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HORSE 
 SECRETS 
 
 WRITTEN, COMPILED AND NOW 
 DISCLOSED 
 
 BY 
 
 A. S. ALEXANDER 
 
 Profeuor 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 study- 
 ing 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 agri- 
 culture, horse breeding, veterinary science, press writing and teaching. 
 He was the author of the first stallion service legislation and inspec- 
 tion 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 infor- 
 mation 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 in- 
 struct 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 knowl- 
 edge among the initiated that stallions are frequently sold at exces- 
 sive 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 pur- 
 chase 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 indebted- 
 ness to the publishers of the various farm and stock papers from the 
 pages of which extracts have been taken. 
 
 WILMER ATKINSON CO. 
 
4 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 Contents. 
 
 Page 
 
 HORSE FEEDING SECRETS ; 
 
 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 
 
 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 2T 
 
 Unnerving and Cocaining 22 
 
 Keep an Eye on the Sign Board 22 
 
 Secret of Hiding a Spavin 23 
 
 Artificially Induced Knee Action 22, 
 
 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 
 
 How Bishoping is Done 30 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS SECRETS 32 
 
 The Widow Trick 32 
 
 Landing a Sucker 33 
 
HORSE SECRETS 5 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS SECRETS— Continued. Page 
 
 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 
 
 Reputable Dealers Protect Their Patrons 50 
 
 Two Sides to a Horse 51 
 
 A little 111 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 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2009 with funding from 
 
 Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/horsesecretsOOalex 
 
HORSE SECRETS 
 
 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 treat- 
 ment 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 
 
8 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 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. 
 
 A noted Wisconsin breeder has used corn silage exten- 
 sively as a feed for horses as a part of the winter ration during 
 the past -eighteen years. The number wintered each year 
 averages about ioo. His method is as follows: 
 
 In making silage for horses the corn is allowed to stand 
 until nearly out of the milk, as better results have thus been 
 obtained than when it is cut greener. The silo is filled as 
 rapidly as possible, and when full is allowed to settle for four 
 or five days, when it is again filled. Care is taken to pack 
 the silage tightly around the walls. 
 
 The silo is opened about November 15th, when the herds 
 have been brought in from the pastures. Care is taken to 
 feed the horses lightly at first so that they may become 
 accustomed to the new food. 
 
 A large bin has been built, connecting with a room below 
 the doors of the silo. This bin is filled from time to time 
 with a mixture of four parts of hay and one of straw, cut 
 about 3 inches long, by being run through a silage machine. 
 The silage is always mixed with this cut hay and straw before 
 feeding. The proportions are about one to five of silage by 
 weight. By cutting the hay and straw, the amount wasted is 
 reduced to a minimum. 
 
 The corn is never taken out of the silo before it is ready 
 to be used. The entire top is removed each day to a depth 
 of about two inches. Any silage that is spoilt is thrown away. 
 The silage and hay-straw are mixed thoroughly by forking 
 over several times in the room, already referred to. By doing 
 this the horses do not obtain all the silage at one time. Any 
 grain that is fed is put in the manger with the silage. 
 
HORSE SECRETS 9 
 
 The amount of ensilage fed to different horses varies with 
 the animal. It is found that no two horses eat the same 
 amount and they are never given more than they will eat. 
 The average amount fed will be stated in each case below. 
 
 Aged stallions, used for breeding purposes, receive during 
 the winter season about 24 pounds of silage per day. This 
 is divided into three feeds, morning, noon and night. Besides 
 this they are fed long hay and grain. During the breeding 
 season they do not get any silage, as it has been found that 
 if it is fed at that time there is difficulty in getting mares in 
 foal and in raising a large percentage of colts. The reason for 
 this is not known. 
 
 Two-year old stallions receive about 20 pounds of silage 
 per day with their other feed. Yearling stallions receive about 
 15 pounds, with grain and hay. Mares with foals receive about 
 20 pounds, and also grain and hay while the colts are sucking. 
 This is reduced to about 15 pounds, fed twice a day in the 
 stable, after the colts are weaned. 
 
 Mares and geldings, from one year up, run in a herd 
 together. They are fed morning and night about 15 pounds 
 per day. During the day, if weather permits, they are turned 
 out in a pasture and fed hay upon the ground. 
 
 Colts, soon after they have learned to eat grain, are fed 
 a little silage in the box stalls with their mothers. For this 
 purpose small feed boxes are put in each stall near the 
 mangers, where the mares eat. After being weaned the colts 
 are fed about 7 pounds of silage a day with the grain. Alfalfa 
 hay also is put in a rack in the yard, in which the colts are 
 turned out each day, and they eat as much of this as they 
 care for. 
 
 The ration fed is higher than a balanced ration. There 
 has never been any sickness resulting from the use of silage. 
 The animals always come through the winter in good breeding 
 condition and in proper shape to be turned on to pasture in 
 the spring. 
 
 Secret of Fattening Drafters. 
 
 The business of buying young draft horses and feeding 
 them off for the market has been profitably followed by many 
 farmers during the past ten years. The work requires skill 
 and experience and is thus described by Prof. W. J. 
 Kennedy, of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station: "In 
 one of the large horse-feeding establishments of the West 
 the following method is practised: The horses are purchased, 
 their teeth are floated and they are all put in the 
 barn and their feed increased gradually, as great care 
 must be taken for a few dav-3 to avoid colic. It seems 
 
IO HORSE SECRETS 
 
 preferable to feed them grain about five times per day, due to 
 the fact that as the stomach of the horse is proportionately 
 smaller than the stomach of a cow, he needs his feed in smaller 
 quantities and more often. The hay is placed in racks so 
 that access may be had to it at all times. The horses are given 
 all the water they will drink twice a day. The daily practise 
 is as follows : Corn is given at 5 o'clock in the morning; water 
 at 7; the hay racks are filled at 9 o'clock, when the horses are 
 also given oats and bran, the proportion being two-thirds 
 bran and one-third oats. At 12 o'clock they are fed corn 
 again; at 3 in the afternoon oats and bran are given and the 
 hay racks are refilled ; at 4 they are given a second watering, and 
 at 6 the final feed of corn is given. The proportion for each 
 horse when upon full feed is as follows: Corn from 10 to 14 
 ears to each feed ; oats and bran, about 3 quarts per feed, mak- 
 ing in all from 30 to 40 ears of corn and 6 quarts of oats and 
 bran per horse per day. The horses are not given any exercise 
 from the time they are put in the barn until a few days before 
 they are to be shipped. As a substitute for exercise, and in 
 order to keep the blood in good order, thus preventing stocked 
 legs, Glauber's salt is used. 
 
 In some instances horses fed in this manner have made a 
 gain of 5^2 pounds a day for a period of 50 to 100 days. One 
 horse gained 550 pounds in 100 days. In many instances from 
 12 to 20 horses have made an average daily gain of 3 1-3 pounds 
 per day each for a period of 90 days. 
 
 Secret of Feeding Molasses. 
 
 The feeding of black strap molasses came into vogue 
 when the United States artillery and cavalry horses in Porto 
 Rico required "plumping up." By free use of this readily 
 assimilated fattening food mixed with cut hay or grass, horses 
 that had run down to skin and bone and become covered 
 with harness sores quickly gained flesh and acquired sleek, 
 polished, sound hides so that their former drivers or riders 
 failed to recognize them. Although large quantities of molasses 
 were fed to each horse daily, neither colic nor scouring was 
 caused. 
 
 Dr. W. H. Dalrymple, veterinarian of the Louisiana 
 Experiment Station, says that the amount of molasses fed 
 to the large sugar-mules of 42 plantations in his state is from 
 8 to 12 pounds per head per diem, or an average of about 9.5 
 pounds ; a gallon of black strap molasses weighing 12 pounds. 
 He advises that less than this should be given at first and 
 gradually increased as the animals get used to it, though he 
 adds : "We have not experienced any ill effects from feeding 
 
HORSE SECRETS II 
 
 the amounts alluded to." In fact, as high as 21 pounds per 
 day has been fed in Louisiana without any untoward results. 
 The molasses is mixed with concentrates and cut hay. 
 
 Here is a recommended formula for molasses feeding on 
 a lesser scale to working draft horses: 
 
 Molasses, 1 quart; water, 3 quarts; cut hay, 5 pounds; 
 corn-meal, 4 quarts ; coarse bran, 2 pints. Feed morning and 
 night. Give usual quantity of oats at noon, and add long 
 hay at night. 
 
 The Department of Agriculture, in Farmer's Bulletin No. 
 107, states that molasses is an excellent food for horses and 
 cattle. It produces energy, maintains the vital heat, stimulates 
 the appetite and increases the digestibility of the other con- 
 stituents of the ration. That cane molasses is a satisfactory 
 substitute for starchy foods, being readily digested and 
 transformed into work: that 5 quarts of molasses can be 
 given daily to a 1,270 pound horse with advantage to its 
 health and the efficiency of its work. 
 
 ^IfffirfflfftT 
 
12 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 Secrets of Various Vices. 
 
 Secret of Stopping Halter Pulling. 
 
 There are many different ways of managing halter pullers 
 and of these the following methods seem most effective: 
 
 Take a strong but thin rope about 20 feet long. Put the 
 middle of it under the horse's tail like a crupper. Bring the 
 two ends forward along the back, knotting them together at 
 the loins and withers. Then pass one on each side of the neck, 
 through the ring of the halter and tie to the manger along 
 with the halter shank. 
 
 Pass the end of tie rope or halter over the manger 
 and tie it to one fore foot, so that the pull is equal on the 
 head and foot. This is simple, safe and efficient. 
 
 Put a good strong halter on the horse with a rope that 
 he cannot break ; then put him either on a plank floor that is 
 about 4 inches higher behind than in front, or on a hard 
 earth floor of the same slope. Have the floor very smooth, 
 and wet it a little to make it slippery, if he is a bad one, and 
 pad the sides of the stall with old sacks or blankets, tying them 
 on with binder twine. As soon as the horse finds that he 
 cannot keep his feet he will give up pulling. 
 
 Use a good halter and 10 or 12 feet of strong rope or 
 strap. Tie one end of the rope around the pastern of a front 
 foot and pass the other end through the halter ring and fasten 
 to a stout post or manger and let the horse pull. This will 
 cure an ordinary case. If it does not cure a bad one, tie the 
 rope to a hind leg, passing it through the halter ring and 
 between the fore legs to the hind pastern. 
 
 Tie a rope around the hind leg at the pastern and pass 
 the rope to the opposite side of the body; run it around the 
 neck where the collar rests and tie the foot up so that it will 
 not touch the floor. Put a good halter on the horse and he 
 will not pull very hard. 
 
 Mr. J. S. Teesdale, of Multnomah County, Oregon, 
 contributed the following amusing account of the curing of 
 a halter puller to the Breeders' Gazette: "I owned a horse 
 that pulled back every time he was tied up in or out of his 
 stable. I got very tired of it. I took him one day to a wharf 
 over a river. There was, as is usual, a wall on the dock a 
 
HORSE SECRETS 13 
 
 few feet from its edge. I led him on so that his face was 
 near the wall and his tail toward the water; and I stood him 
 with his right side close up to a partition that ran from the 
 wall to the edge of the wharf. I stood with my body close 
 to his left eye, hiding the river from his view, so that he could 
 not see the water from either side. The river was a very 
 silent one. I held him in that position almost an hour until 
 I thought he had forgotten the river entirely, then I tied 
 him to a ring in the wall, holding a sharp knife in my teeth 
 as I did so. As soon as I had tied him he hung back as 
 badly as ever. I cut the rope. He turned a back somersault 
 and dropped 10 feet into the river. When he came to the 
 surface and recovered from his daze, he swam down stream 
 to the end of the dock and landed. He never hung back again 
 so far as I know, although he was tied a thousand times." 
 
 Secret of Preventing Mules from Kicking. 
 
 Mr. F. M. Walker, of Vernon County, Missouri, contrib- 
 uted the following to the columns of the Breeders' Gazette: 
 "Take two straps i l / 2 inches wide with a good ring; have the 
 straps long enough to buckle around the hind legs, one above 
 the hock and one below. First buckle the ring in both straps ; 
 then take a stout rope, put a ring in the rope, and tie it 
 around the breast of the collar so that the double will come 
 back behind the belly-band and make the ring stay. Now 
 take another piece of stout rope, tie in the ring on the hind leg, 
 bring it up through ring at the belly-band and back to the 
 other ring on the hind leg. Do not leave any slack for the 
 horse or mule to get his feet over. An animal can walk or 
 trot in this rigging, but he cannot kick. I have broken several 
 mules in this way." 
 
 Tying a Mare With a Foal. 
 
 To tie a mare so that her foal will not get hung in the 
 halter strap, use a ring in the manger instead of a hole. Thirty 
 inches is plenty long enough for the stale. Put a weight on 
 end of the stale — an old bar shoe will do all right. All good 
 horses in Great Britain are tied this way, except that the chain 
 is used. 
 
 Secret of Handling a Balky Horse. 
 
 A tired, balky horse .is less apt to balk than one fresh 
 from the stable, and such horses are oftentimes kept in harness 
 
14 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 right up to the time of sale. This is a "David Harum" trick 
 and well wortn remembering. Also, when a horse balks, be 
 careful to examine his shoulders. Soreness of the skin may- 
 be the cause. It is a trick of the "gyps" secretly to bathe the 
 shoulders of a horse with an irritating solution which in 12 
 hours or less makes the animal refuse to pull in harness. They 
 do this with horses on which they purpose making a bid the 
 following day in the hope that when the victim balks the 
 owner will become disgusted and discount the price. Some 
 horses balk when worked in single harness but go all right 
 when hitched double. Chloroform is sometimes used to make 
 a balky horse stupid, so that he will forget to balk. 
 
 Kindness, petting, coaxing with a lump of sugar, carrot, 
 apple or other dainty sometimes succeeds with a balky horse 
 when harsh measures fail. Cruel procedures should be dis- 
 countenanced and punished and among these the worst trick, 
 perhaps, is to start a fire of paper, straw or brush under the 
 balker. Sometimes all that is necessary is to distract the 
 animal's attention by pounding lightly with a stone on the 
 shoe of a fore foot, by tying a cord around the leg under the 
 knee, or by holding up one foot for a few minutes. 
 
 When a horse balks, one way of curing him is to remove 
 the harness, put on a halter, pull his head around to his side 
 and tie the halter rope in a slip-knot to a strand or two of the 
 tail hair, so as to keep the head well toward the tail. Then 
 he is forced to walk around in a circle until he staggers and 
 is ready to drop, when the rope may be loosed and the horse 
 will be likely to behave and remember the lesson for some time. 
 
 Some horses balk by lying down and refusing to budge. 
 If the four feet of such a sulker are "hog-tied" together and he 
 is abandoned and allowed to remain tied for an hour or two, 
 he will usually be thankful to get up and go on when set 
 at liberty. 
 
 One owner broke a balker by working him on a mower 
 for a few days with his tail tied to the singletree tight enough 
 to take part of the strain. After that he would pull by the 
 tugs without having his tail tied. 
 
 The "guy rope" plan is sometimes effective. A small rope 
 is tied around the horse's neck and a half hitch taken with 
 it on his lower jaw. A husky man then pulls steadily upon 
 the rope and the horse will usually start forward with a lunge. 
 If not a confirmed old balker he may give up the standing 
 habit if treated in this way a few times. 
 
 Light, rapid switching across the nose with a light whip 
 sometimes starts a balker, but severe whipping has an opposite 
 effect. 
 
 The writer once was called to see a draft work-mare 
 that was "down" in an Irish teamster's yard and refused to 
 
HORSE SECRETS 15 
 
 get up. The poor brute was surrounded with whips and sticks 
 that had been broken over her back, and her body was covered 
 with welts from the whipping. The neighbors thronged 
 around to see what would happen when the "Doctor" tried 
 his hand at a job which had baffled their attempts. Examina- 
 tion of the pulse showed a normal condition and the mem- 
 branes of the eyes gave no indication of sickness. After the 
 mare's head and neck had been patted and stroked for a few 
 minutes, and she had been spoken to kindly and gently, she 
 got up at once when the halter was pulled upon and the word 
 of command given. Then she followed the veterinarian about 
 the yard like a dog, recognizing him as her only friend, and 
 ever since that teamster has said, "Sure that mon has the 
 power iv healin' in his hands!" Whereas, the abused mare 
 only needed and wanted a little kindness and coaxing. 
 
 Here is a cure for balking recommended by E. A. Gerrard: 
 "In order to break a balky horse it is necessary to have 
 the appliances, though the first requirement is a cool head. 
 Next you will want a steady horse to hitch with the balky 
 one, together with a strong hopple strap, a rope and a covered 
 swivel pulley, and a good harness and wagon with a long 
 tongue, though one of ordinary length will do. 
 
 Fasten your pulley on the end of the tongue so that it 
 will work free; put the hopple on the balky horse's hind ankle, 
 next to the tongue, and tie the rope in the hopple ring. Now 
 run it through the belly-band, up through the pulley and back 
 to the end of the doubletree on the side of the balky horse, 
 and tie it fast. See that your horses are standing even, making 
 the rope snug, so that the horse can stand easy. Take off 
 your stay chains, sever the line from the terrets on the balky 
 horse, get into the wagon, gather your lines so that you can 
 have control, keep cool, and wait half a minute ; then speak to 
 the team and start the steady horse. As he starts he pulls 
 his end of the doubletree forward and draws on the wagon, the 
 other end of the doubletree going back, pulling the rope through 
 the pulley and lifting the balky horse's foot. He tries to put 
 his foot down and in doing so he takes a step. 
 
 Say, 'whoa !' and stop your steady horse. Do not let the 
 balky horse make more than one step. Now sit still for half 
 a minute, then start again, stopping as soon as the first step 
 is made, by the same process. Sit still for another half minute, 
 then repeat. Each time you will have taught your horse that 
 when you told him to go he had to step. 
 
 Now if you are a horseman get down, go to your horse's 
 head, pat his neck, tell him he is doing well and that he will 
 be the best pulling horse on the place. Then try him again. 
 If he is very anxious to go at the word, let him make six or 
 eight steps, then stop and sit quiet for half a minute. Gradu- 
 
l6 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 ally increase the distance you allow them to go each time, not 
 forgetting to stop long enough to allay any excitement before 
 starting again. When you have driven half a mile be sure 
 you are back at the stable, take your horse out, have a bottle 
 of strong borax water at hand and bathe his ankle for five 
 minutes where the hopple rubbed it. 
 
 On the next day hitch up with the balker on the other 
 side of the tongue. With most balky horses two lessons 
 will prove enough ; often one will answer. But if the horse 
 is old he may forget in two or three weeks, if rested much, 
 so you will need to keep your appliances ready and put them 
 on at the first sign of balking. 
 
 There is little danger of a horse forgetting if he is worked 
 with the same mate and driver ; therefore if you want a perfect 
 job you will do well to change the driver and the mate while 
 the lesson is fresh." 
 
 Mr. F. H. Osburn, of Benton County, Indiana, is the 
 author of the following method of handling a balky mare : 
 
 "I had a good true horse to put beside this mare, one 
 which I knew could pull two such as she. Then instead of 
 putting a stay chain to my true horse I put on what I call a 
 stay rope, looping it around the balky mare's tail, drawing 
 it up short and tying it to the other horse's hame ring. When- 
 ever I spoke to my true puller something else had to come 
 although the balky mare was not very hasty to respond for 
 the first few lessons. We now have her convinced and I 
 drive her single, ride her when driving cattle, can use the 
 cattle whip over her, and she pays no attention to it. At 
 times she runs idle for a week or ten days, but she never gives 
 me a minute's bother when I use her again." 
 
 Secret of Curing a Stall Kicker. 
 
 Various methods have been proposed from time to time 
 for stopping a horse from kicking in the stall. Here are 
 several gleaned from various sources: 
 
 Strap a piece of chain, about 18 inches to 2 feet in length, 
 to the horse's pastern so that it will fly back and hit him 
 each time he kicks. A trace or stay chain will do. 
 
 Pad the sides of the stall thickly with hay or straw kept 
 in place by sacking. When the horse kicks at this and does 
 not hear the sound of his foot striking the boards, he will be 
 scared and quit kicking. 
 
 Buckle a leather surcingle around the horse's body back 
 of the fore legs and to it fasten a small double pulley placed 
 under the belly. Now place straps with buckles on them on 
 each of his legs below the fetlock joint, having a ring in each 
 
HORSE SECRETS 17 
 
 strap. Take l / 2 inch rope, tie to the ring on one front foot, 
 run it up through the pulley, back to the hind foot on the 
 opposite side and tie, then do the same with the opposite feet. 
 Leave the rope long enough for the animal to step. When 
 an attempt is made to kick, the pulley raises the front feet. 
 Use this in the stable until the kicking habit is cured. 
 
 To cure a barn kicker pack an ordinary grain bag tight 
 with hay or straw and suspend it from top of the stall by a 
 rope or strap, so that it will swing free from the side of the 
 stall and near the place the horse strikes the boards when he 
 kicks. When kicked the bag will swing back and hit the horse 
 on its return trip, and he will climb into the hay mow, if he 
 can. If the horse kicks with both feet, hang a bag on each side. 
 
 Tie the kicking horse between swinging partitions 
 whether in a single or box stall. The partition kicks back 
 each time it is kicked by the horse. 
 
 An "Old Timer" writing in the Breeders' Gazette, sug- 
 gests the following plan for a pregnant mare that is a bad 
 kicker: 
 
 "Have a collar made of V/ 2 inch first-class heavy harness 
 leather, long enough to go around the mare's neck at the 
 point where the collar fits, with 1^4 inch ring at the breast, 
 then get a strap \y 2 inches wide, the full length of a side of 
 harness leather, cut tapering to I inch or less at the tip of 
 the light end, with 1^4 i" cn r ing in the other. Then get a 
 2y 2 inch strap just long enough to go around the pastern of 
 the hind foot with ^4 inch ring in each end. Have the edges 
 of this strap slightly champered. Slip the collar on the mare's 
 neck, put the short strap around the pastern of the left hind 
 foot, the thin long strap through the rings on the pastern, 
 then through the ring on the end of the long strap, and slip 
 up snug and tight ; next, run the strap between the fore legs 
 and through the ring in the collar on the neck. Now draw 
 it up snug when she is standing in her natural position and 
 secure it with a slip-knot so that it can be easily removed 
 when necessary. 
 
 There will be no excitement about this, and no punish- 
 ment. It does not interfere with the mare's lying down or 
 getting up ; all it will do for her will be to prevent her from 
 kicking, simply because she cannot, and she will soon learn 
 to live in peace with her stable mates. We have used this 
 for many years without a failure, and we would he pleased 
 to have all humane horsemen use it in preference to a long 
 chain or heavy swinging block or padded stall." 
 
18 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 Secret Tricks in Horse Trading'. 
 
 Secret of Shutting a Heaver. 
 
 Heaves or broken wind more commonly perhaps than any- 
 other unsoundness, offers opportunity and necessity for 
 skilful handling by the trickster in horse dealing. There are 
 numerous plans for the temporary relief of this disease, and 
 so skilfully is the work done that often it is not suspected 
 or discovered under twenty-four hours following a purchase. 
 The "patient" receives no bulky food and all feed is wetted. 
 Sometimes ammonia water is used in sprinkling the hay, and the 
 observant buyer may detect this by the odor. Lime water or 
 a solution of baking soda also is frequently used. An 
 examination of the bit may show that it has been "medicated" ; 
 and allowing the horse to drink all the water he wants will be 
 likely to disclose the heaves when he is made to gallop or pull 
 a load. A pint of whiskey well diluted with water given as 
 a drench also will be likely quickly to offset the effect of drugs. 
 
 It is not the province of this book to furnish formulae of 
 the mixtures or medicines used to "dope" or "shut" heavey 
 horses, but rather to put the buyer on his guard so that fore- 
 warned he may be forearmed. Therefore, the following 
 "dopes" employed for dishonest purposes are mentioned : 
 
 Arsenic, stramonium, lobelia, indigo, chloral hydrate, 
 opium, melted lard, lead shot, raw eggs, milk, fresh ox blood, 
 vinegar, kerosene, slaked lime in drinking water, etc., and in 
 olden days a fistulous opening was made in connection with 
 the rectum for the free and silent passage of gas. 
 
 If the buyer is allowed twenty-four hours in which to 
 reject a horse, heaves, if present, will usually show up in that 
 time if the horse is given an abundance of drinking water and 
 bulky food and then is put to work. 
 
 Secret of Plugging a Roarer. 
 
 It is well to examine the horse's nostrils when making a 
 purchase, otherwise he may sneeze out one or more sponges 
 on arriving at his new home. The sponges are inserted to 
 
HORSE SECRETS IO. 
 
 prevent a "roarer" from making a noise when breathing. This 
 is also accomplished by fastening a spring truss to the nose 
 band of the bridle in such a way that it causes pressure upon 
 the false nostrils and so lessens the intake of air when the 
 horse is in motion. 
 
 Sponges even of fine quality clog with mucus if left in 
 place too long. Dealers tie fine cords to the sponges and 
 by this means pull them out of the nostrils as soon as the 
 horse is sold. Another plan is to cut off the ends of a lemon, 
 squeeze it dry and then insert it in the nostril. It is left there 
 with impunity as it will soon dry out, shrivel and be sneezed 
 out of the nostril. 
 
 Another trick is to pack the horse's sheath with oakum 
 to prevent unpleasant noises when he is trotting; and the 
 vagina of a lacerated (gill flirt) mare may be similarly treated 
 for a like reason. Laceration of the perineum, an accident 
 occurring at parturition, is usually incurable, hence the impor- 
 tance of making a careful examination when buying a mare. 
 
 Diamond Cut Diamond. 
 
 It is not always at the time of making a sale that the 
 "gyp" practises sharp tricks. When occasion offers he has 
 been known purposely to depreciate the value of a horse he 
 wishes to buy. If he can make it appear that the horse is 
 lame, sick, broken-winded, weak eyed or balky he may acquire 
 him at a discount, and he has secret methods of accomplish- 
 ing his dishonest ends. A fine wire or cord tied around the 
 pastern soon causes symptoms simulating those of founder; 
 or the horse limps painfully after a horse-hair has by means 
 of a needle been passed through a certain part of his leg, or 
 when a small nail has been driven into the foot or a gravel 
 or bean put under the shoe. A horse will stop eating and so 
 appear sick when tallow has been smeared upon the roof of 
 the mouth and inner side of the upper incisor teeth ; or refuse 
 to pull when his shoulders and breast have been bathed with 
 an irritating solution of corrosive sublimate, tincture of 
 cantharides, or tartar emetic ; or seem to have glanders when 
 fresh butter has been melted and poured in his ears ; or 
 afflicted with eye disease when whole flaxseed has been 
 chewed and rubbed on the eyes ; or he can be made fractious 
 by an application of a caustic fluid. 
 
 The owner should make a careful search for such 
 causes of unsoundness should his horse mysteriously go 
 wrong at the time when a trade is pending, and on recogniz- 
 ing the possibility of a trick it is better to call the deal off 
 than to discount the price. 
 
20 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 Making a Horse Act Mean. 
 
 When a "gyp" dealer learns that a farmer is having 
 difficulty in training a high-strung young horse, he tries to 
 buy him at a discount, and unless closely watched will try 
 to make the horse act mean when examined. He asks the 
 owner to harness or ride the horse, and diverting his attention 
 for a moment, applies an irritating substance to the heels, 
 or some other part of the animal, causing him to kick, plunge 
 and attempt to run away. He calls his secret dope "dog water," 
 "hop-up," "soup" or "fog," and its effect is intended so to 
 disgust the horse owner that he will be glad to sell the frac- 
 tious beast at a bargain. 
 
 Often, should a buyer visit a scalper's stable in the city, 
 he will be shown a fine-looking horse and attractive harness 
 and wagon. The price asked for the horse and outfit is a low 
 one, and the stranger jumps at the chance to acquire the 
 property; but just as the horse is being hitched up, he begins 
 to kick or behave badly under the influence of a dose of "soup." 
 The intending buyer immediately suffers from "cold feet," 
 and is readily induced to take an inferior horse. The fine horse 
 and outfit are thus used times without number to attract 
 buyers and assist in the sale of unattractive, cheap horses at 
 profitable prices. 
 
 Blowing Air Under the Skin. 
 
 When the muscles of the shoulder have wasted away, 
 constituting the condition termed "sweeny," air sometimes is 
 blown under the skin to give the part a plump condition. This 
 trick is easily detected, for when the hand is passed over the 
 inflated part it crackles (crepitates) showing the presence of air 
 under the skin (emphysema). The same trick is practised to 
 make an old horse appear younger than he really is, the 
 hollows over the eyes being blown up by means of a hollow 
 needle, quill or straw passed through the skin. For low hip 
 and atrophy of the shoulder muscles we have also known 
 tricksters to inject a two per cent solution of phenol under 
 the skin and then thoroughly massage the part. 
 
 Stopping a Switcher. 
 
 Apart from operating upon the muscles of the tail to prevent 
 switching, which often is a bad vice in mares, dealers resort 
 to the following trick: The tail is tied up over the horse's 
 back as tightly as possible and left in that position over night. 
 
HORSE SECRETS 21 
 
 It becomes so numbed by this treatment that the horse is 
 unable to use it for half a day or so after it is let down. 
 
 The switching habit is also mechanically prevented, when 
 the mare is hitched, by fastening a strand of the hair or string 
 from each side of the tail to a part of the breeching of harness. 
 
 Tail switching is less likely to be noticed by the buyer if 
 the tail is tied up or braided. Therefore, it is well to let the 
 tail down for this and other reasons before deciding to buy 
 the horse. 
 
 The Turpentine and Gasoline Tricks. 
 
 Temporarily to lessen or remedy the lameness of a foot- 
 sore horse, turpentine heated to the boiling point is poured 
 into the sole of the foot. It can be held there for five minutes 
 by binding a bandage around the foot so that the turpentine 
 cannot run down over the hoof-head. The buyer may readily 
 detect this trick, as the odor of turpentine gives it away when 
 the hoof is examined. 
 
 It also is alleged that the following treatment is given for 
 muscle soreness, caused by use over hard stones : The night 
 before he wishes to sell the horse affected in this way, the 
 "gyp" dealer will pour gasoline over the withers, and let it 
 flow down both shoulders and forearms. The gasoline con- 
 tracts the capillaries and larger blood vessels and diminishes 
 the blood pressure and nerve sensibility, thus allowing a nearly 
 natural movement of the muscles. Of course as soon as the 
 effect of the gasoline passes away the soreness will return. If 
 gasoline were rubbed on the muscles it would probably result 
 in a blister. 
 
 Gingering a Show Horse. 
 
 As a preparation for the show ring contest, or before 
 exhibiting a horse to a prospective buyer, it is almost the 
 general practise to insert ginger root in the animal's rectum 
 that the irritation produced thereby may cause it to carry 
 a high tail and show spirit and action. 
 
 While this objectionable practise obtains most as regards 
 coach and carriage horses, it is also followed by exhibitors 
 and sellers of draft stallions and mares, and of recent years 
 has been practised extensively. Indeed the trick is becoming 
 far too common, and we have even seen it boldly and flag- 
 rantly practised in the judging ring to the disgust of all decent 
 and fair-minded spectators. Possibly there may be some 
 excuse for the practise as a means of setting a show or sale 
 
22 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 horse "on edge," but if allowed at all it should at least be 
 done in private and be absolutely prohibited as a public act 
 in the show ring. We sincerely trust that managers of horse 
 shows will take this view of the matter; and officers of the 
 humane societies should see to it that horses are not exces- 
 sively tortured in this way. While the grooms of some horse 
 exhibitors use ginger in the judging ring, others pay some 
 regard to the rules of decency by backing the horses into 
 their stalls before showing so that the trick may be practised 
 unnoticed by the visitors who throng the aisles of the horse 
 barns. We have heard of such a plan being followed when 
 preparing the entire string of coach horses of one owner for the 
 evening exhibit at a great horse show. 
 
 Unnerving and Cocaining. 
 
 Chronic lameness is done away with by skilful oblitera- 
 tion of the large nerves which supply the affected parts with 
 sensation. The operation is termed nerving or unnerving in 
 common parlance and, properly, as neurectomy. It consists 
 in cutting down upon the nerve and then removing a portion 
 so that its function is destroyed so far as the portion below 
 the seat of operation is concerned. Unnerving is most often 
 done to hide the lameness caused by navicular disease which is 
 incurable: it may also be practised on account of ringbone, side- 
 bone, founder or other unsoundness of the foot. After 
 unnerving the horse does not evince pain when the parts 
 below the seat of the operation are pinched or pricked. The 
 operation merely does away with pain and lameness. It is 
 in no way a cure. 
 
 Cocaine or eucaine solution injected by means of a hypo- 
 dermic syringe upon the nerves at the points where neurec- 
 tomy would be performed will temporarily have an effect like 
 that of the operation. Just after the injection a swollen or 
 puffed place may be discovered at the point where the 
 hypodermic needle was inserted, and local soreness may be 
 present after the effects of the drug have subsided. 
 
 Keep an Eye on the Sign-Board. 
 
 Dr. Hawley advises that when buying horses at auction 
 one should watch the sign-board, as it may be suddenly 
 shifted from "serviceably sound" to "wind and work." In such 
 a case a horse slightly lame may be purchased with no chance 
 of rejection. 
 
HORSE SECRETS 2J 
 
 Secret of Hiding a Spavin. 
 
 It is an old "gyp" trick to beat one hock-joint with a 
 stick so that it will swell and acquire the same size as the 
 hock unsound from spavin. Caustic solutions injected under 
 the skin at the seat of spavin also smooth the appearance of 
 the joint. 
 
 If spavin is suspected, test for it by picking up the hind 
 foot and holding it toward the stifle for two or three minutes 
 so as to tightly shut the hock-joint. Then drop the foot and 
 instantly have the horse trotted. If spavin, apparent or hidden 
 (occult), is present the horse will hop off on three legs, or go 
 much lamer than before. 
 
 Artificially Induced Knee Action. 
 
 True knee action is an inborn trait in certain horses, 
 such as those of the English hackney breed, and some families 
 of American trotters ; but in many high-stepping horses, sold on 
 the market, such action is unnatural, and has been acquired. The 
 true knee actor flexes his hocks about as freely as he does his 
 knees. This is the test: Watch a fashionable, high-going 
 coacher, and if the action is not well balanced, and if the hind 
 legs are imperfectly flexed, and seem to have difficulty in 
 "keeping up with the procession," depend upon it that the 
 horse has been trained to go as he does and easily may forget 
 his lessons on leaving school. 
 
 The "gyp" trick is to wet the hoof heads with turpentine, 
 which sets up intense irritation and induces knee action. This 
 is readily discovered by remembering to run the hands over 
 the coronets when examining the horse, then noting if they 
 smell of any drug. 
 
 The horse trainer, on the other hand, develops high knee 
 action by putting on heavy shoes, the toes being left long; 
 by trotting and galloping the horse in plowed land, deep snow, 
 or a deep bed of straw. He also frequently taps the legs 
 back of the knees with a whip or light stick as the horse takes 
 daily walking exercise. Soon the animal learns the trick of 
 high stepping, and thus is ready to match with one of like 
 kind and gait, for sale at a high figure to some rich man in 
 the city. 
 
 A coach horse with extraordinary high knee action was 
 sold by a dealer to a city man for $400. In a few days the 
 buyer returned the horse saying, "Sell him over again; you 
 put him on me, now stick some one else with him." This 
 horse had stringhalt in both fore legs which caused him to 
 go high. 
 
24 HORSE SBCRETS 
 
 In buying a coach or hackney stallion or mare for breeding 
 purposes, see to it that the high action is natural and not 
 acquired or due to chorea, else the tendency to step high will 
 not be transmitted to the progeny. 
 
 The Artificial Tail Trick. 
 
 Where a horse is bought without careful examination of 
 the tail, it may transpire when too late for redress that the 
 switching appendage has been joined on. We remember 
 examining a fine, thoroughbred running horse that was to be 
 used for saddle purposes. Everything passed scrutiny until 
 we came to the tail, which was that of some other horse, 
 nicely held in place by clamps. When it was removed it was 
 found that the horse under examination possessed a mere 
 vestigial stump of a tail — a regular shaving brush affair — and 
 on that account the deal, like the tail, was all off. 
 
 Draft and work horses are often offered with the tail 
 braided and tied up. Where this is the case, the intending 
 buyer should let the tail down and then he may find that a 
 big foreign switch has been braided in with the scant supply 
 of natural hair. 
 
 The critical examination of the tail will also save the 
 prospective purchaser from acquiring an animal afflicted with 
 pigment tumors (see page 48), or one that is about to lose 
 a portion of the tail by gangrene, due to keeping a cord too 
 tightly and too long around the part when tied up in muddy 
 weather, or while exposed for sale. 
 
 Keeping a Horse "In the Air." 
 
 The dealer tries to keep a horse "in the air" as much as 
 possible when showing him to a prospective buyer, but the 
 latter should be sure to examine the horse when he is "stand- 
 ing at ease." The object of keeping the horse rattled by 
 cracking whips, shaking barn door latches, rattling a whip 
 handle inside of a derby hat, whooping, yelling, and chasing 
 behind him, is to make him appear spirited, or to hide some 
 lameness. Often the horse so treated has a spavin, the laming 
 effects of which disappear with exercise, and this also is true 
 if the horse has navicular disease or chorea. 
 
 This absurd treatment of the horse is customary in the 
 selling of a heavy draft stallion that has been so fattened, 
 pampered and drugged that he is practically asleep half the 
 time, and has to be waked up by strenuous means to give him 
 an appearance of life. A naturally acute and wide-awake 
 horse needs little urging. 
 
HORSE SECRETS 25 
 
 The Loose Shoe Trick. 
 
 When a horse is a poor mover, but stylish and likely to 
 be a prize winner in the show ring, the owner tries to avoid 
 putting him through his paces before the judges. A shoe 
 is loosely tacked on, so that when the horse is trotted it 
 comes off, and the owner then blames imperfection of motion 
 to the loss of the shoe. 
 
 We remember a case in the judging ring where a stallion 
 with notoriously poor, flat, brittle hoofs was being trotted 
 out for inspection by the awarding committee. At the first 
 trot out, off flew the shoe, carrying with it a goodly portion of 
 horny wall. "Too bad, too bad !" condoled the judge with 
 the owner, who instantly replied, "Oh, that's all right; a horse 
 with a foot like that will never miss it!" And the judge — a 
 beginner — seemed to take it for granted that the foot was a 
 specially good one, precisely as he was expected to do, and he 
 gave the horse a prize, although he had not been properly 
 shown out like his rivals. 
 
 Wire Marks Over Side-Bones. 
 
 Instances have been disclosed where gashes have pur- 
 posely been cut with a knife on the hoof head just over a 
 prominent side-bone so that when the wounds healed and left 
 large scars the side-bones might be laid to a wire cut. This 
 trick is mostly used in the case of a stallion that might, on 
 account of a side-bone, be refused a license for public service 
 in states where laws are in force for the supervision of the 
 horse breeding industry. 
 
 In Wisconsin, which was the first state to enact a stallion 
 service law, we found large scars over side-bones on both fore 
 feet of a pure-bred draft stallion. In another case, where a 
 complaint was filed to the effect that a stallion was unsound 
 from side-bone, the owner claimed by letter that the side-bone 
 was due to a calk wound. Examination by a veterinarian dis- 
 closed the fact that the wound scar was over a side-bone on 
 a hind foot, and there were two large side-bones on each fore 
 foot and no scars on the latter. The state license of this 
 horse was promptly cancelled for cause. 
 
 Wedging a Cribber. 
 
 Some dealers temporarily make a horse desist from crib- 
 bing by driving hard wood wedges between his front incisor 
 teeth. Another old plan is to saw between the teeth. The 
 
26 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 soreness makes it painful for the horse to practise the habit 
 of cribbing. Such a horse may be returned to the commission 
 man, no matter how much time has elapsed since the purchase. 
 The trick is difficult to discover unless the horse has cribbed 
 long enough to render the appearance of the teeth suspicious. 
 In the confirmed cribber the teeth are worn off or levelled and 
 usually have lost the marks. 
 
 Another way of stopping a horse from cribbing is to blind- 
 fold the animal, place a block of wood on the incisor teeth 
 and strike it with a mallet. By this cruel means the parts 
 are made so sore that the horse temporarily stops catching 
 hold of the manger to crib and suck wind. 
 
 The buyer should always, when possible, see the horse 
 in the stall prior to the show out. If he remembers this and 
 moves quick enough he may see the horse wearing a strap 
 buckled around his neck just back of the ears. Such a horse 
 is a cribber and wind-sucker and the strap is put on to prevent 
 the latter vice. 
 
 Making an Artificial Star. 
 
 It sometimes happens or is claimed to have happened that 
 a pure-bred foal, registered when young in the stud book, 
 is set down as having a star in its forehead but which on 
 attaining maturity shows no such mark. Sometimes in match- 
 ing horses a difficulty is experienced when a perfect mate is 
 found with the exception that a star is lacking. 
 
 In such cases the horseman is occasionally more or less 
 successful in producing an artificial star. One plan suggested 
 is to cut a boiling hot potato in two and instantly apply the 
 cut surface to the skin of the forehead. The scalding removes 
 the hair and it comes in white, but a careful examination of 
 such an artificial scar often will disclose a small pink, hairless 
 spot in the center of the mark. The same tell-tale spot is seen 
 where the artificial star has been produced by cauterizing with 
 a red-hot iron or scalding with boiling water. The discovery 
 of an artificial star on the forehead of a stallion or mare sold 
 as pure-bred and registered is sufficient reason for making 
 a careful investigation as to the identity of the animal and the 
 integrity of the seller. 
 
 An old book gives the following plan of making an 
 artificial star: Take a piece of coarse tow-linen, the size of 
 the wished-for star. Spread on it warm pitch, and apply it 
 to the shaved spot ; leave it on for two or three days, then 
 wash with a smart water, or elixir of vitriol, two or three 
 times a day until well. When the hair grows it will be white. 
 
HORSE SECRETS 2.J 
 
 Black Spots on a White Horse. 
 
 An old veterinary book says: Take of powdered quick- 
 lime half a pound, and litharge four ounces. Beat well the 
 litharge with the lime. The above is to be put into a vessel 
 and a sharp lye is to be poured over it. This is the coloring 
 matter which must be applied to such parts of the animal as 
 you wish to have dyed black. 
 
 Broken Crest or Wrong Lying Mane. 
 
 In certain gross, coarse-necked, heavy-maned, plethoric 
 draft stallions advancing in age it is not uncommon to find 
 the crest broken over under the weight of the mane. Attempts 
 are sometimes made by the owner or seller to offset this objec- 
 tionable condition by braiding the mane and causing it to lie 
 upon the side of the neck opposite the break by weighting 
 with flat strips of lead attached to the hair. If the crest breaks 
 over to either side the mane may be roached. Weights may 
 also be used in similar fashion to shed the mane of one horse 
 of a pair so that it will lie on the proper side of the neck to 
 make the team well matched and dressed. A broken crest is 
 objectionable in a stallion as it indicates coarseness and gross- 
 ness, a tendency to which is likely to be transmitted. The 
 term broken crest is sometimes applied in the market to a 
 horse affected with fistulous withers or scarred therefrom. 
 
 Concealing Discharging Sinuses. 
 
 It is not uncommon for a horse to have a fistula (opening 
 or sinus) of a salivary duct. Where this is so there will be 
 a discharge of saliva which appears as a limpid, transparent 
 liquid oozing out or flowing in a stream. It is most profuse 
 when the animal is eating and at that time may escape in jets. 
 
 Such fistulse commonly involve Stenon's duct and are 
 located on the side of the face or jaw. They are difficult to 
 remedy, and the dealer resorts to the use of strong astring- 
 ents and then plugs the openings tightly with cotton to 
 temporarily prevent escape of saliva until a sale has been 
 effected. 
 
 A fistula connecting with the root of a diseased molar and 
 discharging pus through a sinus (pipe) the orifice of which 
 is under the lower jaw, may be plugged in similar fashion, to 
 be discovered later by the chagrined buyer. It also is possible 
 temporarily to prevent escape of pus from small chronic fistulas 
 or those resulting from poll-evil, fistulous withers or trephining 
 of the bones of the face. 
 
28 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 The Galloping Past Dodge. 
 
 'Some horses roar loudly when going fast in harness, but 
 are instantly quiet when action ceases. To prevent the detec- 
 tion of this unsoundness the seller, unless prevented from 
 doing so by an experienced buyer, gallops the horse past the 
 latter and, by tugging upon the lines, makes it appear that 
 the animal is trying to run away or is difficult to control. The 
 team is pulled up some distance away and by the time the 
 buyer gets there the horse has resumed normal breathing. 
 
 The better way to test the horse's wind is to lock the rear 
 wheels of a wagon by thrusting a strong stick between the 
 spokes from one wheel to the other ; then make the horses 
 pull the wagon at a run and be at their heads the moment they 
 stop. Such horses may not be true roarers but mechanical 
 chokers with thick, bull necks or enlarged throat glands. 
 These are practically sound and only roar when pulling a 
 heavy load up hill or on getting the chin down close to the 
 chest. 
 
 Keeping a Horse on Edge. 
 
 A horseman of the old school writes : "When dealers 
 have had a horse some time in their stables, they exercise 
 him with a whip two or three times a day, so that when a 
 'chapman' goes to look at him, they have only to stir their 
 hand with the whip in it. Under such conditions it is hard 
 to say whether the horse, fearful of a drubbing, is lame or not, 
 and a good judge may be deceived." 
 
 In another place he says : "A horse that goes with his 
 fore feet low is very apt to stumble and there are some that 
 go so near the ground that they stumble most on even road, 
 and the dealers, to remedy this, put heavy shoes on their feet, 
 for the heavier a horse's shoes are, the higher he will lift his 
 feet." 
 
 "An Eye for An Eye." 
 
 The buyer should have a keen look out for the eye of the 
 horse ; otherwise he may easily make sad mistakes in the 
 market. 
 
 The pupil of the eye should contract when the horse 
 comes out into the light. If it does not, the eye is blind, or 
 at least unsound. Such eyes have an unnatural appearance 
 which should attract the attention of the alert examiner, but 
 he will be very apt to overlook the blindness if the horse is 
 led out into the bright sunshine. Where a horse has recently 
 
HORSE SECRETS 20, 
 
 become blind from periodic ophthalmia (moon blindness), he 
 may still be able to detect a bright light, and so when exposed 
 to sunshine, may throw up his head and look directly at the 
 sun. This act makes the examiner liable to consider the eyes 
 sound. 
 
 Periodic ophthalmia, as suggested by the term, comes on 
 at intervals, but eventually after repeated attacks ends in 
 blindness of one or both eyes. 
 
 A horse that has had a few attacks, causing a slight 
 opacity of the cornea (scum), is a favorite with the scalper, as 
 he can be bought cheap, treated for the temporary clearing 
 up of the eyes, and sold at a profit to an unwary buyer. The 
 disease is incurable, and its presence is to be suspected when 
 the eyebrow appears triangular and wrinkled, and the eye 
 looks smaller than its mate, or a healthy eye, and is retracted 
 into the orbit. 
 
 Unscrupulous buyers sometimes render a horse temporarily 
 blind by chewing whole flaxseed to a pulp and smearing it in 
 the eye. By washing a cloudy, sticky-looking eyeball, this 
 trick is readily discovered. 
 
 A horse may also be rendered temporarily blind by the 
 administration of certain drugs. 
 
 The clearing-up process of treating a blue-eyed or moon- 
 blind horse also is effected by skilful use of such drugs as 
 atropia, belladonna, eserine, nitrate of mercury ointment, 
 bloodroot, alum, calomel, etc. Their effect is transitory, and 
 the horse soon has an unmistakable attack of ophthalmia. 
 
 Examine the Ears. 
 
 It will be well to "put a flea in the ear" of the man who 
 contemplates buying a horse and who may not know that the 
 ear will bear investigation. If the animal will not submit to 
 inspection, look out ! The horse that will not allow one to 
 handle his ears, or fights when the attempt is made, may be 
 a terror to shoe, and therefore has had the "twitch" put on 
 his ear many a time in the blacksmith's shop ; or he may 
 have had poll-evil, some injury to the ear, or head, or have 
 a disease present which makes the ear sore or sensitive. A 
 horse so affected is difficult to handle, as he fights when the 
 halter or bridle is put on. 
 
 Sometimes a fine silken thread may be found running 
 under the forelock from ear to ear to prevent them from 
 lopping over. 
 
 Or there may be a leaden bullet suspended by a silk 
 thread in the hollow of the ear to prevent its constant motion. 
 
30 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 Sometimes the motion indicates impaired sight or nervous- 
 ness, whereas the lack of it may indicate deafness. 
 
 Then, too, we sometimes find at the base of the ear a 
 chronic, almost incurable fistulous opening and tract con- 
 necting with the bursa mucosa, constantly discharging a 
 substance like liquid vaseline, which daubs and mats the hair, 
 giving the part an untidy, filthy appearance. 
 
 Besides this, temporarily stitched and glued split ears, 
 chronic eczema and warts may be looked for and avoided. It 
 is more difficult to find ear ticks, such as are met with in 
 southwestern states, but when present they cause great irrita- 
 tion, and may make a horse fractious. 
 
 Bishoping, an Old Trick. 
 
 John C. Knowlson,* an old farrier, writing in 1850, says: 
 "Horse dealers have a trick of knocking out the nook teeth 
 at three years and a half, to make a horse appear five years 
 old when only four; but they cannot raise the tusks. At six 
 years old the nook teeth are a little hollow, and at seven there 
 is a black mark, like the end of a ripe bean. Afterwards you 
 will observe the flesh shrink from the teeth, which grow long 
 and yellow. Horse dealers have also a method which they 
 call Bishoping a horse's month; that is, filing the tusks shorter, 
 rounding them at the ends, taking a little out of the nook 
 teeth, so as to make them rather hollow, and then burning 
 them with a hot iron. I was hired by Anthony Johnson, of 
 Wincolmlee, Hull, as farrier to a number of horses that were 
 going to the city of Moscow, in Russia, for sale, and we had 
 a little gray horse, called Peatum, that was seventeen years 
 old, the mouth of which I bishoped, and he passed for six 
 years old, and was the first horse sold, and for £500 English 
 money! I only mention this as a caution to horse buyers." 
 
 How Bishoping is Done. 
 
 Bishoping is dental forgery, false marks being made on 
 the incisor teeth to make an old horse appear young. It is a 
 dishonest practise and not to be countenanced for a moment 
 by a reputable horseman. The modus operandi of the 
 business is told as follows in a well-known book on "Animal 
 Dentistry": "Renewal of the cups (bishoping) is the most 
 important of the artificial attempts to make horses appear 
 younger, and if performed intelligently upon horses that are 
 
 •See note on page 47, relating to "An old operation for spavin." 
 
HORSE SECRETS 31 
 
 not too old, together with the shortening and polishing of the 
 crowns of the superior incisors, may deceive even the vaunted 
 expert. The operation consists of cutting large cups in the 
 inferior corners, smaller ones in the laterals and mere dots 
 in the centrals and then staining them with silver nitrate. 
 The cupping process is performed with an engraver's gouge, 
 and a revolving hand drill, or by the modern ingenious imple- 
 ment in vogue in the Chicago market, consisting of the foot 
 engine used by human dentists, equipped with a circular 
 cutting wheel, by which cups of perfectly normal shape and 
 size can be made. The horse is backed into a single stall 
 and secured in a dental halter. An assistant works the dental 
 engine with the foot. The operator holding the hand piece of 
 the flexible shaft in the right hand and the jaw in the other, 
 cuts first a large elliptical cup, with sharp commissures, in 
 the table of the corner incisors, then smaller ones in the 
 laterals and small dots in the centrals. As the wheel revolves 
 with great velocity, the cupping is the work of but a moment, 
 if the horse stands complacently. When the corner tooth has 
 but a small table it is enlarged by filling and the cup is cut 
 across its entire length. The cup in the corners is frequently 
 made with a rounded belly internally and a sharp commissure 
 externally to give a more confusing if not a more natural 
 appearance. When the cupping process is complete, the 
 arcade is dried and kept free from saliva by wrapping the jaw 
 behind the teeth with a cloth or towel. The cups are then 
 stained by applying a saturated solution of silver nitrate with 
 a stick and then drying it immediately by plunging the head 
 of a burning match into it. The drying process immediately 
 blackens the cavity. If the stain flows over the table of the 
 tooth it is filed off. 
 
 Shortening, polishing, cupping and staining the incisor 
 teeth of a nine or ten-year-old horse may be so cleverly per- 
 formed that the most circumspect study of the mouth may fail 
 to detect the alteration. In these cases the cupping is limited 
 to the removal of the crusta petrosa within the infundibula, 
 thus leaving the cup with a perfect enamel boundary. At 
 that age the other retrogressive changes are not pronounced, 
 and afford but little evidence to guide the diagnostician. 
 When horses are past the age of twelve years the results of 
 these operations are easily detected by the interrupted contact 
 of the incisor arcades (rows of teeth) and especially by the 
 angle of inclination, which is never altered by any natural 
 process and which cannot be artificially changed. The shape 
 of the tables and the absence of enamel around the cup will 
 also lead readily to detection of the fraudulent attempts to 
 make very old horses appear younger." 
 
32 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 Miscellaneous Secrets. 
 
 The Widow Trick. 
 
 Some years since it was common to find cunningly worded 
 horse-sale advertisements in the daily newspapers, offering 
 seemingly valuable animals at sacrifice prices. In some of these 
 advertisements it was stated that a widow about to leave for 
 Europe, where she hoped to be able to assuage the grief of her 
 recent bereavement, would sell her favorite carriage horse, 
 provided she could be assured of a good home and kind treat- 
 ment for the highly esteemed animal. In reality the widow 
 was a myth and the valuable horse a good looking, but 
 worthless "robber." 
 
 The scheme was craftily carried out, and many a man 
 from the country fell a dupe to the wiles of the "widow" and 
 her confederates. On going to the address mentioned in the 
 advertisement, the prospective buyer would find a large stable 
 in the rear of a fine old-fashioned mansion on one of the out- 
 lying boulevards or avenues. Here in charge of a glib-tongued 
 coachman, usually a colored man, would be found several 
 finely groomed horses standing knee deep in the finest of 
 wheat straw bedding and surrounded by every appointment 
 of a swell private stable. Opening negotiations with the 
 groom, the buyer would hear one of the most plausible and 
 pleasing tales imaginable elaborative of a similar, condensed 
 story told in the glowing advertisement that had induced the 
 visit. The filly or gelding would be described as bred in the 
 purple, by Allerton, out of Kentucky Queen, she by a Pilot 
 Jr., or some such combination of standard blood, possessed of 
 great speed, having done halves in 1.08, a final quarter in 34 
 seconds, and the half "would have been as good as 1.06^4 had 
 the track 'near the pole' not been heavy from a recent rain." 
 When the purchaser had become interested, but not sufficiently 
 so to agree to a somewhat steep price, the "widow" dressed in 
 deepest mourning and heavily veiled would opportunely appear 
 upon the scene, do the weeping act and manage matters so 
 adroitly that soon a bargain would be struck at a handsome 
 figure. 
 
 Sometimes a "Colonel" or a "General" or a "Judge" would 
 take the place of the "widow," the man posing as that charac- 
 
HORSE SECRETS 33 
 
 ter being suitably dressed for the part, commanding in appear- 
 ance, and so plausible and polished in address as to disarm 
 all suspicion. During the preliminary negotiations between the 
 groom and the buyer, the "General' would be conveniently 
 stationed in the hay-loft overhead and would be summoned 
 by electric bell when wanted, the "sucker" meanwhile being 
 taken into the alley to see the horse go through his paces. 
 
 Needless to say that the buyer on getting the horse home 
 and trying him out quickly rued his bargain, and equally 
 unnecessary to say that when he went back to the swell 
 stable for redress he found the place abandoned and was 
 wholly unable to locate the men who had perpetrated the 
 swindle. 
 
 This method of fleecing the unwary buyer is still in vogue 
 but far less common than was the case before the advent of 
 the automobile. Still it will be well to take glowing horse- 
 sale advertisements with a large grain of salt, and better still 
 to purchase a horse through some reliable commission man 
 or dealer. 
 
 Landing a Sucker. 
 
 Dr. H. W. Hawley, an experienced veterinary horse 
 buyer at the Chicago Stock Yards, says in the June, 1903, 
 number of the Chicago Veterinary College "Quarterly Bul- 
 letin," that most of the tricks of the horse dealing trade, 
 though not all of them, are performed by scalpers. It takes 
 only a few glances or questions for the sharper to know 
 just the sort of horse the city buyer is looking for, and the 
 scalper, with the aid of his colleagues, proceeds to "land a 
 sucker." 
 
 The gentlemanly scalper, with a disinterested manner, 
 informs the buyer that he saw a lovely horse in a certain 
 barn, the color being mentioned, but not being a horseman 
 he knows nothing as to the soundness of the animal, nor as 
 to the price. Word is sent along the line, and everything 
 is ready. The horse is led out and just suits; is sound and 
 all right, but the sum asked is $25 to $75 more than the 
 market price. Perhaps the unsuspecting buyer will offer $10 
 or $15 more than the auction price, but he is allowed to go 
 away with a polite, "Thank you, for the offer." 
 
 Another disinterested party whispers in the buyer's ear 
 that the horse will be sold at auction. Sure enough, the animal 
 is led to the auction stables, and care is taken that the buyer 
 sees it passing. 
 
 The auctioneer and ringman are posted, and they wait 
 for the sucker. The horseman starts the animal at pretty 
 
34 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 near his value. The bidding is rapid. The sucker gets in, 
 and under excitement bids two or three times. Perhaps one 
 of the regular eastern shippers bids once, but as a rule, the 
 sucker, the auctioneer, and the scalper are the only bidders. 
 The latter can usually tell when the victim has made his last 
 bid, and the horse is knocked down to him at a good profit, 
 which is divided between those concerned. 
 
 Sometimes the auctioneer is fooled by the sucker refusing 
 to bid again. In such a case the scalper kicks out of his last 
 bid and the horse is sold to the sucker at his previous bid. 
 
 A Horse That Was Right There. 
 
 A New Hampshire horse dealer was "burned" by trading 
 for a horse that would work anywhere and pull strongly 
 except when he came to the foot of, a hill ; there he would balk 
 and refuse to pull a pound. After he had kept the horse about 
 a month a stranger came along and was "taken in." The 
 horse looked well and a trade was made for another horse 
 and considerable "boot." The buyer asked the dealer if the 
 horse was a good worker and was told, "You bet ! He will 
 work any place you put him and when you come to the foot 
 of a hill I tell you he's right there!" 
 
 So the buyer discovered, and on complaining bitterly 
 to the dealer was reminded of his honesty and candor in 
 stating that at the foot of a hill he would always be right 
 there. No doubt he paid more particular attention to the 
 plausible talk of the dealer the next time he had occasion to 
 "dicker" for a "hoss." 
 
 An Honest " Hoss " Dealer. 
 
 There lived in Michigan a shrewd old horse dealer who 
 gave folks due warning to beware when he donned his selling 
 clothes. He used to say : "When I say, 'Hoss', — look out ! 
 I'm a-goin' to trade. But when it's 'Horse,' — nawthin' doin' ! 
 Ye're perfectly safe." 
 
 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- 
 
HORSE SECRETS 35 
 
 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 him- 
 self 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 
 
36 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 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 abomi- 
 nable 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 hoflpe 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. 
 
HORSE SECRETS Ttf 
 
 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 dis- 
 counted 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 "impor- 
 ted" 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. 
 
38 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 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, 111., 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. Nail, 
 Louisville, Ky., Secretary. 
 
 American Shetland Pony Club — Mortimer Levering, La- 
 fayette, Ind., Secretary. 
 
 American Shire Horse Breeders' Association — Chas. 
 Burgess, Wenona, 111., Secretary. 
 
 American Stud Book (Thoroughbreds) — W. H. Rowe, 
 New York, Registrar. 
 
 American Trotting Register Co. — Frank E. Best, 355 
 Dearborn St., Chicago, Registrar. 
 
 American Suffolk Horse Association — Alexander Gal- 
 braith, De Kalb, 111., Secretary. 
 
 Cleveland Bay Society of America — R. P. Stericker, West 
 Orange, N. J., Secretary. 
 
 French Coach Horse Society of America — Duncan E. 
 Willett, Oak Park, 111., Secretary. 
 
 French Coach Registry Co., — Chas. C. Glenn, Columbus, 
 O., Secretary. 
 
 German, Hanoverian and Oldenburg Coach Horse 
 Breeders' Association — J. Crouch, Lafayette, Ind., Secretary. 
 
 Morgan Horse Register — Joseph Battell, Middlebury, Vt., 
 Editor. 
 
 National French Draft Horse Association — C. E. Stubbs, 
 Fairfield, Iowa, Secretary. 
 
 Percheron Society of America — Geo. W. Stubblefield, 
 Union Stock-yards, Chicago, Secretary. 
 
 Percheron Registry Co. — Chas. C. .Glenn, Columbus, O., 
 Secretary. 
 
HORSE SECRETS 39 
 
 Stud Books Not Certified by the Government. 
 
 The following registry books are not at the date of this 
 writing, August 4, 1909, certified by the Department of Agri- 
 culture, Washington, D. C. : 
 
 American Horse Breeders' Trotting Registry Association, 
 161 High St., Boston, Mass. 
 
 American Horse Registry Association — N. J. Harris, 
 Des Moines, la., Secretary. 
 
 Arabian Horse Club of America — H. K. Bush-Brown, 
 Newburgh, N. Y., Secretary. 
 
 American Iceland Pony Club — Geo. H. Simpson, 
 Wheaton, 111., Secretary. 
 
 American Percheron Registry Association — S. M. Heber- 
 ling, La Grange, 111., Secretary. 
 
 Coach and Draft Horse Association of America — Frederick 
 Wightman, La Crosse, Wis. 
 
 Hartman Stock Farm Registry Record Co. — Adam 
 Krumm, Columbus, O., Secretary. 
 
 International Consolidated Record Association — H. A. 
 Jones, Penn Yan, N. Y., Secretary. , 
 
 Morrisons' International Roadster Register — Des Moines, 
 Iowa. 
 
 The American Jack Register — W. L. De Clow, Cedar 
 Rapids, la. 
 
 The National Standard Pacing and Trotting Horse 
 Breeders' Association — Thos. C. Parsons, 1023-5 Williamson 
 Building, Cleveland, O., Registrar. 
 
 The Standard Jack and Jennet Registry of America — 
 Kansas City, Mo. 
 
 Story of a Company Stallion Deal. 
 
 A few years ago a suit for the payment of fraudulently 
 obtained notes for the purchase of a stallion was thrown out 
 of court by Judge Carland, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for 
 want of equity. A transcript of the evidence shows that 
 there were the best of reasons for the Judge's action. 
 
 It was alleged by the defendants, a number of farmers, 
 that their names were secured in a book, by reason of rep- 
 resentations made by an agent of the horse importer that they 
 were signing a call for a meeting of farmers to consider the 
 matter of buying a stallion for $5,000, and that when twenty 
 names were secured a meeting would be called. 
 
 The names were secured and the meeting called, but 
 instead of being asked to consider the matter of buying the 
 horse the signers were informed that they had already agreed 
 
40 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 to buy the horse and jointly and severally pay $5,000 for him in 
 four equal yearly payments, the first payment to be in two 
 years, with six per cent, interest on all payments. In a proof of 
 this it was shown that a brief contract in small type was 
 printed at the top of the page of the book in which the names 
 were signed which bound the signers as alleged. Upon this 
 revelation the meeting became the opposite of one called to 
 consider the purchase of the horse, as may be readily imagined. 
 
 The evidence shows that the defendants either did not 
 know there was any printing matter on the page they signed, 
 or if they did see it did not read it, and were told by the agent 
 that it had nothing to do with the matter under consideration, 
 or to be exact, one farmer testified: "I looked the thing over: 
 I noticed this contract at the head of it and I asked what 
 that fine print was there. He (the agent) said that it was 
 an Iowa contract and did not cut any figure in this State." 
 Another explanation was testified to by another witness, quoted 
 further on. Some witnesses testified that a broad rubber 
 band or a turned leaf concealed the contract. The agent 
 testified that he did not call any of the defendants' attention 
 to the contract, didn't know if they saw it, but "supposed 
 they did, for they had the book in their hands." 
 
 All the defendants testified that they would not have 
 signed the book if they had known the contract was there. 
 Regarding the matter of what the meeting was to be called 
 for, one farmer testified as follows, and he was corroborated 
 by the other witnesses for the defense, and by at least one 
 witness for the plaintiffs : 
 
 "Question : State what that conversation was, what he 
 (the agent) said and what you said." 
 
 "Answer : He told me he was trying to sell a horse and 
 wanted me to sign a book. I asked the object of signing the 
 book and he said it was just to call a meeting and get the 
 men together and see if they would buy the horse. I asked 
 him why he wanted our names on the book if he just wanted 
 to call a meeting, why didn't he call it without our names on 
 the book? Well, he says, you fellows are strangers to me, 
 your names are unfamiliar and I want a list of them so that 
 I will know who to notify when I get ready to call a meeting, 
 or else, he says, I may forget some of you who would like a 
 share in that horse. Then I asked if there was anything binding 
 about the book. I saw some printed matter and asked him 
 what that was and he said there was nothing binding about it. 
 I asked him what it was and what it was there for. He said 
 it was just a memorandum showing that the meeting was 
 called for, and the meeting would be to make a proposition 
 to us to sell the horse and if we seen fit to buy the horse, well 
 and good. If not, he said he would be out so much time 
 
HORSE SECRETS 41 
 
 and no harm done. That is the sum and substance of the 
 conversation we had until I signed the book." 
 
 It seems clear enough that the defendants believed they 
 were simply signing a call for a meeting to consider the 
 subject of forming a company to buy the horse; at any rate 
 the case seemed so clear to Judge Carland that he did not 
 seriously consider the question of compelling the farmers to 
 give their notes as demanded by the plaintiffs, and threw the 
 case out of court. 
 
 Horse Peddlers' Confessions. 
 
 A peddler is a horse sharper who buys a cheap stallion 
 of questionable quality, soundness, prepotency or breeding, 
 from some large horse dealing firm, and then organizes a 
 company of farmers for his purchase at a handsome profit. 
 The tricks of such men are many and shady, and a few of 
 them are here quoted for the benefit of farmers, who being 
 thus forewarned, should in future be forearmed against the 
 wiles of these glib-tongued confidence men. 
 
 The "Farm, Stock and Home" vouches for the truth of the 
 following personal confession of a stallion peddler: 
 
 The Sale of Les Epinards. 
 
 I had noticed in a farm paper the advertisement of an 
 auction sale of Percheron horses to be held at the farm of a 
 breeder in an adjoining state. I slipped down there a few 
 days before the date of sale, and picked out a nice looking, 
 two-year-old stallion and on the day of sale bid $320 and the 
 horse was sold to me. A pedigree was thrown in, but as it 
 was written in the English language and the horse had a 
 common, pronounceable name, I discarded it and christened 
 him Les Epinards. At that time I didn't know what Les 
 Epinards meant, but remembered having seen it somewhere. 
 I shipped him to a small town and started in to organize a 
 company to buy him for $2,800. The pedigree proposition 
 bothered me until I heard Billie was organizing a company 
 in the next county. He very kindly lent me a pedigree that 
 he had in his trunk which answered very well for Les Epin- 
 ards. It was natural for me to say that the Epinards were 
 celebrated breeders over in France who always named their 
 horses after themselves. The name and the horse made a 
 hit, and in six weeks' time I had the signatures of ten farmers 
 each for $280, four of them good, and the others just well 
 enough known to the banker to cut down his discount 15 
 
42 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 per cent. As it was a joint note, the banker realized in full 
 and I came out of the sale in this fashion: 
 
 Price to company $2,800 
 
 EXPENSES 
 
 Paid for the horse $320 
 
 Freight 12 
 
 Bank discount 420 
 
 Board 60 
 
 Paid cappers 150 
 
 Groom 55 
 
 Feed 18 1,035 
 
 Profit $1,765 
 
 Now that's what Tummy would call "financial acumen." 
 I bought a horse at an auction sale for $320, shipped him to 
 another county in the same state and sold him for $2,800. It 
 gradually dawned on me that there was more money in the 
 selling than there was in the breeding and raising. Tummy 
 was a wise boy, but I was beginning to learn a few things 
 myself. 
 
 The same paper published the following, October 1, 1905: 
 
 The Sale of Transmigrate!*. 
 
 The easy money I made on the sale of Les Epinards as 
 narrated in the last issue, emboldened me to try a new dodge. 
 A fair was being held in Winnipeg. While there I fell in 
 with a horse breeder who had a number of Percherons on his 
 farm, some distance to the east of that town. At his invita- 
 tion I visited the farm and was somewhat surprised at the 
 prices he quoted for fine-looking stallions. One two-year-old 
 of necessary size and shape he offered me for $300. It was 
 not any part of my business to tell him who I was, and I 
 am inclined to think he took me for a farmer from the states. 
 In the horse peddling business the less people know about 
 you the better and easier it is for the peddler, so I never 
 corrected him. I bought the horse, imported him across the 
 imaginary line dividing the two countries duty free by making 
 affidavit he was to be used exclusively for breeding purposes 
 and by satisfying the authorities with the pedigree furnished 
 me by the Canadian that he was a pure-bred animal. 
 
 With the rich selected feed my groom knew how to mix, 
 helped along with artistic grooming and care, Transmigrator — 
 the name he was to be known by — waxed fat and sleek. I 
 could truthfully say he was imported, but as he was a bit 
 shy on prize winnings I could not harp much on that score. 
 Blue ribbons were cheap, however, and when we decked him 
 out with a supply of them, he looked as fit as the majority of 
 
HORSE SECRETS 43 
 
 horses I sold for certain importers. Inasmuch as his pedigree 
 was written in English, and certified to by officials with easy 
 names to pronounce, I resolved to give the company a bargain, 
 and put his price at $2,500. I always did believe in being 
 generous. I might just as easily have sold for $3,000, but I 
 threw off $500 on account of the understandable pedigree. 
 
 The company which bought the horse came near going 
 to pieces after I had secured the names of six farmers to the 
 notes. A busybody in that community insisted on making 
 me a cash offer of $1,000. Of course, there was no profit in 
 that for me and I was perfectly right in refusing his offer. 
 What's the use of farmers being educated to the beauties of 
 the company plan which benefits the bankers, the peddlers, 
 the groom, and the cappers, if we are going to sell the horse 
 direct for cash. It's only the farmers that make the money 
 by the cash or direct way of buying a stallion. I never met a 
 peddler who was looking out for the farmers' interests. They 
 are in the business to improve the quality of horses and 
 incidentally increase the size of their own bank rolls. 
 
 This reprobate even went so far as to actually buy a 
 stallion from a breeder for $975. and I must confess he was a 
 good judge, for he certainly got an excellent animal. My horse, 
 however, had one advantage — he had a longer name and was 
 imported. On two occasions I felt like quitting. Only four 
 of the signers of the joint note could be trusted for a peanut, 
 so the banker said, and he insisted on my getting two addi- 
 tional names acceptable to him. This was not an agreeable 
 task, and I worked like a Trojan, persuading the members of 
 the company that it was a more sensible thing to sign notes 
 due in two years for $2,500 at only six per cent, interest 
 rather than to pay $1,000 cash for a horse that possibly might 
 die as soon as paid for. I will not repeat in cold print the 
 arguments I used — they might be considered foolish by my 
 readers. The fact remains, however, I did get six good names 
 on that note and four fillers, making ten signers, who each 
 agreed to pay me $250 for Transmigrator. They could 
 have bought a better horse for $1,000 cash from breeders, 
 within 100 miles. I made fair wages by the transaction, as 
 may be seen from the following: 
 
 Price to company $2,500 
 
 EXPENSES 
 
 Cost of horse .$300 
 
 Banker's discount 375 
 
 Freight 37 
 
 Board 49 
 
 Feed 25 
 
 Paid cappers 160 946 
 
 Profit $1,554 
 
44 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 Some Veterinary Secrets. 
 
 Secret of Preventing Navel and Joint Disease. 
 
 When a new-born foal speedily develops abscesses involv- 
 ing the navel and the joints of the extremities, the cause is 
 an invasion of the navel by filth germs and this may easily 
 be prevented. A mare foaling in cold weather should be 
 provided with a clean, fresh bedded, disinfected, light, airy, 
 whitewashed box stall in which to have her foal. In the 
 summer season she may be allowed to foal on grass where 
 filth germs are less liable to be found than in old, dark, dirty 
 stables. But no matter where the foal is born, care must be 
 taken to thoroughly disinfect the navel cord (umbilicus) as 
 soon as it has been severed or tied. For this purpose a 1 1500 
 solution of bichloride of mercury (corrosive sublimate) is 
 usually recommended, but we advise the use of a much 
 stronger solution to be prepared as follows : Dissolve y 2 
 ounce of finely powdered corrosive sublimate in 1 pint of 
 boiling water to which has been added 1 dram of dilute 
 hydrochloric acid. When cold add y 2 ounce of tincture of iron, 
 as coloring matter ; label the bottle "poison" and keep it out 
 of the reach of children. 
 
 At the birth of a foal immediately wet the stump of the 
 navel with this solution and repeat the application twice 
 daily until the cord dries up, and falls off and no raw spot 
 can be seen. The solution at the time of using may conveniently 
 be held in a shallow wide-mouthed bottle into which the 
 stump of the cord may be inserted and immersed. As soon 
 as the cord has shrivelled up remove it, if it will come away 
 readily. The new raw surface can easily be got at with the 
 solution. Use of the solution will also tend to prevent leakage 
 of urine from the navel. 
 
 It is best to avoid, wherever possible, tying the navel 
 cord at birth. The natural way is for the cord to be broken 
 at birth, either when the foal is dropped or by the mare 
 rising, and so causing it to break by stretching it. When 
 this happens the walls of the fetal urinary passage (urachus), 
 the arteries and the vein of the umbilicus retract and close 
 the opening; whereas these vessels are liable to remain open 
 
HORSE SECRETS 45 
 
 for -entrance of germs if the cord has been ligated, or cut off 
 and the ligature quickly removed, besides allowing the escape 
 of urine by way of the pervious urachus. 
 
 Symptoms of Bad Teeth. 
 
 In some old horses whose molar teeth are diseased or 
 irregular, perfect mastication of hay becomes impossible. 
 After the animal has chewed for a time, the teeth and tongue 
 tend to form a ball (bolus) of hay which is forced out of the 
 mouth instead of being swallowed. This is termed "quidding," 
 and when it is seen it may be taken as an indication of the 
 need of a veterinary dentist with his instruments. In other 
 cases the partly masticated food is gathered in a pouch 
 between the molar teeth and cheek, and this can be plainly 
 seen and felt by the careful examiner. This pouch is some- 
 times called the "granary," and from the outside its presence 
 is indicated by an elongated tumor which has a doughy feel 
 when pressed with the finger. 
 
 When a diseased molar is present in the mouth, or when 
 a "granary" exists, there is a foul odor, which should lead to 
 the discovery of the condition. To distract attention from 
 this odor it is said that horse dealers always take the pre- 
 caution to cleanse the mouth of the horse with vinegar. 
 
 A chronic discharge from one nostril (nasal gleet), 
 accompanied by a fetid odor, should warn the buyer to make 
 a critical examination of the teeth, for if one is diseased and 
 is the cause of the discharge, it will have to be removed by 
 trephining, and that means expense and possibly loss of the 
 services of the horse for some time. 
 
 Remedies for Tail Rubbing. 
 
 Idle, overfed, and insufficiently groomed horses often 
 persistently rub their manes and tails to allay itchiness of 
 the skin, induced by collections of dandruff which have 
 escaped the curry-comb and brush. The hair on the root 
 of the tail soon becomes harsh, stubby and stands on end 
 so that the part becomes an eyesore, and especially so when 
 continued rubbing has produced sores, cracks and an exudate 
 of serum, blood or pus. 
 
 A Virginia horseman once advised the writer that tail 
 rubbing could quickly be cured if, at the outset, the following 
 simple plan of treatment be adopted: Twist a lock of the 
 upright hair of the affected part around the second finger, 
 
46 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 and then pull until the skin "gives" with a cracking sound. 
 Repeat the pulling, lock by lock, until all of the part has been 
 treated when the rubbing will cease. If it does not do so 
 promptly, repeat the treatment as required. This plan is 
 known also in Scotland. 
 
 Another horseman advised that when a mare persistently 
 rubs her tail the cause may be a collection of filth about the 
 udder ; a thorough washing with castile soap will end the 
 trouble. 
 
 Dealers who handle fine carriage horses and are preparing 
 such animals for sale put each in a box stall during the feeding 
 process and prevent tail rubbing by putting a wide plank 
 shelf-wise on brackets around the inside of the walls of the 
 box. When the horse attempts to rub, the edge of the plank 
 will strike several inches below the itching part, and so make 
 tail rubbing impossible. Another effective plan of prevention 
 is to put a wainscot of boards upon the lower part of the 
 walls so slanted outward at the floor surface that the horse 
 backing to the wall cannot get his rump against any surface 
 upon which to rub. 
 
 A Cruel Cure for Heaves. 
 
 An old horseman once told the writer that he had cured 
 many a horse of heaves by simply amputating a portion of 
 the tongue. "Guess I've cut off enough pieces of tongue," 
 said he, "to fill a half bushel basket;" and he seemed to take 
 pride in a statement which would strike any humanitarian as 
 the climax of barbarity. The same man also strongly advo- 
 cated the amputation of the tip of a horse's tail, when for any 
 reason the animal had gone down paralyzed. 
 
 It always is well to examine a horse's tongue before 
 buying, as mutilations are not infrequently met with. Cases 
 are on record where a brute has put a twitch on a horse's 
 tongue, to make him stand still in the shoeing shop, with the 
 result that a portion of the organ has been torn off during 
 the struggles of the poor beast. Severe biting of a fractious 
 horse, or tearing by a nail or other sharp object, may also 
 injure the tongue more or less severely and perhaps lessen 
 the value of the animal. 
 
 When a considerable portion of the tongue has been 
 lost, the horse is unable to drink without plunging his head 
 up to the eyes in the water, and he also has difficulty in 
 grazing. 
 
 Stitches are sometimes put in the tongue of a horse to 
 make it sore and so prevent it from cribbing. 
 
HORSE SECRETS 47 
 
 An Astringent for Scours. 
 
 The following interesting remedy is taken from the "Com- 
 plete Farrier," published in 1850: 
 
 "But when the disorder (a scouring) continues, and the 
 horse's flesh keeps wasting away, recourse must be had to 
 astringents. Tormentil root, dried and pounded in a mortar, 
 and put through a sieve, is one of the best astringents yet 
 found, though very little known. I heartily wish my fellow 
 creatures would make more use of this valuable root than 
 they do. The dose is from an ounce to an ounce and a half. 
 I believe that this valuable root has done more good in my 
 time, in stopping looseness and other bowel complaints, than 
 anything else." 
 
 An Old Operation for Spavin. 
 
 A few years ago it was recommended as a new treatment 
 that the saphena vein be obliterated at the place where it 
 passes the seat of spavin, before using the firing irons. We 
 recently ran across an allusion to this method of treatment 
 which shows that it is by no means new. It is referred to as 
 follows in the "Complete Farrier and Horse Doctor," pub- 
 lished in 1850, the writer being John C. Knowlson, of New 
 York, a nonagenarian "horse doctor" of the old school : 
 "Before you fire a horse for bone-spavin, be careful to take 
 the vein out of the way, for it generally lies over the spavin, 
 and you cannot fire deep enough to come at the callous 
 substance without its removal. In order to destroy the vein, 
 cut a nick through the skin to the vein, just below the spavin, 
 and another just above it, and put a crooked needle under 
 the vein and tie both ends: then cut the vein across between 
 the tyings, both above and below, and you may either draw 
 out the piece or leave it in." 
 
 The same author says relative to the treatment of bog- 
 spavin : "As soon as you discover the vein puffed up or 
 forming a bag, lay on some blistering ointment, and in four 
 days after bathe the swelling well with hot vinegar with a 
 little saltpeter dissolved in it. Also put a bandage round it 
 to disperse the swelling as much as you can. If this method 
 does not succeed, you must make two incisions in the skin 
 lengthwise, as the vein runs, one just above and the other 
 just below the joint, and lay the vein bare : then put the end 
 of a buck's horn under it, raise it up, and fasten it in both 
 places with waxed thread ; then cut the vein in two just within 
 the tyings, and, if you think proper, draw the severed piece 
 out. This method of proceeding will cure most bog-spavins 
 at the beginning." 
 
48 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 Facts About Pigment Tumors. 
 
 On gray horses that at 10 or 12 years of age are turning 
 white in color, purple-black malignant growths, known as 
 pigment of melanotic tumors, frequently appear where the 
 skin is black in color, and constitute the disease termed 
 melanosis. The common seat of such tumors is the skin of the 
 tail, anus, vulva, and lips, and while most often external, may 
 be present internally. Such tumors are practically incurable, 
 returning after having been amputated and cauterized. They 
 usually burst and discharge bloody pus, and give the affected 
 part a loathsome appearance. In young horses of gray color, 
 a careful examination will often disclose small rudimentary 
 tumors, and horses so affected should be bought with a right 
 understanding of the consequences. Fatal attacks of a mys- 
 terious disease may be caused by internal melanotic tumors. 
 
 As an indication of the probability of these tumors being 
 present internally, the French veterinary scientists, Goubaux 
 and Barrier, say in their "Exterior of the Horse": 
 
 "The hairs of the mane, like those of the tail, are ordina- 
 rily straight. One of our associates, Mercier, has communi- 
 cated a remark on this subject, which was also believed by the 
 Arabians: that it is in the white or gray horses with frizzled 
 or curly hairs in which melanotic tumors are always found in 
 the interior of the body, although none may have any apparent 
 trace on the exterior, particularly under the tail and around 
 the anus. This remark, the correctness of which we have 
 verified a number of times, both on the living subject and in 
 the cadaver, is very important, because of the dangers to which 
 animals affected with melanosis are exposed." 
 
 v^Ks^^pi 
 
HORSE SECRETS 49 
 
 Secrets of Buying' and Selling' 
 Horses. 
 
 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., (i) 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 trfe full 
 extent of the law. 
 
 The following is an explanation of the principal rules 
 governing sales in the auction ring: 
 
 ♦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. 
 
50 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 i. 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, ring-bone, 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 every- 
 thing 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. 
 
 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 
 
HORSE SECRETS 51 
 
 great selling centre, will be honestly and fairly dealt with. The 
 rules against cheating are stringent, and trickery is not coun- 
 tenanced 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-authenti- 
 cated 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 objec- 
 tionable 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. 
 
52 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 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 import- 
 ant 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 111 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. 
 
 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. 
 
HORSE SECRETS 53 
 
 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 appara- 
 tus 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 satis- 
 factory 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. 
 
54 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 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 
 terribty nervous and a rank roarer when in motion, but 
 perfectly sound in wind the moment he stood at ease. 
 
HORSE SECRETS 55 
 
 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 con- 
 nected 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 
 
56 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 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 Bulle- 
 tin No. 122 of the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station, in 
 which Prof. Rufus C. Obrecht deals elaborately and instruct- 
 ively 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. 
 
 A Gravel. — Suppurating corn. It is not due to gravel. 
 
 A Little Careless. — Knees bent forward, or sprung. 
 
 A Little Coarse or Full in the Hock. — Spavin. 
 
 A Little Nappy. — A little balky, or a dummy. 
 
 A Little Ouchey. — Founder, or navicular disease. 
 
 A Little Strong in the Mouth. — A cribber. 
 
 A Little Stamp On. — Branded. 
 
 A Little Reading on Him. — Branded. 
 
 A Little Rounding. — Curb. 
 
 A Hole In. — There is "a hole in" a horse when he has 
 some defect temporarily non-apparent. 
 
 An Angel. — A greenhorn buyer who bids on an unsound 
 horse. He usually gets him on his first bid. 
 
HORSE SECRETS 57 
 
 At the Halter. — "Sold to halter," or "at the halter" means 
 without guarantee of any kind. The horse likely will be wild, 
 balky, unmanageable or so unsound as to be useless. 
 
 Beefy Hocks. — Coarse, meaty hocks having too much 
 connective and adipose tissue. The hock should be clean, 
 hard, free from beefiness, puffs and bony growths. 
 
 Bellows to Mend. — Wind-broken ; heaves. 
 
 Bench-Legged. — Knees bent toward one another. 
 
 Blind-Spavin. — Occult or hidden spavin among bones 
 composing hock joint. 
 
 Blue Eye. — Eye showing a bluish or pearly cast, indicat- 
 ing unsoundness and disease which may or may not have 
 caused blindness. 
 
 Bobber or Jig Back. — Weak loins causing bobbing or 
 wobbling of the hind quarters. 
 
 Boggy in Hocks. — Distension of the capsular ligament of 
 the hock joint indicated by a large or small, soft, fluctuating, 
 synovia-filled swelling at the front of joint. Such hocks 
 appear dropsical. The condition constitutes bog-spavin, and 
 by some is termed wind-puff or wind-gall. 
 
 Bowed Tendon. — A thickened, bulging unsoundness of 
 the back tendons (flexors). Caused by an injury. 
 
 Broken Crest. — Coarse, thick, broken over crest under 
 mane. Seen in stallions. Sometimes used to mean fistulous 
 withers. 
 
 Broken Down. — Fetlock bending too near ground, or 
 tendency of toe to turn up as a result of injury to the tendons. 
 Cause of acute lameness at time of accident. 
 
 Broken Knees. — Scarred knees showing results of a fall. 
 May be new or chronic. Especially objectionable in saddlers. 
 
 Buck-Kneed. — Knees bent forward. 
 
 Buck-Shinned. — Bulging profile of front of cannon bones. 
 
 Bull Pen. — A horse auction sale ring. 
 
 Burglar or Robber. — This is an expression used by "gyp" 
 dealers to denote a good-looking horse with some slight defect 
 which they can remedy temporarily. This horse is sold, the 
 buyer discovers his defect in a short time and brings him 
 back and trades him in or sells him at a reduced price. Such 
 a horse is stock in trade and the "gyps" sell him over and over 
 again, trade him in and make money on him every time. 
 
 Calf-Kneed. — Opposite of buck-knees. Knees bent back- 
 ward. 
 
 Capped Hock. — New and sore, or old and painless, swell- 
 ing or callous of the point of the hock joint ; due to bruise. 
 
 Careless. — A horse is "a little careless" when he stands 
 with knees sprung. 
 
58 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 Car Bruise. — Swellings, tumors, abscesses, on parts likely 
 to have been bruised in shipping. Sometimes an excuse for 
 such things not so caused. 
 
 Cartilage. — A prominent lateral cartilage at quarter of 
 foot. May or may not be a side-bone. 
 
 Chest Founder. — Wasting or falling in of muscles of front 
 of chest. 
 
 Chestnut. — The horny projection found upon the lower 
 inner aspect of the forearm and lower inner aspect of the 
 hock joint. Considered a vestige of an additional hoof of the 
 prehistoric horse. 
 
 Clefty; Clifty. — Flat, clean, fine quality cannon bones. 
 
 Coarse-Footed. — Having side-bones. 
 
 Cocked Ankle. — Fore or hind ankles (fetlocks) bent for- 
 ward. Common in young, overfed and under-exercised colts. 
 When chronic, indicates shortening of flexor tendons and 
 sometimes high ringbone. 
 
 Cold-Footed. — "A little cold-footed" means stringhalt. 
 
 Coon-Footed. — Long, sloping pasterns, throwing fetlocks 
 low. 
 
 Coupling. — The region of the lumbar vertebrae, loins, or 
 space between last rib and hip. 
 
 Cow-Hocked. — Standing like a cow with hocks together 
 and toes turned out. 
 
 Crampy. — Chorea, St. Vitus' dance, or slight stringhalt. 
 The affected animal jerks up a hind leg on backing out of stall, 
 and at the same time the tail elevates and quivers, and the 
 muscles shiver. 
 
 Crest Fallen. — Broken over crest under heavy mane. 
 Often means fistulous withers. 
 
 Cribber. — A horse that fixes his teeth or rests his chin on 
 any object and then sucks wind. 
 
 Crock. — Old, crippled horse. 
 
 Cross-Firing. — Striking one fore foot with opposite hind 
 foot when trotting. 
 
 Curb. — A bulging enlargement at back of hind leg just 
 below hock and resulting from an injury to the tendon and its 
 6heath. 
 
 Curby-Formed Hock. — An acutely bent or set hock giving 
 a sickle appearance. Hind feet are thrown too far under body. 
 
 Cushion. — A small puff toward front of outer side of hind 
 cannon just below hock joint. 
 
 Cutting. — Interfering or striking with feet on joints. 
 
 Cut in the Wind. — "The least bit in the world" unsound in 
 wind. 
 
 Dead Spavin or Ringbone. — Lameness of spavin or ring- 
 
HORSE SECRETS 59 
 
 bone subsided as a result of firing and blistering, or other 
 treatment. 
 
 Dimple. — Point of hips lightly deformed by accident con- 
 stitutes a "little dimple," slightly hipped. 
 
 Dizzy. — A dummy. 
 
 Docked. — Having had part of tail amputated. 
 
 Docked and Set Up. — By operation the tail is made to 
 carry high, after being docked. 
 
 Droop Croup. — Short, steep croup ; tail set low. 
 
 Dropped Soles. — Bulging, or convexity of soles at points 
 of frogs, due to descent of pedal bone in acute founder. 
 
 Dummy. — Softening of the brain following sunstroke or 
 heat exhaustion. Horse is dull, sleepy, stupid ; takes hay into 
 the mouth and forgets to chew it ; and if the fore feet are placed 
 crossing one another, they may be kept in that position 
 indefinitely. 
 
 Ergot. — The horny spur located at the back of the fetlock 
 joint. The ergot is considered a vestige of an additional hoof 
 of the prehistoric horse. 
 
 Ewe-Neck. — Low crest with head held in straight line and 
 marked depression in front of withers. 
 
 Falls Out of Bed. — Pulls back on halter rope. 
 
 Feet Sore from the Planks. — Has chorea ; a shiverer. 
 
 Family Broke. — Takes the whole family to drive him. 
 
 Feather in Eye. — Scar on eyeball, due to cut ; it does not 
 necessarily impair vision. 
 
 Filled Hocks. — Swelling of joints, indicating poor circula- 
 tion, grossness. As a market term, it may mean bog-spavin 
 and thoroughpin. 
 
 Fistula. — Fistulous withers. An abscess with opening 
 discharging pus from sinuses (pipes) connecting with diseased 
 tissues of the withers. 
 
 Fitty. — Has fits when hot. 
 
 Fiat-Footed. — Low heels, dropped sole ; founder. 
 
 Forging. — Noisily striking the fore shoe with toe of hind 
 shoe when traveling. 
 
 Founder. — Laminitis. Inflammation of the sensitive 
 laminae of the foot, leading to lameness, dropped soles, rings 
 and ridges in hoof wall and tendency to walk on heels. 
 
 Freezer. — A palsied horse; "hind feet froze to the floor." 
 
 Glass-Eye. — Amaurosis or palsy of the sight in which, 
 from paralysis of the optic nerve and retina, the eye is stone 
 blind, yet bright, lustrous and prominent. The pupil is widely 
 dilated and does not contract when exposed to brigh light. 
 As a market term, may mean cataract, watch-eye, wall-eye, or 
 that condition in which the iris is pearly white in color and not 
 necessarily diseased. 
 
60 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 Gill Flirt. — Perineum between rectum and vagina lacer- 
 ated at foaling so as to unite passages. 
 
 Goosey. — A horse that is nervous in the stall. 
 
 Goose Rump. — A short, steep croup and narrow at the 
 point of the buttock. 
 
 Go Down, or Kidney Faller. — Collapses in hind quarters 
 when worked. 
 
 Gristle. — A forming side-bone or enlargement of the lateral 
 cartilage due to tread, bruise or wire cut. 
 
 Guinea. — A Greek or Italian buyer. 
 
 Hand. — Four inches. Width of the palm of the hand, 
 used in measuring the height of a horse from the ground 
 surface at the sole of the foot to the highest point of withers. 
 
 Hand Stick. — Used for measuring the height of horse. 
 
 Heaves; Heavey. — "Broken wind," or "emphysema of the 
 lungs," characterized by coughing, passing of gas from the 
 rectum, and double bellows-like the action of the abdominal 
 muscles in breathing. 
 
 Head Strong. — Halter puller in stall. 
 
 High Blower. — Broken winded or may be soft from feed- 
 ing and idleness. 
 
 Hillside. — Hipped. 
 
 Hipped. — Point of hip-bone (ilium) fractured (knocked 
 down), making that hip lower than the other when viewed 
 from the rear, and not unusually a serious unsoundness. When 
 distortion is great, the shaft of the ilium may have been 
 fractured. The latter condition may render a mare unfit for 
 breeding purposes. 
 
 Hip Sweeny. — Wasting (atrophy) of the muscles of the 
 hip. Often serious in mares, being associated with fracture of 
 the pelvis, and unfitting them for breeding purposes. 
 
 Hitch. — Stride of one hind leg too short. 
 
 Hog-Back. — Arched or roached-back. The opposite of 
 sway back or hollow back. 
 
 Interfering. — Striking the fetlock or cannon with the 
 opposite foot as it passes, either in front or behind, or it may 
 be an "ankle knocker." 
 
 Jack. — A small, round, bone-spavin. As a market term, 
 often applied to a prominent spavin. 
 
 Jibber. — A green, raw, unguidable horse. 
 
 iKnee-Banger. — Knees interfere. 
 
 Lady-Toed. — Cow-hocked horse. They are almost sure 
 to hit their fetlocks, shins or knees. 
 
 Legs Go. — See Market Rules No. 5. 
 
 Light in the Timber. — Light boned below knees and 
 hocks. 
 
 Little Green. — Awkward, poorly broken ; may not pull. 
 
HORSE SECRETS 6l 
 
 Lop Ear. — Ears dropping over. May be a dummy. 
 
 Lugger. — Pulls or lugs on the bit. 
 
 Lunker. — An exceptionally big, heavy-boned horse. 
 
 Makes a Little Noise. — A slight roarer or whistler. 
 
 Mallenders. — Scurfy or eczematous condition of skin back 
 of knees. 
 
 Mecatched. — Jewish term for a heavey horse. 
 
 Mechanical Choker. — A horse that roars when pulling a 
 heavy load uphill, by getting the chin down to the chest, but 
 is otherwise sound. 
 
 Megrims. — Fits ; staggers ; sudden falling. 
 
 Michigan Age. — Old. 
 
 Michigan Pad. — See Cushion. A puff on forward edge of 
 hind cannon just below hock. 
 
 Moon-Blind; Moon-Eyed. — Eyes diseased or blind from 
 periodic or recurrent ophthalmia. 
 
 Mug. — A greenhorn or buyer from the country. 
 
 Nicked. — Tail operated upon by severing the muscles to 
 "set up" or straighten it. 
 
 Nickel's Worth of Hair Off.— Wire cut. 
 
 Nigger-Heeled. — Front toes turned out; heels in. 
 
 Old Skin or Skate. — Aged, decrepit, or worn-out horse. 
 
 One Bum Lamp. — One eye blind, diseased or unsound. 
 
 Outside Cushion. — Same as Cushion or Michigan Pad. 
 
 Over-Reach. — Stride takes hind feet farther forward than 
 the point at which the fore ones were picked up. 
 
 Paddle. — "Winging" out with fore feet. 
 
 Palsy. — Shiverer; chorea. 
 
 Parrot Mouth. — Upper incisor (pincher) teeth protruding 
 over lower incisors. Upper jaw longer and projecting over 
 under jaw. 
 
 Pig-Eye. — Small, retracted eyes. Characteristic of some 
 horses of French breed. May indicate imperfect vision. 
 
 Pigeon-Toed. — Front toes turned in. Opposite of nigger- 
 heeled. 
 
 Pilgrim. — An old, worn-out horse. A good old "has been." 
 
 Pin-Hipped. — Hipped from fracture of point of ilium. 
 
 Pink-Eye. — Pinky, as a market term, applied to moon 
 blindness. Correctly speaking, epizootic, cellulitis, or influenza, 
 especially affecting the membranes of the eyes. 
 
 Plug. — An old, worn-out horse, or one of poor shape. 
 
 Poll-Evil. — Swelling and abscess, similar to fistulous 
 withers, affecting poll of head. 
 
 Pones. — Lumps of fat on body of mule. 
 
 Posting. — Rider rising and falling in saddle with each 
 alternate step of horse when trotting. 
 
 Puffs. — Soft swellings involving joints or tendons. Dis- 
 
62 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 tensions of synovial bursal and capsular ligaments. Thorough- 
 pins, wind-galls, bog-spavin. 
 
 Quarter Crack. — Fissure in wall of hoof running from hair 
 toward sole at quarter. 
 
 Quittor. — Enlargement of the hoof head (coronet) having 
 one or more openings (pipes or sinuses) discharging pus and 
 connecting with diseased cartilage or other tissues. 
 
 Rat Tail. — Slim, almost hairless tail. 
 
 Rejects. — Horses returned to seller on account Of unsound- 
 ness, or for other reasons. 
 
 Rickety. — Horse affected with rickets (rachitis). Same as 
 Bobber or Jig Back. 
 
 Ridgeling. Original. — Cryptorchid. Testicles retained in 
 abdomen or inguinal canal. 
 
 Ringbone. — A bony growth (exostosis) affecting the long 
 or short pastern bones and coffin bones. 
 
 Ripper. — An unusually good, big horse. 
 
 Roach Mane. — Mane cut short. 
 
 Roarer. — Horse makes a roaring noise when exhaling air, 
 the condition being due to paralysis affecting the nerves and 
 cartilages of larynx. (Laryngeal hemiplegia.) 
 
 Sallenders. — Scurfy or eczematous condition of the skin 
 in front of hock joint. 
 
 Sand-Crack. — A fissure of the wall of the hoof at the toe. 
 
 Scalper. — A horse dealer who handles cheap or question- 
 able horses . He may have no regular stable or business head- 
 quarters. 
 
 Scalping. — Striking front of hind coronet, pastern or can- 
 non against front toe when speeding. 
 
 Seam in Foot. — Blemish, old scar, or healed crack in the 
 hoof wall. 
 
 Seedy-Toe. — Separation between wall and sensitive 
 laminae of hoof at toe, the space being filled with white, dry, 
 powdery horn; sometimes with pus; "toe clip" is a common 
 cause. 
 
 Serpentine. — A horse that extends and withdraws his 
 tongue as a serpent. 
 
 Serviceably Sound. — See No. 2, Auction Rules. The term 
 is incorrect, as a horse is either sound or unsound. 
 
 Shadow Jumper. — Nervous, skittish; afraid of his own 
 shadow. 
 
 Shell-Bone. — Side-bone. 
 
 Shipping Fever. — Influenza contracted on cars, or it may 
 be acclimation fever. 
 
 Shaky in Stall. — A shiverer. 
 
 Shiverer. — Afflicted with chorea (St. Vitus' dance). 
 
 Shoe Boil. — A serious abscess, or open pus discharging 
 
HORSE SECRETS 63 
 
 sore or tumor of the point of the elbow. Caused by the horse 
 bruising the elbow upon the floor, not necessarily upon the 
 heel of a shoe, as commonly supposed. 
 
 Short Leet. — The best horse selected by the judges from 
 a number of competing animals in the show ring, and among 
 which the prizes are distributed after further examination. 
 
 Sickle Hock. — See curby-formed hock. 
 
 Side-Bone. — A lateral cartilage of foot at quarter, turned 
 to bone (ossified). 
 
 Side Wheeler. — A pacer. 
 
 Siffon. — Jewish horse-dealers' word (spelling in doubt) 
 meaning to run in bids on a greenhorn to boost price of horse. 
 
 Slab-Sided.— Flat-ribbed. 
 
 Smokes His Pipe. — Lip torn where bridle bit rests. 
 
 Smoky Eye. — "A little smoky." Eye cloudy, whitish, 
 pearly in color, or opaque. 
 
 Smooth Mouth. — Cups or marks worn off incisor teeth, 
 indicating great age. 
 
 Spavin. — Bony enlargement or exostosis upon lower, 
 inner, front aspect of hock joint. 
 
 Speck in Eye. — A small scar of spot, not on pupil, and as 
 a rule, not impairing vision. 
 
 Speedy Cutting. — Striking the inside of the hind cannon 
 against the front foot as the hind is brought forward and 
 passes the front foot on the outside in over-reaching when the 
 horse is speeding. 
 
 Splay-Footed. — "Nigger-heeled." 
 
 Splint. — A bony growth on course of splint-bone on either 
 side of cannon-bone below the knee. 
 
 Split Hoof. — Quarter-crack. Sand-crack. 
 
 Stag; Staggy. — Thick and coarse in throat-latch and crest 
 from late castration. 
 
 Stocked Legs. — "Filled" or dropsical, swollen legs below 
 knees and hocks, the result of a lack of exercise or of sickness. 
 
 Stringy; Stringhalt. — The hind leg is jerked up at each 
 step in walking and trotting. See Cramp. 
 
 Stifled. — Patella of stifle out of place. Any disease of the 
 stifle-joint. 
 
 Stump Sucker. — See Cribber. 
 
 Sweeny. — Wasting, (atrophy) of the muscles of the 
 shoulder. 
 
 Switcher. — Tail switching, nervous mare, that may also 
 throw urine. 
 
 Talks to the Driver. — A roarer. 
 
 Takes a Little Hold. — A cribber. 
 
 Ten Minutes Short of Work. — Balky, 
 
64 HORSE SECRETS 
 
 Tied in at Knees. — Light bone and tendons, making 
 the part markedly constricted under knee. 
 
 Thoroughpin. — A fluctuating, bursal distension which can 
 be pushed from side to side under the large tendon just above 
 the hock-joint. 
 
 To Bush on Gristle. — To get a rebate on purchase price 
 from a seller when a side-bone has been found after sale. 
 
 Too Much Daylight Under Him. — A leggy horse. 
 
 Tongue Loller. — Tongue hangs from mouth. May be 
 paralyzed. 
 
 Trephined. — A molar tooth removed by punching down- 
 ward into mouth by means of an instrument inserted upon 
 tooth root through an orifice cut (trephined) in bone of jaw. 
 
 Trot Cut Short. — Short stride of fore legs. 
 
 Wall-Eye. — See Glass-eye. 
 
 Washy Coupled. — Long and loose in coupling and cut up 
 flank. A poor keeper that tends to scour when warm or tired. 
 
 Weaver. — A horse that sways and swings backward and 
 forward in stall. The action is akin to that of a caged bear, 
 and the habit is learned by imitation or in idleness. It may 
 indicate a high-strung, nervous temperament and the tendency 
 to it may possibly be transmitted by an affected sire or dam. 
 It seems to arise from the restlessness and longing to escape 
 from "prison life," or, in short, suggests the "call of the wild." 
 
 Weed. — Has heaves. 
 
 Wiggler. — See Bobber. 
 
 Wind and Work. — See No. 3, Auction Rules. 
 
 Wind-Galls. — Puffs or bursal distensions at the sides of 
 the tendons at and above fetlock joints. 
 
 Windy. — Unsound in wind, a whistler or roarer. 
 
 Whistler. — A form of roaring in which there is a slight or 
 pronounced whistling noise made in exhaling air. 
 
 Winging. — Paddling or throwing the feet outward when 
 in motion. 
 
 Worker. — See No. 4, Auction Rules. 
 
 Wears the Pants. — A pacer requiring hopples, or wearing 
 them. 
 
 W. W. — Short for "wind and work." 
 
 ^fc^AS^A