and great care has to be taken in making the necessary measurement with
the “hand stick” (hippometer). If the horse is under or over the desired
height the dealer may irritate the animal so that an exact measurement is
difficult or impossible to make.
If the horse is undersized the dealer will try to stand him with the
hind feet low. In the stable or yard everything is prepared so that this
may be easily done. Another plan is to put on abnormally thick shoes,
or those having calkins; the animal’s head is kept lowered so that
the withers will be correspondingly heightened. Opposite methods are
practised when a horse is a trifle too high for show-yard requirements or
mating, and such tricks have given buyers of horses for the army no end
of trouble.
When a horse is to be measured stand him on a level floor and then see
that the measuring is honestly done.
[Illustration]
Secrets About Stallion Selling.
Palming Off a Grade Stallion on a Company.
The fact that several bogus pedigree registry associations are in
existence, although they have not received the approval of the Department
of Agriculture at Washington, makes it possible for dishonest stallion
peddlers to obtain fraudulent registry certificates and, by using them,
to fool the farmer. It would be well if no registry associations were
allowed to engage in the interstate business of recording the pedigrees
of breeding animals without first obtaining the approval of the Secretary
of Agriculture.
A stallion whose sire was said by the owner to be “Middleton II” and out
of a dam of part Morgan blood, was given a grade license certificate by
the Department of Horse Breeding, of the College of Agriculture, of the
University of Wisconsin. Some time later the horse changed hands and
the buyer, who was an experienced organizer of stallion companies, had
him recorded in a bogus stud book which issues a handsome, gold sealed
registry certificate. On this the stallion was given an entirely new and
wholly false pedigree, the sire being set forth as “Grove Revenue” and
the dam as a well-bred Shire. On the strength of this attractive registry
certificate of notable ancestry and the help of a few confederates, the
stallion was sold to a company of hard-working farmers in one of the
northern counties of the state for $1,800 in shares of $75 each. Some of
the notes were discounted and the peddler disappeared, but now the matter
is in the courts, as the Department of Horse Breeding discovered the
swindle and put the company “wise.”
Another case has been discovered where a grade stallion was sold for a
good price as pure-bred on the strength of a registry certificate from
the stud book alluded to and “imported” according to the statement of the
peddler. The owner in this case also learned too late that he had fallen
a victim to sharpers, and will now seek redress in the courts.
Many similar cases could be cited and they serve to show the importance
of studying the registry certificate furnished with the horse and making
sure that it was issued by a stud book association approved by the
Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.
Stud Books Approved by the Government.
The following registry associations have been approved by the Department
of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.:
American Association of Importers and Breeders of Belgian Draft Horses—J.
D. Connor, Jr., Wabash, Ind., Secretary.
American Breeders’ Association of Jacks and Jennets—J. W. Jones,
Columbia, Tenn., Secretary.
American Clydesdale Association—R. B. Ogilvie, Union Stock-yards,
Chicago, Ill., Secretary.
American Hackney Horse Society—Gurney C. Gue, 308 West 97th St., New
York, Secretary.
American Breeders’ and Importers’ Percheron Registry—John A. Forney,
Plainfield, O., Secretary.
American Saddle Horse Breeders’ Association—I. B. Nall, Louisville, Ky.,
Secretary.
American Shetland Pony Club—Mortimer Levering, Lafayette, Ind., Secretary.
American Shire Horse Breeders’ Association—Chas. Burgess, Wenona, Ill.,
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 Galbraith, De Kalb, Ill.,
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, Ill.,
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.
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 Agriculture, Washington, D. C.:
American Horse Breeders’ Trotting Registry Association, 161 High St.,
Boston, Mass.
American Horse Registry Association—N. J. Harris, Des Moines, Ia.,
Secretary.
Arabian Horse Club of America—H. K. Bush-Brown, Newburgh, N. Y.,
Secretary.
American Iceland Pony Club—Geo. H. Simpson, Wheaton, Ill., Secretary.
American Percheron Registry Association—S. M. Heberling, La Grange, Ill.,
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, Ia.
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 representations 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 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 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 Epinards. 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 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 Transmigrator.
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
invitation 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 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 additional 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
Some Veterinary Secrets.
Secret of Preventing Navel and Joint Disease.
When a new-born foal speedily develops abscesses involving 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 1:500 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 ½ 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 ½ 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
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 sometimes 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 precaution 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, 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 advocated 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.
An Astringent for Scours.
The following interesting remedy is taken from the “Complete 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.