous approval of the fire laddies and chief. The next morning the mane and foretop were clipped off and the horse was then sent out for a practise run. At once he proved terribly nervous and a rank roarer when in motion, but perfectly sound in wind the moment he stood at ease.

The commissioner who bought the horse at once took him back, refunded the purchase price, and sent him to the stock-yards. There he was instantly dubbed “second-handed”; ran up a bill of expense for his owner who could not find a buyer and finally contracted stock-yards distemper in virulent form. Eventually the animal was sold for less than half the purchase price and expense account, but not until the mane had grown in again sufficiently to disarm suspicion. Removing the mane or foretop will be certain to detract from the value of the horse in the market.

“Protecting” the Buyer.

In some sales-stables, when a coachman commissioned by a rich layman to purchase a single horse, or match a pair in his behalf, has stated his needs, looked over a few animals, and hinted at what he can afford to pay, he is asked by the dealer: “How much shall I protect you?” That means how much commission will you expect if the deal is consummated; and the coachman is not slow to ask a handsome rake-off. Another plan of making a profit, is to get as low a price or option as possible from the dealer, and then add a profit by having the seller charge a higher price than the option and afterward hand the balance to the buyer’s agent. Unless the commissioner is paid a special fee by his employer for making the purchase, these methods of making living wages for the work involved in the deal are considered perfectly legitimate by men connected with the horse markets.

Splitting the Profit Three Ways.

In the great horse markets, when a gentleman’s coachman, or a man who is deemed by him to be an expert judge, is commissioned to buy a certain style of horse at not over a stated price, the expert can easily arrange to make a double profit. He seeks out some scalper friend, and gives him a detailed description of the sort of horse wanted. The scalper then visits the stable of his associates in the business, selects a horse that “looks like the job” and secures an option on him at a price considerably lower than the buyer has said he will be willing to pay. He now brings in the expert, and if the horse suits that worthy, he is purchased at the option price and turned over to the employer of the expert at his specified price or a trifle less. Then the scalper and the expert divide the profit, or if another man “on the inside” has been used in the deal, the profit is “split three ways,” to give him a slice. The buyer is usually well satisfied with his bargain, and probably could not have bought the horse cheaper at first hand.

A Glossary of Market Terms.

In each of the great horse markets of the country certain technical, trade and slang terms are used in speaking of horses, and the intending buyer will do well to familiarize himself with them, else he may learn their meaning by dear-bought experience. In preparing the following glossary many of the terms explained are such as one hears in the Chicago market and elsewhere, and the writer has also freely quoted from an article entitled, “The Veterinary Horse Buyer,” from the pen of Dr. H. W. Hawley, V. S., in the Chicago Veterinary College “Quarterly Bulletin” for June, 1903, and from Bulletin No. 122 of the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station, in which Prof. Rufus C. Obrecht deals elaborately and instructively with the subject of “Market Classes and Grades of Horses and Mules.” In many instances it has been thought well to explain technical matters relating to practical subjects as well as to interpret the special term used by horsemen.

=A Bull.=—If a horse grunts when stood against a wall and threatened with a stick or whip, he is called a bull (or grunter) and by many is considered unsound in wind, or a roarer. The test is not conclusive, as not all roarers grunt and many sound horses grunt when so treated, or even when the rider places his foot in the stirrup. It is also used to describe a wind-broken horse that chokes at work. A heavey horse does not grunt when tested in the above mentioned manner.

=A Bull Heaver.=—A bad choker.

=A Canard.=—A bit windy.

=A Cold Collar.=—Balky.

=Afraid of the Floor.=—Has chorea, or St. Vitus’ dance.