The Rural Voice, 1979-10, Page 20altogether too slow..."
He severely criticized the breeding of
horses as done by most farmers. They
often kept a mare till she was old and then
bred her to provide her own replacement.
"It is a common remark among farmers
when speaking of an old unsound and
worthless mare, that she 'will do to raise
colts' ". But who was going to pay a high
breeding fee for such a poor mare? They
rather took her to a cheap and poor
stallion. No wonder there were so many
poor horses on the nation's farms.
If a horse got sick he was advised to call
the veterinarian immediately. If there was
no one available there was always a book
such as "Dadd's Modern Horse Doctor."
For a horse with colic, the following
treatment was recommended: One table-
spoon of chloroform mixed with a gill of
whiskey and a pint of warm water is to be
given. Then inject a pint of very warm
soapsuds. Chloroform could be replaced
with a pint of very warm water in which as
much salt as possible had been dissolved.
If treatment had been delayed too long,
bleeding was necessary before the above
remedies were administered.
For bleeding, a fleam (lancet) should be
used. The horse must be blindfolded on the
side from which the blood was to be taken.
Then, at the point on the neck about two
inches from the angle of the jaw, the
jugular vein must be found, the hair
moistened and smoothed and a gentle
pressure applied with the fingers of the left
hand in which the instrument should be
held.
Then give the fleam a whammy with the
right hand, taking care not to go right
through the other side of the vein.
They sure didn't fool around in 1880. If
the bowel was inflamed the horse had to be
bled at once, and seven quarts of blood
taken at first. If that didn't work fast
enough the farmer was advised to take
another two or three quarts.
A purgative was aloe. They were mixed
with olive oil and molasses in the form of a
ball. The horse was tied up with his head
high; the tongue pulled out with the left
hand and the ball stuck deep in the throat
with the right. When everything was let go
the horse could do nothing better than to
swallow the bitter stuff.
When the horse got old, many a farmer
sold him to a .jockey, (horsetrader) who
resold him to some poor farmer who
proceeded to beat a few more years of work
out of him. "Many a noble. horse after a
long life of patient toil, which had fairly
earned him the right to an honorable
discharge, has been compelled to drag out
a miserable and painful existence."
John Read rightly deplored this practice.
"If a farmer can't afford to keep an idle
horse, shoot him and bury him," he
advises. "That's worth more to a man's
conscience than a few dollars."
PG. 18 THE RURAL VOICE/OCTOBER 1979
1
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