Horses and roads

Front matter

HORSES AND ROADS

OR

HOW TO KEEP A HORSE SOUND ON HIS LEGS

Chapter I

Horses and Roads; Or, How to Keep a Horse Sound on His Legs.

Chapter I.

Springs and Brakes to Vehicles

In the crisis through which agriculturists are at present passing, economical improvements of all kinds are being sought after. Much has been written about the horse; but the field he affords for writing is so extensive and fertile, that much still remains to be said; indeed, he will afford a theme for a very long time to come, to say the least.

To begin with, let us consider the vehicles he is often obliged to draw. an eminent veterinary surgeon, formerly demonstrator at the Royal Veterinary College, states, in one of the various works he has written upon the horse, that 'it is a disgrace to the intelligence of the present age that any cart should be built without ; the real question being whether living thews and sinews should endure the burden, or whether this shall be imposed upon inanimate metal? Reducing the matter to £ s. d., which is cheaper? Fact pronounces “iron” to be the answer.’ Thus much for springs, upon which nothing more is necessary than to give full and hearty assent to Mayhew’s opinion.

But there is another subject connected with carts, waggons, and all other vehicles upon which Mayhew has not touched, but which may be here introduced. which not only serve for but are also applied when horses run away, or when they are left to stand. It will be said that our four-wheeled heavy waggons are fitted with a chain, or a skid. Granted; but these cannot be put to various uses with the same celerity and utility that a proper brake can; . Even in the other cases they are far behind the brake, as they necessitate a stoppage of the team to apply them, and another to remove them. They mostly stop only one wheel; which wheel, in the case of the chain, is exposed to injury by having the tire worn into facets at the corresponding distances from whatever spoke the chain may be put against, while the spoke sometimes breaks; the violent jerk thrown on the next spoke carrying away that one also, as well as those that come after, and so on, until the axletree comes down on the ground and is either broken or bent, the shaft horses being generally injured, and sometimes the driver also.

The brakes used on the Continent are always applied to both wheels on the same axle, and they are not screwed up tight enough to effect an entire stoppage of the wheels, as it is found that wheels with smooth tires skidding on a smooth road do not break momentum as much as when the wheel is almost stopped, and biting, by friction, the blocks of the breaks. These brakes vary in form. For horses driven from a box or dickey they are generally worked by means of a screw with a cranked handle, sometimes by a lever and a toothed rack; and for such vehicles as are driven by carters that walk alongside their teams, or even a single horse, they are most commonly a lever which has a ring at the top, to which is attached a rope, the other end of which passes through another ring in the shaft, enabling the driver to pull down the lever. He then makes a fast knot, but a slip one, which he can easily pull loose, and thus throw off the action of the brake without stopping his horses to either put it ‘off’ or ‘on.’ As being safer, the lever is sometimes placed behind the vehicle. Two-wheeled vehicles, with half a dozen horses, with one of these horses only in the shafts, are thus safely used.

A horse should not have to work when going down hill; but, on the contrary, it should be so managed for him that at every descent, however gentle, he should have some respite from work, as a sort of set-off against the hard labour he endures when drawing a load up hill. There are very many reasons for this besides this most apparent one. Even with our four-wheeled heavy trucks and waggons, the chain or skid is not always put on for every slight descent, as the brake is on the Continent. The approaches to London Bridge, for instance, are bad—in certain weathers especially so—but frequently skids are not applied on account of the necessity for stopping to put them on and off—which stoppage the traffic does not always admit of—and so the poor horses pay in a direct way, and their careless masters in rather a more indirect one. Unfortunately they only pay out of their pockets, whilst the horse pays with his frame.

It is astonishing that the railway companies, above all others, being such large horse owners as they are, have not paid attention to brakes on their street vans, because, as they employ the best mechanical skill attainable for their other rolling stock, they might have easily appointed an engineer to see what he could do for their horse trucks; but it looks as if no engineer ever went near the horses or trucks, or even noticed them in the streets, where mechanical skill ought to see that there was room for improvement. It appears as if this branch were left entirely to the surveillance of ignorant, prejudiced drivers, horsekeepers, and farriers, who have no emulation, but are quite satisfied to go on like their predecessors. It must be understood that railway companies are only cited because they have actually in their employ the men who could see this at a glance, if their attention were directed to it, and almost as soon remedy the evil. But no—they continue in the same old groove, and squander thousands yearly upon horseflesh, at the same time that they are also cruelly working a noble animal, by many considered the most noble and useful ever designed by Nature for man's use.

Besides the mere hard work taken out of horses in holding back a load, it must be apparent to those who know anything about the animals, that they also suffer severely from many diseases brought on thereby. Either slipping and shaking over slippery pavements, or knuckling over on roads which do not allow them to slide, causes a great strain and vibration on the nails with which their shoes are attached, and from them to the hoofs in which the nails are imbedded, thence to the bones and cartilages enclosed in the hoofs, and so on up to the hock and knee, at the very least, besides causing severe strain on all tendons and their sheaths. Hence they are found to be suffering from a great variety of diseases in one, many, or all of these parts, in a short time after they have been first harnessed; let us say in the shape of corns, thrush, quittor, cutting, sandcracks, ring-bone, greasy heels, seedy toe, drop-sole, or pumiced feet, ossified cartilages, which are sometimes called side-bones, splints, spavins, navicular disease, &c. Horses are often to be seen with a pad confined by a leather strap, or else tarred string, applied to keep their hoofs together, and yet they work them, and no one interferes. They manage to steer clear of the law, of which it has been said that 'a coach and four may be driven safely through any Act.' These diseases are the result of reckless treatment, which is very unprofitable to horse owners, let alone the cruelty.

It is pretty well known—or, if it is not, it should be—that any of these diseases, once set up, are extremely difficult to cure; but, on the contrary, mostly go on increasing under the care of ignorant farriers. If an intelligent veterinary should be called in, he will mostly advise a long rest and mild remedies; but this means loss of work, although it means also a prolongation of the useful life of the horse, if the warning be taken on the first appearance of disease. In general, however, violent remedies, such as blistering, &c., are resorted to, and as soon as possible the horse is put to work again, without having had even the benefit of a rest; for a horse with a blister on cannot be expected to enjoy as a rest the few days he is suffering with a blister.

Railway companies are not referred to in this case, or in any future ones. They were mentioned only as being a power in the land, with a special facility for applying mechanical means to reduce the work of their horses, which are spread over the whole of the kingdom. Improvements on their part would therefore be more extended, general, and useful, than even those adopted by brewers or distillers, who, having, as a rule, no dividends to pay, perhaps work their horses under the mark; and they are not losers by that, as their animals last them longer. Still, no one takes this into account; and they are by many considered prodigal in horseflesh. Most likely they know to the contrary; still they may do even better by breaking their trucks down every descent.

Brakes cost infinitely less than forced losses in the shape of rests, and still more in the shape of new acquisitions of horseflesh. It is within the bounds of possibility that the men connected with the care of such horses might be brought to acknowledge that they were none the worse for the brakes; but, ignorant and bigoted as they generally are, it might be difficult to extract from any but an exceptionally intelligent and observing man that they thought much of the change. They know all about horses—in their own opinion. Of course, they should not be led to believe that all existing diseases can thus be entirely cured, especially if in at all an advanced stage. They should, if reasonable, be satisfied on seeing them arrested in the case of old horses, and on having it pointed out to them that young horses were free from them for a longer time, and in a less degree, than formerly under the old system; and they may be brought to confess that the horses generally ‘did better,’ to use a phrase very common amongst this class of men.

But agriculturists extensively use two-wheeled carts without any means of breaking them down hill; 007 and hills in the country roads are constantly to be met with both longer and steeper than those to be found in London, although not always so slippery. In these cases their horses suffer, at least, as much deterioration as any of those hitherto mentioned. They load the carts heavily, as they try to work near, and so make their horses ‘earn their living,’ as they really should do in their case, which is at present a hard one; but they should consider thoughtfully whether it is profitable to make a horse work hard when going down hill, and so injuring him really more than in drawing a load up hill.

The foregoing remarks have been made to lead up to such cases, although it is open to any other parties to profit by them if they choose. It has been said that ‘the work which kills one horse will bring in money enough to buy another;’ but this is a great fallacy—in fact, an immense mistake, as it is generally interpreted. Besides, it is evident that no horse can possibly pull over a certain weight up a certain ascent; yet often a single shaft horse is expected, and obliged, to do his best to keep back, without mechanical help, the same weight which has required two, or often three, horses to drag it up the same incline in a two-wheeled cart. Is this rational, or even economical, when well considered? There is another saying, common among horsemen, that ‘one horse can wear out four pairs of legs;’ but it is also rational to believe that Nature gave the horse the same requisite number of legs that she gave to all other creatures designed for the use of man. It is not in their lawful use that they become so soon worn out, but in the abuse that is made of them.

If Mayhew used such forcible language about springs, it may, with at least equal justice, be said that it is a disgrace to the intelligence of the present age that any vehicle whatever, from the heaviest waggon down to the pony basket of the farmer’s daughter, should be built without a brake; the real question being whether living thews and sinews should endure the burthen, or whether this should be imposed upon inanimate metal and wood. Reducing the matter to £ s. d., which is the cheaper?

Chapter 2

CHAPTER II.

DOUGLAS ON HORSE-SHOEING—STREET ACCIDENTS AND BRAKES—LORD PEMBROKE AND MAYHEW ON SERVANTS.

A veterinary surgeon, Mr. W. Douglas, late 10th Royal Hussars, was so much impressed by the miseries, diseases, and dangers caused to horses by their being pushed down hill by their loads, that it caused him to write a book upon ‘Horse-shoeing.’ Here is part of his preface:—

The poor animal was not drawing the load, but was being driven down the descent by the crushing weight behind; and, utterly unable, from the manner in which it was shod, to withstand the pressure, it had gathered its hind legs well under, and its fore legs well in advance of its body, in a helpless struggle to avert the fall which it too evidently knew was at hand. Never did I witness such a picture of powerless terror as that horse presented, as with eyes starting, body shaking, and limbs stiffened, it was carried down against its will, until the fore and hind feet slipping in the same direction, it came down upon its left side with a crash. The thought of what agony that poor beast must have suffered, even before it fell, has haunted me ever since, and knowing if the horse had been able to use the supple elastic cushion nature has provided its feet with to prevent their slipping—namely, the frog—it could easily have controlled the pressure from behind, I resolved if possible to direct public attention to the present cruel and unwarrantable system of shoeing horses.’

His book is full of valuable remarks on the horse’s foot and on the evils of shoeing as commonly practised; but he missed the mark in failing to recognise (even supposing that the shoe he proposes might not admit of so much slipping) that the horse would still injure his feet and legs by the immense strain put on them in his violent exertions to hold back the waggon—a work that should be done for him. Perhaps he was not acquainted with the brake, and was labouring under the delusion that all that mechanical skill could effect towards the breaking of momentum by friction had been done by making one wheel skid. Mayhew, in the chapter which he dedicates to ‘strain of the flexor tendon,’ says that ‘this is chiefly present in the shaft horse that has to descend a steep declivity, with a load behind it. The weight would roll down the descent; this the horse has to prevent, and the chief stress is then upon the back tendons.’ Elsewhere he states that ‘the frame of the horse is stronger than machinery; but it cannot resist the wilfulness of human misrule.’ Yet, strangely enough, this gentleman, energetically as he speaks, has also failed to seek in mechanics a means of saving the shaft horse excessive and superfluous labour when going down hill, whether over slippery paving, or over rough country roads.

Amongst the societies which we rejoice to possess in England, there is one to prevent dangerous driving. How many of those who form this society have this sensible appendage to any of their own carriages, even those to which they daily trust their own necks? Accidents are not always the faults of drivers. About a year and a half ago, a brougham horse took fright at the engine whistle, and bolted down Ludgate Hill at a gallop. The weather was dry, and the hill not slippery. The coachman succeeded in turning into Farringdon Street (although it looked as if that was the way the horse wanted to go); yet, up the street, it ran into another carriage, and both were wrecked, and both horses very much hurt. Fortunately, no person was seriously injured on the occasion; but the pecuniary damage was great. If the coachman had had, close to his right hand, the handle of a brake which he could have instantly applied firmly to both wheels, he could have diminished the speed from the outset, and have stopped entirely before he came to the spot where the collision occurred; or, at least, he might have brought the speed down sufficiently to enable himself and the other driver between them to avoid it. It was not the slippery shoes (objectionable as they undoubtedly are) that did the harm in this case; but the want of a controlling power more efficient than the man’s arms, which only control the mouth of the horse under any circumstances; and, even then, only as long as the horse chooses to submit, or is able to do so. A man cannot ‘pull a horse up’ with the reins used as a mechanical power, any more than he can get into a basket and raise himself from the ground by lifting at the handles, as the principle is the same; but resistance thrown against the collar will soon tell upon the horse’s speed, and the means of throwing it there by the application of friction to both hind wheels (just short of making them ‘skid’) would do away with a great deal of the present losses of life, and deterioration of valuable property, put down to ‘dangerous driving.’

Conservatism is proverbially strong amongst horse owners, and still more so with grooms and others that surround the horse. In the last century, Lawrence wrote:—‘There are some toils to which even the rich must submit. True knowledge is not to be acquired, or the acquisition to be enjoyed, by deputy; and, if gentlemen and large proprietors of horses are desirous to avoid the difficulties, dangers, and cruelties perpetually resulting from prejudice, ignorance, and knavery combined, they must embrace the resolution of making themselves so far master of the subject as to be able to direct those whom they employ.’

It is impossible to amend the regulation of any modern stable without removing some of this calling, or overthrowing some of the abuses, with a perpetuation of which the stable servant is directly involved.’Tel maître tel valet. Betwixt these two classes stands the helpless horse!—not to mention their natural chosen ally, the farrier.

It is not meant to imply that farmers are guilty of overloading or overworking their horses, in the general acceptation of these terms; but that they neglect taking precautions which would enable the horse to do at least the same amount of work, with comfort to himself, greater freedom from disease, prolongation of life, and economy all round for his owner, besides removing from the latter very frequent anxieties resulting from mismanagement of the animal. The advice or opinion of servants should, therefore, not be asked for. They will immediately object to the brake and all other economical improvements: it is upon principle that they object to everything new. The way to begin all economies, therefore, Their fetters are self-imposed, and they carry about with them, at all hours, the key to enable them to cast them off; Any man, with determination, could walk into his stable free of them for ever, whenever he chose, and at a moment’s notice. It is humiliating for an educated owner to admit tacitly that such a low class should be his superior, which he is really doing when he asks, or acts upon, their advice; or, which comes to the same thing, when he leaves them to do as they like.

At this point, nine out of every ten readers will throw down the paper, remarking that all this may be true as regards their neighbours; but, as to their own ‘man,’ he does understand horses, and keeps them going without any bother. This is the great mistake. Is it rational to suppose or infer that sweeping dung out of a stable is conducive to the acquirement of even a rudimentary knowledge of anatomy and physiology? He appears to have felt this, as he says that he ‘deeply regrets those comments which a regard for correctness has compelled him to offer upon the present race of grooms. He can, however, with sincerity deny that the indulgence of dislike, or the gratification of malice, has induced him to travel beyond the limits of his subject.’ So, upon his authority, supported by that of so many others, right away back to the last century, every one is safe in coming to the conclusion that his ‘man’ knows nothing about horses, and that it is high time that he should take the thing into his own hands; for, unless he does so, the prevention of mismanagement is impossible. If he lack confidence in his own knowledge of the animal, which in any case should not be less than that of a carter or horsekeeper, let him read. The subject is replete with interest and entertainment; but he should choose modern works if he wishes to march with the age.

Chapter III

CHAPTER III.

NOSTRUMS—ARSENIC AND ANTIMONY—HOOF-OINTMENTS—‘STOPPINGS.’

It is well known that all stablemen keep by them and ‘receipts’ of their own. First amongst these are generally to be found and —two active poisons—but they are great favourites with the men; they administer them in secret. It is true that occasionally they administer an overdose all round, generally on a Saturday night, and the next morning a stableful of dead horses is found; post-mortems are held, and the poison is discovered, and the horsekeeper finds himself before a magistrate. He sometimes gets imprisonment, it is also true; but this neither brings compensation to the owner, nor seems to act as a warning to others, for cases of drugging are constantly recurring at intervals. But, even if he does not kill the horses at a single dose, he is doing so by degrees. These very active remedies are but seldom employed even by veterinaries, and then only in extreme cases, and in small doses. is also cheap, and is secretly administered to an alarming extent—not sufficiently to kill the horses right off, but sufficiently to undermine their constitutions.

If veterinary authorities should be read, the following dicta will be found having reference to the foregoing remarks:— ‘inflamed bladder: cause—abuse of medicine;’ ‘inflamed kidneys: cause—nitre.’ The innocent (?) and phlegmatic owners either are ignorant that their men are making use of these agents, or else indolently satisfy themselves by remarking that their ‘man’ understands horses very well and that ‘if he does not bring them round, no one else can;’ until things get serious and the vet. has to be called in. When this gentleman is sent for, he has generally a serious case to deal with, and one that usually lasts a long time, and, consequently, entails a severe loss.

Besides this, many owners knowingly allow their men to order powerful medicines in the shape of ‘balls’ called ‘physic,’ ‘condition,’ ‘diuretic,’ &c., and allow their men to give them to the horses, having, at the same time, very little or no control as to when or why they should be given. Now these cost more than arsenic, &c., and could be more easily accounted for, because the men rarely go so far as to lay out their own money on them, and the owner thinks some medicine must be necessary in a stable; yet even then he is generally guilty of allowing or even asking his man an unmerited opinion as to its use, besides being in the dark as to what , secretly given by the said man before, may have caused the disease, which, however, will be attributed to anything but his own act.

There are yet other ‘remedies’ kept by all stablemen. They are used more openly, and are even highly approved of by some owners. They almost always consist of admixtures of some or all of the following ingredients:—, bees-wax, train oil, tallow or suet, and honey. ‘for it shuts up the pores in the horn, prevents the natural moisture from reaching the surface outwardly, and the air from circulating inwards—consequences which act upon the horse with ruinous results.’ ‘If you tell a groom this, he will either refuse to listen to your arguments, or laugh at them as being the height of absurdity.’ How many horse owners are on a level with their servants in this matter!

, mixed sometimes with some of the above-mentioned abominations, is firmly believed in by servants, and its use condoned by their masters, for —that is to say, stuffing the hoof with—up (or down) to the level of the bottom of the shoe. Cowdung is supposed by these ignorant people to be emollient, because it is soft; but everything that glitters is not necessarily gold, and cowdung instead of being an emollient, is a powerful irritant; and so between ‘ointment’ and ‘stopping’ they are using their utmost endeavours, in surrounding the hoof on all sides with everything that ignorance and stupidity can devise (up to the present time), .

As soon as the horse is taken, as a colt, from his natural state into bondage, every one seems to consider that his mother Nature has nothing more to do with his future career. Everything then is carried on by them without once casting a thought on the dominion which she still maintains over him, equally with all her other creatures. Some others of the servants of man are less meddled with than this one, who is, at the same time, the most costly and the most generally useful—here in England, at least. It has been well said that ‘the history of almost every horse in this kingdom is a struggle to exist against human endeavours to deprive it of utility.’ This is forcible language, but it is the naked truth. Another authority says: ‘Strange to say, he frequently suffers as much from ill-advised kindness as he does from cruelty.’ This last observation applies to the English farmer, only in so far that, whilst wishing to be excessively kind to his horses, he is often unwittingly laying himself open to censure from want of having duly considered how to treat them. No one can possibly accuse him of wanton cruelty—far from it; but he might avoid inflicting upon them much suffering, with gain to himself, if he would turn part of the attention he bestows upon ‘rotation of crops,' &c., to his teams—and those to whom he entrusts them.

Chapter IV

CHAPTER IV.

LITTER—XENOPHON AND LORD PEMBROKE ON BARE PAVING FOR STALLS—PHYSICKING AND BLISTERING—THE BEARING REIN.

Servants are apt to be very exacting as to the quantity of for , and they keep some all day long under the horse’s feet, ignorantly believing that it is a comfort and a benefit to the horse.Here, again, they are wrong; and upon both points. Let any proprietor go to his stable, upon returning on a Sunday from morning church service, when the horses will, perhaps, have been left to themselves for three hours, and he will find that his horses have been trying to get rid of it by scraping holes in it, in which to stand , having pushed as much as they can back into the gangway. It is probable, also, that instinct takes part in their dislike to it, on the score of its being unhealthy, as well as uncomfortable to them.

Xenophon wrote in praise of a bare stone pavement: ‘It will cool, harden, and improve a horse’s feet merely by standing on it.’ :

moreover, it renders

the animals delicate. Swelled legs may be frequently reduced to their proper natural size by taking away the litter only; which, in some stables where ignorant grooms and farriers govern, would be a great saving of bleeding and physic, besides straw. I have seen, by repeated experiments, legs swell and unswell, by leaving litter, or taking it away, like mercury in a weather glass.’ It has also been found in the army that the troopers’ horses, which are not bedded down during the day, never suffer so much from corns, contractions, thrush, and grease as the officer’s chargers do, which have straw to stand upon whenever they are in the stable.

Some owners, with a view to economy, substitute sawdust for the straw, and they leave it for weeks without changing it. This is a still greater mistake; it gets saturated with acids and alkalies, and is most injurious to the feet as well as to the general health of the animals. Veterinary surgeons assign, as one of the causes of cough, ‘rank bedding.’ It is a frequent source of seedy toe; yet, not many weeks since, a groom to whom this remark was made laughed it to scorn, saying that it was the best possible preventive to the disease, and was, moreover, the very best cure for it in a horse already affected with it; and, he added, the older and more rotten the sawdust the more effective. His horse did have seedy toe shortly after this, and the veterinary had to be called in. He, of course, had all this rotten muck immediately removed. The use of sawdust is no economy at all, when considered from the right point of view. The problem to be solved is, how to keep your horse in health and get the most work you reasonably can out of him. Straw, used with judgment, will be found as economical as an3rthing else; it should only be put under the horse the last thing at night, and it should be removed the first thing in the morning. The horse will dirty it but little in the night; the dirty portion should, of course, be carried out of the stable, and, in this manner, no alarming expense of straw is incurred.