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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

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THE

HORSE'S RESCUE.

BY

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GERARD: DOAN

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FOR FORTY-ONE YEARS A WORKER ON THE HORSE.

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: “JT don’t go much on religion,
For I never have had any show,
But I’ve got a mighty tight grip on
The few things that I know.”

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FEB i6 1883 7
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NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.
1882.

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1882,
By GERARD DOAN,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

INT RODUCIORY.

Of course all scientific men of advanced and devel-
oped minds well know it is necessary to have refer-
ences in order to introduce any great science with
success; and at this day it requires noted men, men
of good standing, men of honor, men that have been
tried, men that are located and well established, in
order for references to carry any influence with
them. There have been all kinds of humbugs, as
they are called by some. The people have been duped
in so many ways that it has become almost impossible
to introduce a good thing; and after reading this work
through you will be convinced of that fact. In this
work there has been but a very small part told. The
financiering necessary in order to make a center or
focus of this great science, and to get it introduced
in some great center of science, where we could get
reliable and scientific men for references—men that
were known all over the world nearly—for this science
extends round the wide world, everywhere the horse
has ever had his feet ironed. After many years of
hard labor this was accomplished. This firm is known
as D. M. Osborn & Co., with which the well-known
inventors and scientific men are connected, Cyrenus
Wheeler, Mr. Kirby, and O. H. Burdick. Such men
as these are not. going to give themselves away by
allowing their names to be used to back up any

6 INTRODUCTORY.

science without knowing what they are about. They
all have had and seen this work done and watched the
result, and many others in Auburn city. This is
where thiggreat center of science is located of D. M.
Osborn & Co.; this is where the great center of this
horse science is now well established, and this is to be
one of the great centers; this, too, must, like all other
businesses, in order to be successful, be systematized
and introduced on the principles of science. I could
give you scores of names to back this work up—scme
are many miles away, and some hundreds, where
I have worked and my brothers in different places on
the horse. That is not necessary, as Auburn city is
to be the center. J will give you a few men’s names
that will be worth more than a score of some, and
here they are. _

After you read this work earefully through, and
look at your horse, you can easily see how this all is. I
could get hundreds of names to put in this work, if it
was the biggest humbug that was ever written, by ask-
ing them. To prove this work to bea valuable one,
test it; then you will know; youalways will be in the
dark unless you do, The trouble is and always has
been that nearly all have learned this science out
of selfish motives; they would keep it all to them-
selves in order to make money fast out of it. This is
not my intention. I want all to know how this work
is done. I will show and teach all mankind. If I
would not be willing to do this, this book is wrongly
named. This book is the teacher. I do not know as
T can work on the horse much more. My health is
failing fast; persecution and abuse have had something

INTRODUCTORY. 7

to do with its failing. I will go back to my boyhood
days and show you where I and all others must begin.

The first mechanical work I ever did in my life

Was to make a sled out of shingles, my tool was a jackknife.
With a rickety knife I bored the runners through,

It was all the tool I had, ’twas the best that I could do.

The next job for me to see what luck I would have to make
A small bundle of ax-helves I would undertake;
Of course these were all small children’s toys—
T was just like all other children and littie boys.

J made small ships, sloops, and every kind of beat;
In my mother’s rainwater trough I set them afloat;
After a while I traded off some of my toys,

And got a gimlet of one of the neighbors’ boys.

Then I must make a sled that would be of use of boards
With this gimlet the holes through the runners I bored;
There must be more tools added to my kit,

I cannot make the holes large enough with this cimlet bit.

These holes in these runners must bigger be,

Or it will not be strong enough to hold up me;

These holes must be made bigger by running a hot iron through—
It must be made strong enough to hold up two.

After making several sleds in this way

They did not suit. They had to be repaired every day.
They were poor and rickety things at the best—

Were soon all in pieces, but a few days they’d last.

On this sled business there must be some improvement made;
Some of us boys will get hurt with these sleds, I am afraid.
They must have the beams cut in the top like a doye’s tail,
Ard a board put all over the top and all solid nail.

This proved safer and a great deal better to be,

Now two could ride in safety, sometimes three.

I had learned quite a good deai at the sleigh-making trade
When this improvement on my sleighs I had made.

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8 INTRODUCTORY.

The next improvement was frame with pin beams,
Like those you see drawn around with ox teams.
Next I made with mortise and tenon, beam, and knee,
Quite a sleigh maker I was getting to be.

)

Wagons and carts I made and improved in this way,

And some had to be repaired nearly every day.

If any of these wagons or sleighs should happen to break
They would come to me for repairs or new ones I must make.

I had quite a business in that line and trade;

I made the girls and boys happy—no charges I made.

It was plenty pay enough for me them to sec.

After I had got their work done, how happy they would be!

There were trades of other kinds I was learning too—

Of my mother I learned to knit, mend, and sew.

My mother has got feather tick pillows I made the first I learned to
sew,

Them I made for her over forty-five years ago.

Shirts, pants, vests, and all kinds in that line of trade,

When I was a small boy I repaired and new I made;

Pants and vest I cut and other garments, and made them too,
To cut and make a coat that I never tried to do.

To know how to do this work has been of use to me—

I could mend my own clothes no natter where I would be;

I have been where I have mended othier’s while to bed they had to go,
For this reason—they themselves did not know how to sew.

The cap trade I took up—I had lots of little brothers; they did £
surround.

I must make them some caps. For foundation I used old straw hats’
crown.

The first I made was round on top, covered with green,

Cut goring with a button on top. It was the funniest cap ever was
seen,

The next cap I made the foundation on top was flat.
Of course I had to make my work to fit that.

The cloth that I made it of was dark blue,

That was a nicer color, and the style was better too.

INTRODUCTORY. 9

These caps the front piece was made of old boot legs,
Each one covered with the same cloth it was made.
These caps were both lined with different colors too;
They were very good caps—it was then the best I could do.

The shoemakers trade I must try that work to do.
No lasts I had; them first I will have to make too.
The children’s feet all vary in many different degree,
And I must hav a pair that will fit me.

In an old woodshed these lasts were made

With an ax and an old jackknife blade;

With my gimlet I bored the holes through

To make a place to pull the last out of the shoe.

A string I tied in the kole to pull out the last,

For sometimes I would get my shoes all pegged fast.

1 got along very well for a while in this way ;

1 would like to hav a hook to pull the last--sometime I may.

My pegging awl and pegs them I all made

When I commenced first to work at the shoemaker’s trade,
After my kit and stock all rigged I had got,

In my father’s old kitchen I opened my shop.

My father had a large family. There was always leather round,
Go up garret at any time there it could be found,

With five or six little brothers all gathered around me,

How ths work was going to be done they all wanted to see.

Through the course of the day I had made some progress at this
trade—

I had reraired several pair of shoes—no charges I made;

As we sat in front of the old fireplace in a half circle round,

My father was a chopper. He came. in with his ax and with us sat
down.

My father was ag hard working man as ever you see,
He soon had his lap full of children—two on each knee.
After working all day in the woods in the cold,

All the evening this !np full of children he would hold.

19 INTRODUCTORY.

The children gathered round him, showed him the work I had done.
He said to me, If you ean do as well as that you had better keep on.
This of course encouraged and very much pleased me,

My work was being appreciated by him, I could see.

My father was a good farmer—all kinds of that work he understood—
And all the work he did he always did good.

His word could always be relied on no matter where he would be;

An honester, kinder-hearted man no man ever see.

My father never tried much mechanical work to do—
Make beetles, his ox sleds with wood he could shoe.
To dress a beef or hog, and all work of that kind,

No better man for that in the country could they find.

He always had something every day to do,

No matter how cold, how much the snow and wind blew.
For him to work there was never a day too cold,

And this he kept up until he was very old.

He kept right on one steady course, you can see,

As provider for lis family no better could be.

Through cold winds and drifting snow, out all day in the cold,
Nights in this half circie a lap fullof children he would hold.

I was next oidest of this large family of boys;
I had plenty of work all of the time to keep them in toys;
There was eleven boys in this family grew up to be men;

Seven boys first, then two girls, then boys again.

There were two boys that died when they were quite young.

tT assure you to support this family, some work lad to be done.
A truer and better man in a family than my father could not be;
How he carried this nO load has always puzzled me.

Tt was all done by hard knocks, the sweat of the brow;

If you want to know how it was done, ask him; he can tell you how.
My father was a large. powerful, strong-built man;

To do better work, and more in a day, very few can.

He supported his own family, and helped others too,
And this, wherever he could, he was always ready to do.

INTRODUCTORY. LI

I have seen him on trees chopping, that was four feet through ;
All alone, coat, vest, and hat off, no matter how hard the wind blew.

And this, too, after he had got to be quite old.

I never heard him say, I cannot go to the woods to-day, it is too
cold. ‘

Day after day to the woods to chop he would go,

And his hair had got to be now as white as the snow.

And at night he would by this old fireplace sit down,
With his children help form a half circle around.
First there must be a big back-log put on,

And that too he almost invariably done.

I have thought what fools on this earth some folks must be;
Such a man as that his worth they cannot see.

He would work early and late, and it was not for gold; -

He would suffer himself to feed and shelter others from the cold

My poor father passed away many years ago.

Whether he will be rewarded in the next life I do not know.
I would as lief take his chance as any man I ever see.

To be a better man than he was I can’t see how it could be.

The course he took, it always seemed right to me;
And never in life did he and I ever disagree.

We did business together for a very long time:

A more honorable, honest man no man ean find

To forget my father, that will be impossible to be.
His life must always be stamped indelible with me;
And after I pass from this life, if him I do not see,
In the next life, heaven will be no heaven to me.

When I was a small boy, to help my father I would try;

I would make him some ax-helves, them he all had to buy.
I made a lot, put them up garret in a barrel to dry; .
There is no telling what a boy can do if he will try.

My father used up many ax-helves, you must know; ;

There was many ways they would give, and sometimes by a mishlow,
This stock of ax-helves I did not show him or have them around ;
They were not dry yet, in a short time them I see he had found.

‘2 | INTRODUCTORY.

Them T see were going to be of use and help to him,

Then making ax-helves I went at it again.

Of these I kept on hand a small supply,

While my helves could be found in the barrel no helves would he buy.

Somewhere about this time I went to learn the blacksmith trade:
At that time I was about fourteen years of age,

To go to work at that business my father opposed it some;

That is very hard business, I am afraid you are too young.

I was very anxious to learn a trade, some place to find

To learn the blacksmith trade, I had not thought of, that was not the
kind.

The carpenter's trade, when I was a boy, was what I wanted to learn.

It is curious sometimes how quick our course is turned.

At this at first I commenced on a very small scale.

The first thing I tried to make was a horse nail.

Small hammers, jewsharps, hooks to catch the trout, [ made,
Repaired old gun-locks, put in tubes and jackknife blades.

Of this kind of work I always had some on hand to do.

In order to learn this trade I must always be trying something new.
To make a gun, that, too, I must try and see if could make.

I got along very well, all but the mainspring, that would break.

Several locks for this gun I made, all new;

The mainspring would break, the very best I could do

How many springs I made, of course I do not know;

There was a great many: every time I tried them, ching they would go.

T learned in springs the temper must very low he,

After making and breaking many you can seo,

And the steel varies to a very great degree.

That, too, I did not know at that time; that bothered me.

I did learn after a long time these springs to make,

And could do it very quick, and they would not break.

No receipt can be laid down that is:good for tempering steel;
In all degrees steel varies quite a great deal.

Many different kinds of mechanical work I have tried to do;
The art of taking likenesses, that I have worked at too,

INTRODUCTORY. 13

At the time when the chemicals we ail made,
I did not work at that long, I did not like that trade.

For many reasons, of them I will give you a few;

They all wanted me to make handsome pictures, that I could not do,
There always would be a lot standing or sitting atound:

Vind fault with these pictures they would, or the background.

They all wanted a handsome picture, all the same, young and old.
A good likeness of themselves was quite hard to be sold.

No matter how dark the sitter was, they all must be white;

To suit them they must be nearly burned up with the light.

Then they must all be painted, and colored up, too;
Unless they were daubed in this way they would not do.
I got tired of taking good pictures to spoil in this way,
About that kind of business I shall have no more to say.

A carriage I can make; 1ron, paint, stripe, and trim it, too.
Houses I have painted and worked on; some I have built new.
The mason trade, I never did much of that kind.

To be a good mason, it wants some practice, I find.

I have plastered and laid quite a good deal of stone wall;
To build a chimney of brick, that stuck me the worst of all.
To build a nice chimney, it is quite a knack to do;

To have the brick all lie level and carry it up true.

To build oniy one brick chimney in my life did [ try,

And that was all daubed and winding before it was two feet high.
I could not keep it true, do the best I could do,

So I plastered it inside and out; the smoke could get through.

To know how to do this work has always been of use to me.
There was always some work to do, ro matter where I would be,
It all kept me busy, and I was learning, too.

What does 2 man amount to with nothing to do?

Nearly all of these trades I dropped off, one by one;

Some I dropped off many years ago, when I was quite young,
The horses’ feet nearly all of my life I have worked on,

And at that yet I have not got done,

14 INTRODUCTORY.

Nearly all kinds of saws, them I lave worked on, too;

To make a saw, that I never tried to do.

I have filed, set, guinmed, and re-tecthed some new;
Circulars to work on is quite a science, and keep them true.

Not much work did I ever do at the harness trade,

Only repair; once a bridle, martingales, circingle I made.

At the machinist business, that, too, I have turned my hand;
The principles to do that work oa I quite well understand.

Tf you want to make a machine, and have it good work do,
From the center you must work, and make all true.

One great center you must have, that you ought to know,
And all must run in harmony, or to pieces it will go.

It is the same with the horse, if you will look you can see,
For him to move well, in harmony of action all must be.
On him for many years I have spent nearly a!l of my time,
For he needs help, he is a great sufferer, I find.

There are agreat many kinds of work I have done and understook.
Of course I had learned something before I could write a book.
The science on the horse is all I ever perfect made,

And to do that T had to leave behind every other trade.

On them, others have sailed far in advance of me in their line;
For this reason, my time has been spent on the horse, you find ;
A man cannot carry along so many trades and excel,

If he perfects only one in life he will do very well.

To write poetry is quite a science, too, I find;

To make all run smooth, and make all rhyme,

Five parts have got to be carrried at the same time;
Compose, spell, write, convey, and make all rhyme.

After writing awhile [ think at that I can do well;

What bothers me the most is to all words spell.

There are so many things that all have the same name,

Tf I do not speli them all right, I ought not to be to blame.

My main object in writing this bouk is tle horse to rescue;
And if you will read 1t, and study the horse, that it will do;
And after you have learned this science no man ean fool you
Much on stiff horses; if they do it will be ouly on a few.

Scie NTIFIC WORKS OF GERARD
DGAN ONG “THE (HORSE.

By experience and experimenting for forty-one
years, by practical work as a horseshoer, by stud v-
ing’ the natural horse and all of the changes from the
natural to the unnatural, and their effect in all of the
different changes, I find the noble animal, man’s and
woman's favorite, in a suffering and deformed con-
dition, which I shall explain in this work, and stand
ready to demonstrate and, teach to seekers after
knowledge and the truth.

Everything is a mystery until if comes to light ;
then it becomes a common thing when understood, like
the telegraph, and all things, man being a progressive
being. he seekers after knowledge get it, that
is the way this great discovery was made, through
great mental and practical labor, and with but little
help or reward. <A large part of my hard-earned
money has been used to perfect this work, but it is
the long-winded horse that wins the race. Right
here, I will say, I will introduce the principles laid
down in this book or die a pauper. They are all
facts, and have been demonstrated hundreds of times
by J. J. Doan, of Auburn city, Cayuga Co.; No ¥.,
and by Oliver Doan, of the same place. They are
skillful operators, The horses are all, or nearly all, that

16 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

have been shod one year, changed from natural,
more or less, some way; it being the natural conse-
quence, it not being natural for the horse to have l:is
feet ironed. When the horse gets stiff or lame, he is
called by the ignorant, foundered. They think or tallc
that they had watered or fed them to warm, or fed
them too much. All the argument they can bring 1s,
he was stiff after they had fed or watered him. | Al-
most all men water and feed their horses three times a
day, and it must be soon after the feed if ever they
get stiff. This word ‘‘ founder” has been in use for hun-
dreds of years, and, forall of that, it has no meaning; It
does not tell how and where the animal is affected,
only he is lame and stiff, he is incurable. So say the
ignorant pretenders to great wisdom on the horse.
This stiffness is classed in four different kinds cf
founder—water, grain, plank, and chest founder,
Some said they are affected one way and some in
another; all disagree, and none cure or remove
the cause. I differ with them all. I have long
known what ailed these horses, and can remove the
cause, and will explain it all in this work, and pro-
duce plenty of honest and scientific men that have had
and seen it done; and, as strange as it may appear, it
requires no medicine to do this wonderful work. Re-
move the cause, and nature repairs the damages.
This work is confined to the feet, tracing cause to ef-
fect and effect to cause.

I might as well say here what removing the cause
does. It Jets nature have a chance to repair damages ;
it does its work very quick; it cures water, grain, chest,
and plank founder; perished shoulders; it straightens

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. Ve

the leg, called the tip-knee; straightens cocked ankles,
cures corns, coffin-joint lamenesses, the ambler, shuffler,
spring-halt; horses that hop behind when speeding; the
single-footer. These names are known and understood
by horsemen. It removes all air puffs from the
horse, and makes him the perfect natural horse.
These changes are not seen only by a very close
observer of long practical experience. It took mea
long time. It was clothed and buried in mystery.
The first hcrse I ever shod was a cripple. One foot
was so bad it could not be shod; JI have shod
cripples ever since, and they are all over the world, so
far as I have been. There have been hundreds of
books written on the horse, and they seem to be the
same thing continued—doctoring the effect; finding a
sore place, and making it worse.

It is not my intention in this work to travel that
old field over again, and rehearse all of the cruelty and
barbarism that I have seen practiced on the already
suffering horse, called doctoring. My intention is to
introduce something to relieve suffering. I said I use
no medicine to cure these horses. For fear you may
think I perform some surgical operation, I will state
here I do nothing of the kind. I do not draw blood
on the horse; it is hard work to do it, but it is busi-
ness. It’snomiracle or miraculous thing; 1tis science.

I use these words, founder, ambler, single-fvoter,
and other names, or people would not understand what
Tam talking about. The fact is, it is all summed up
in these words: Horses are changed from natural in
many ways and many stages, which I will explain on
principles which will not lie.

18 THE HORSE'S kESCUE.

This work will be arranged on scientific principles,
with a foundation and superstructure that will stand,
based, as it is, on truth, facts, and principles that men
cannot supersede, if they equal. These principles you
have gct to know. ‘T'ocure the horse, you must make
him natural. I have read some books on the horse, but
T could find nothing in them to clear the fog away, no
svstem. ‘There were receipts to cure these difficulties
the horse was in, which I well knew were of no kind of
use, only tomake bad worse. I continued my search.
It has been a hard road to travel so far. Iam getting
off of the subject; I do not want to write my life in
this work. I will explain in this work the effect in
all of the different changes, changing back to natural.
I do not intend, for the sake of making a large book,
to write much more than enough to convey what I
want toon the horse ; the simpler and less complicated,
the easier learned and understood. For fear the reader
might misconstrue what I have written before, I will
say here I do not mean to be understood that I will
make all of these lame and deformed horses natural;
there are some that are past help, and this work does
not take up blemished horses, such as ring-bones and
spavins, curb-splints, thorough-pins. 1 pronounce the
ring-bone incurable; it is a bone affection, and the
spavin the same. Ring-bone destroys the structure of
the foot; they can be relieved some by shoeing and
dressing the foot, for which I may give directions in this
work. When horses are blemished—the kind I have
mentioned—they have lost two-thirds of their value,
no matter how much they were valued, as it brings
them all down on a par, save the clean-limbed, and that

\

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 19

will be business enough. It is not the intention of
this work to keep up this changing back to natural,
but it will have to be done many years before the
people will learn these principies, and there are millions
of horses in all stages of suffering; some are there and
some have just started. It will be a long time before
this will be understood. It is not the intention of this
work to keep up the curing stiff and lame horses; the
preventive is what I want to teach and introduce; but
before the owner can prevent he must know how to
eure; then, in this case, he has the preventive that I
will explain about in the course of this work, scientifi-
cally.

A FEW REMARKS IN DEFENSE OF THE ABUSED AND
WRONGED HORSE-SHOER.—THE QUALIFICATIONS
HE NEEDS TO MAKE HIM A GOOD ONE.

He should weigh about one hundred and seventy-
five pounds, his working weight; five feet seven inches
tall, size around under his arms forty inches, broad-
shouldered, short-necked, something like a bull; mus-
cle and strength equal to the best well-fed stallion; a
large amount of courage, physical force, firmness, and
resolution; an inexhaustible amount of patience, so as
to enable him to come to time when he is kicked
across the shop, or turned a summersault; his head
should have a reasonable amount of brains; he should
have a mild and passive nature, so he can stand perse-
cution without showing any signs of anger when he
is told twenty times a day, by Jones or Tom or Jim,
or that old “They say,” the father of all lies,
that he has spoilt his horse, and he can never set

20 a THE HORSES RESCUE.

another shoe for him, when the fault is more their
own than the smith’s, and no fault of either ofttimes,
if it was understood, which I will show and explain in
this work. There is no business that tries man’s
powers of endurance equal to that of horse-shoeing,
und no class of mechanics so poorly paid, according to
labor performed. He is expected to be there at his
post, always pleasant, with a smile on his face when
three or four wild colts arrive to be shod, or a vicious
stallion, sometimes two or three, and often twenty and
more; all want to get home to dinner. These colts
never had a foot raised from the ground; if they have
it has been with a rope tied to it, and jerked at a
while; they call that breaking them for shoeing, when
the fact is the owner dare not even take up a foot; yet
the shoer is expected to get through this difficult task
in time for dinner; during this time there are more
arrivals, two or three old offenders, for the after-part
of the day; a lot of old cripples, so tortured on their
feet that they cun hardly stand, caused by ironing
their feet; and yet he is expected to cure these old de:
formed horses, or he is no mechanic. They ride him
part of the afternoon: the balance is filled up with the
old offending kickers and strikers. They rise up on
your knees, and throw nearly all of their weight on
you repeatedly: and finally they smash down on your
big toes, and off goes the nails; mine has been smashed
off so much there is but little left. And all this is ex-
pected to be endured for a miserable existence. Imag-
ine the shoer’s feelings, and this is to be endured daily
until he is broken down, and crippled worse than the
horse, at about forty years of age. He has put his

THE HORSE'S RESCUE © 21

strength against thousands of horses and mules, and it
is surprising to me that shoers last as long as they do
If you want your horse well shod, give your shoer
plenty of time to do it, and pay him well; for no man
ean do a good job, at any kind of business, if he is
hurried, and goes blundering along. Ironing the
horse’s foot is, or should be, the most scientific piece
of mechanical work ever done; and yet it is but glim-
meringly understood. No one is to blame; all are
studying and trying their level best to find their way
out of this entanglement, and I have been in that same
fix for years.

Nine years previous to the date of this work I ‘dug
out,’ which I will show in the course of this work,
The shoer is expected to do what is impossible for him
to do, and it is unjust to blame him or hold him re-
sponsible for your horse in any way, for many reasons.
In the first place, he does not have your horse in his
care, neither does he drive him., He shoes him and
he is gone, and the owner takes no eare of his feet.
Perhaps he exchanges for another, cr sells him—that
is going on all the time, and always willbe. Theshoer
does the best he can. The horse comes to him, his
feet dry and hard-shrunken. He pares his feet and
irons him, This treatment will spoil all cupping feet,
In fact, there is no use trying to lay down any princi-
ples to iron the horses feet to prevent him from chang:
ing from natural, for he is traveling on unnatural feet
all of the time, unless he is dead. There has been a
large amount of talk about shoes, and all to no pur-
pose. ‘There are no curing properties inshoes, There
is one principle that helps a little if proper care is

22, THE HORSES RESCUE.

taken of the foot, and that but very few will do.
I saw at the Gentennial quite a number of horses’
hoofs with printed papers on them. I read them.
This was on them all, ‘Caused by improper shoeing.”
Same old story. Iam not going to spend my time and
fill up this book with a lot of trash that has been
talked and written for hundreds of years—a large
amount of talk, but little knowledge that has beenany
benefit to the suffering horse.
KINDS OF FEET.

how
to select. here are four kinds of feet on colts be-
fore they have been ironed; then they commence to
change and assume all kinds of shapes hard to de-
scribe; and it matters not what slape they are in,
I shall show in this work I change them back to the
natural one; that is, put the colt’s foot on the horse.
That is what I want to teach.

The foot half way between the large flat foot and
cupping foot is the best, for this reason: It ex-
pands from the weight of the horse. The cup foot con-
tracts faster. The large flat foot expands too much
with the weight of the horse. The large peck-measure
foot is poorest of all. It has too much membrane; it
is too heavy, and changes quicker; it is more lable to
get sore by ironing. They are all good enough for
me, as I can do what I want with them. Thatis what
I want to teach; that is what all ought to know.

IL will make a few remarks on the horses’ foot

HOW TO RAISE UP A GOOD STRAIGHT HORSE.

This isthe most important of all. The horse, while
growing up from a colt, is neglectea, not intentionally,

THE HORSE'S RESCUER. 23

but through ignorance in regard to his feet, and the
effect it has. By this neglect his hoofs are aliowed to
growin all shapes. They need trimming, and to be kept
in their proper shape. A long toe does not affect the
colt as much as it does the shod horse, for this reason :
the structure of the foot is nearly all in harmony on
the flat foot; on the cup foot it is different; the wall is
thicker; it does not wear off as fast. I have seen a
few, and shod them, that were stiff, that never had a
shoe on. This kind should have their feet cared for,
pared down heel and toe. The flat-foot seldom needs
paring on the bottom, but his feet should be trimmed.
Take him on the floor, hold or strap up one foot, take
a chisel and mallet, trim all of his feet, rasp them true ;
see if he can stand with his forward feet back of
straight, see if he stand well back on his hind feet,
and keep him so. If vou want to see if your colt is
growing up straight and natura!, and the structure of
his feet natural, look at the top of the heel. The heel
is double. If the two parts are not even, the structure
is changed from natural, and should be changed back.
On all, or nearly all, horse kind the outside wall grows
the fastest, and is the thickest and strongest. The
growth raises the outside; that throws too much weight
on the inside, and warps or pushes up the inside heel.
Look your horse over. You can equalize the weight
by dressing the bottom. You can easily tell how this
should be done if you look. This unequal weight pro-
duces the same effect on colts that it does on shod
horses—the same unnatural strain on the back tendons
—warping the foot or pushing up the inside heel,
which turns out the toes and causes the ankles to turn

24 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

in, and that makes the horse interfere. He cannot
move well.

The same effect is produced from the same cause if
he is run over the opposite; it turns his toes in, his
ankles out. The fact is, his heels should always be
kept as even at the top as possible. This keeps the
foot nearly on a straight line. The point of the frog
is the guide. Make a true circle from that point each
way after you have got the heels even at the top.
This will stop more horses from interfering than all
the tinkering ever Cone. Of course there snould be
judgment used in dressing the foot. A long, pointed
toe is not natural either on the horse’s forward or
hinder feet. Keep the feet natural as near as possible.
The fact is, the colt grows up crooked for the want of
proper care, the raisers being ignorant in regard to this
fact, which I well know. Look at your colts, not at
pictures of horses, if you want to study the horse. If
you will read this book carefully, you will see these
facts as plain as I do, and can talk horse as well.

I have been told that I have broken myself down
bawling “horse.” My lungs are the soundest part of
me. I could talk this twenty times faster than I can
write it. Talk comes with the knowledge; quite a
number of exceptions to that rule. One thing my
mouth was made for is to talk.

To return to the subject: I have straightened hun-
dreds of colts’ feet, although they had grown up de-
formed and crooked. The colt comes to the shoer in
this condition, run over, both toes out, sometimes all,
or in. On forward legs, they come with knees thrown
together, ankles on hind feet run over the opposite

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 25

throwing ankles out when moving forward feet
pointing on two opposite lines, hind feet traveling
in two opposite lines, ofttimes so bad that the lines
cross each other six feet from the starting-point;
head going on straight line. The horse gets fre-
quently a jerk on the mouth for his awkwardness.
If he should happen to blunder he would be likely to
get thrashed. Then the shoer takes a scurfing for not
making that horse move well. “ He is an old botch.”
He tries another. He is told Wood, or Doan may be,
can shoe him so he can travel all right. The colt goes
the rounds, and the result is not good. Before I get
through this work I will clear some of that fog away.
This ends my treatise on the colt.

A FEW REMARKS ON SELECTING A GOOD HORSE FOR
MYSELF.

There are many diverse tastes and different opin-
ions and judgments in regard to the horse, so I will
select one for myself. For the road I like a rangy
horse, about tea hundred weight; foot half way be-
tween the cup and large flat foot; short from fetlock
down; large arm; heavy cords; leg tapering to the
foot; forward legs well back under; that is, points of
shoulders projecting well over; not very wide between
legs; thin withers; long, thin, arched neck, well cut
out under the throat; light, clean head; large, full
eyes ; short, straightish back; broad hips ; round body;
no curb joints. I never sawa horse too full at the
breast to suit me; flat Jeg; middling straight hind
leg, tapering to the feet; ribbed up close; full of
courage and ambition. My favorite color is dark

26 THE HORSE'S ‘RESCUE.

mahogany bay; black legs, mane, and tail. In choos-
ing a horse it depends something on what use you
want to put him'to. There isa variety of horses in
shape, all good. The creator has taken as much pains
in making the horse as it has'making ‘mankind, and
there are about as many different forms and colors.
I never saw a perfect idiot, looking the whole race
over. Ihave ‘seen lots of fools driving horses, and
worse than fools. I am come to their rescue. The
horse is a slave, if that -word has any meaning; and I
think it has. There is nv animal ‘that is abused and
suffers equal to the noble animal, the horse. Heis
tied up’ by his head, covered with foam and | perspira-
tion, panting for breath, in cold, bleak winds, without
feed or water, while the driver is sitting by a com-
fortable fire. Perhaps the clothing nature provided
for him is all sheared off. Thus he is expected to
stand until his driver is'ready for another'ride. If he
gets in the stable during the long, cold might, be will
be lucky, and gets any water or feed. All foam and
sweat, there he shivers. In ‘the morning you can see
him covered with frost. Such cruelty as that is hard
for me to'see-and not try to do all that is in my power
to relieve his suffering. Knowing as I do the pain he
has to endure, and its causes, and ‘then sit down .and
not do my level best:to help -him, I-think it would be
wrong.

My nature is such that it causes me to suffer with
them; and I do suffer intensely, too. If I did not
know how to relieve them, perhaps I would feel differ-
ent. Nearly all of my life has been spent in doing all
I could to relieve ‘this noble .animal’s suffering, and

THE "HORSE'S RESCUE. 27

have relieved it in'a'small degree. But it was only
-m-a-snall field that I:could-work ;compared with this
wholesale torturing that.is going on.

Lam fifty-five years of age; my health is giving out:
I feel I am getting stiff, too. I :have laid the ham-
mer down to write this work:to:still keep up the bat-
tle to free: the -suffering horse, and to see if I can work
alarger field and ona better. plan to introduce this great
discovery that: has cost me so much mental and physical
labor for forty-one:years. If-I fail.to introduce it, and
let it be buried-again, I have -made a feiluge of life
after all.

The horse suffers scaly in many ways. The
cause of the greatest suffering is in his feet. That I
will explain and teach. JI have not quit yet, nor
ever will, while lam alive. I do not know as IJ shall
after I am. what they call dead. I shail be at.the front
under all circumstances. No. matter how much the op-
position, you will find meat my post. If you want to
know something of the suffering of the horse, if you
ever had the toothache bad, you.can judge a little.
That is no comparison :to what the horse suffers.
There is nothing it can be compared to. I-will try to
convey something of it, which-I well know I have not
the power.

To beyin, the-structure of the foot.is changed from
natural in: many ways and in many different stages.
Ponder, think! Can this. take place withoutan effect?
I well know it cannot. All.men mustsee this. I ap-
peal to all thinking naturalists and scientific men for
their aid to help introduce this work. There are
three Doan brothers. . They have been battling for

28 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

years against a power of opposition. I assure you we
are not ignorant of our surroundings. All great
things are small at the beginning. Any great science
like this is in advance of the age. The craft is in
danger. This great discovery looms up lead and
shoulders over all. I return to the suffering horse; I
cannot get away,from him. [I said the structure of
the foot was changed from natural. No matter how
much or how little, or in what way, or what degree,
the horse’s suffering commences at the first change.
The more he is changed from natural, the more in-
tense is his suffering, until death comes to his relief.
It will be well to mention a few cases here. While I
was looking for one of these sufferers to demonstrate
some things and relieve their suffering, [ went intoa
stabie at Elmira. There I saw one of thousands of
eases like this, lying in a small, unventilated place, on
a pile of manure—a fine young horse, with sores on his
sides. JI asked how long he had been in that condi-
tion. I think they said about three months. I asked
what ailed the horse. They said he had bruised his
feet working in the stone quarry. He was gnawing
his feet, and had holes gnawed at the top of the hoof.
There were marks of teeth all over his feet. He was
not what I was in search of. I tried to buy him.
They said he was a fine horse. It would take some
money to buy him. How much, IJ asked, will it take?
“One hundred and fifty dollars.”’ That horse died;
and, worse than all, his shoes were on. He was com-
pletely paralyzed. 1 well knew what ailed him—cup
foot badly contracted, or, in other words, changed

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 29

from natural; his eyes looked sunken, staring, and
olassy.

There are thousands in this same condition.
Ponder, think, I say, again; look at your horse after
you have looked this work through. That is the
place to look. Study the horse as I have done;
understand there are all stages of these changes, and
always a beginning. There is the end above men-
tioned. What do youthink I wanted of that horse
on that pile of manure? I wanted to relieve his suf-
fering: You say, ‘Why didn’t you?” They would
not let me. They called me a “damned old lunatic.”
That did not affect me any; that had become a com-
mon thing many years before. I have been told so
much that I am crazy, not being a judge of lunacy.
I was in Lincoln, Nebraska, some two years ago.
They have a lunatic asylum there. IJt struck me it
would be a good time to test my case. They have
several hundred lunatics in that asylum. It was Sun-
day. It is their custom to get them, or nearly all of
them, in one room, thensing. I got permission to go
in. They did not act crazy; all was quiet. When
singing was over, all marched out in single file. I
did not learn anything satisfactory touching my case
by this experiment. Iam writing history of my life.
I must return to the horse. As this is not intended
to be a history of my life, it matters not where I sail
to, neither does it matter which end I begin at, as this
is not intended to be the scientific part of this work.

At sixteen years of age you can see a boy sitting on
a saw-horse, about six feet froma horse. The horse
interfered. His ankles were bleeding and sore. Right

30 THE HORSE'S: RESCUE.

there was the first scientific principle I ever studied out
on the horse. I did not get half of that. At that
time I did not know his foot was changed from natural
and run over inside, half of double hee] pushed up,
causing the toe to turn out and ankle in. IsawlI
could throw his ankle out by lowering the outside
heel and outside toe, and the outside heel of shoe and
toe of shoe. That throws the weight on the outside;
that will push up the outside heel; that turns the toe
in, brings the foot on a. straight line. This principle,
followed up, will run the toe in or out by changing
the weight on the double heel both forward and be-
bind. When the top of heel is even, care should be
taken to dress bottom, so as to equalize weight; give:
easy toe to raise on, or he will toe in or out to relieve
the back tendons. His foot is:growing all the time,
and when it gets long the strain increases.. If itis
very long he will be apt to turn out his toes, the
ankles turn in. In this case he will be likely to inter-
fere, unless the shoe is reset, the foot. dressed and.
made shorter. This principle will hold good to shoe
all horses that are natural, or have not been injured in
any way. If they have there is no better:principle,
if itis done right: If the horse is used right, on any
decent road, and is not driven nearly to death, which
he often is. And yet other difficulties soon arise
after the horse’s foot bas been ironed a short: time.
The cup foot suffers the most—it cannot expand.
What effect that can have I will tell you. It grows
straighter up. The sole, that is, the bottom, rises, and
most in the center; that changes the whole structure
of the foot, inside and out. That affects the coffin-

THE HORSE'S: RESCUE. 31

joint most. It is located. nearly in the- center; this:
change is going on to a greater or Jess degree all the
time, if the foot is ironed. It pushes out of the cup;
or, in other words, top of hoof or wal]. That destroys
all harmony of action, and it does not stop where the
cause is located. Trace from that.cause to the effect.
Its. effect is.more than you ever thought of. It does
more mischief than you are. aware.of; it effects. the.
horse.all over.

Now lam talking about. the hind feet. They get
higher, as this contraction takes place, from bottom to.
top. They cannot be lowered by, paring as. low as
they should be, for this reason: you would come. to
the membrane at the bottom near the wall inside of
shell. You must, have shell for shoe to rest on, or
lameness will be the result. If you do pare down, the:
cause is there-yet. The foot.is not the natural size,
and this is not all. It shoves the foot forward. Of
course the leg goes with it. This change is going on
as. the.sole raises in center, where it raises fastest; I
mean highest. It.all goes.together. After you. have
cupped out the foot, place a straight. edge across. the
center; measuring. down; that will tell you. Com-.
mence at side of frog, measure out. to wall. That will
tell you. As this change is allowed to go on in. that.
course, the foot. moves forward according to the
degrees of change. from natural until the horse. is
nearly off his legs, and he is standing gambols out,
feet huddled together, with a constant. strain on the
back tendons or cords; the heels closed in, structure -
all changed. My god, the pain and suffering this poor.

32 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

horse endures! and that, too, continually until wel.
come death comes to his'relief.

Let us continue this search. What's the matter
with this horse’s back? He humps up across his
loin. Oh, I see; it’s this position he is obliged to
stand in, caused by the structure of his foot being
changed from natural. Why, he has got irons on
his feet! Now J am going inside and see what I can
find in there. I see his kidneys affected, urinary
organs all affected, caused by this unnatural strain and
position which he is placed in, ard obliged to stand
and travel, and draw heavy loads day after day. Of
course that effect must quite often be doctored. His
water-works are out of order by being obliged to work
and draw heavy loads when all are out of harmony.
I have changed lots of these poor horses back to nat-
ural on scientific principles, and all came right in a
little time, and no medicine used. If you follow me
you will have a wild-goose chase, for I am going to
have a horse sail. Don't back out. I will bring you
back all right. Oh, there has come a poor, suffering
horse. I must go and relieve him. I left that poor
horse in a bad fix. [ did not look his fore parts over.
I will. He is braced out from the same cause. Like
causes produce like effects. J mean the horse I was
writing about. I told you how he was affected on his
hind parts, as faras I went. Let us talk about the
same horse’s fore parts. Contraction changes the
structure of foot the same, and shoves the foot for-
ward on the same principles according to the degree
of change. It changes faster on the cup foot. What
effect does that have? Strain on back tendons. That

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 35:

is bad enough. His forward legs should stand back
of straight. When standing, are all of his feet in a
pile? and when moving, trotting, see what strides he
makes, and yet it would not sore him if he never had
his feet ironed. That has produced this change; and
when ironed it does not wear off. hatis notall. It
is growing all of the time in some shape, and assumes
many; and with all of the experience I have had I
cannot describe these feet. Let us go upa little higher.
His chest is all fallen in. Thatiscalled chest-founder
by people that have no knowledge of the horse. Well,
what is it? changed from natural. Being changed in
this way, the head is drawn down; the shoulders drop
back, and begin to perish; he is fastened there. He
is worked in that position and wofully deformed, and
it is not seen except by a very few and never have been
seen; they are quite natural on their forward parts,
and very bad behind, and seem quite natural behind.
In some one foot is changed and its mate is quite
natural. These feet do not change in pairs. There
are all stages of it diffleult to describe. My long ex-
perience and experimenting and shoeing these poor
horses enable me to see it instantly. There are other
causes that lame these horses, which I will explain.
This poor horse that I have been talking about is
changed fore and aft, but I shall have to leave him
awhile to suffer, as I have walked -with tears in my
eyes away from thousands. But I will come to his
relief and get him out of his trouble before I get
through this work. He is not so bad off as he can be
made, I will come and see him again. This is the

way this work was discovered and perfected, always

34 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

on the watch, always ready to do all I could to relieve;
and I went at itwhere I sawI could help them. Some
I could and some I could not; but I tried and kept
trying, though not on the right principle. But I did
find out the right principle and get master of the feet
at last.

Hello, here comes Sam Grover.

“Can you set a shoe?”

‘Yes; lead in. What ails that mare, Sam? she is
awful stiff.”

‘Yes; she has been so these two years.”

‘‘ How old it she?”

aisle. A

“Ever done anything for her?”

“Yes; she has been doctored; has had setons in
her shoulders; blistered. She belonged to Doc. Mede.
They think she was stiffened driving tnrough the creek
to wash her legs off when he came heme.”

“T can cure that mare.”

“Doc could not drive her on the road, so he let: his
brother Gird have her. She has been turned out. six .
months.”

“Did that help her any?”

“No; she sores up as quick as she is driven.”

‘* What breed is she?”

“Kentucky hunter.”

“Did they pull her shoes off when they turned her

out ?”
bc No 14

“T’ve got a good young mare coming five that will
match that bay of yours. I will trade for that. stiff
mare.”

THE HORSE'S. RESCUE. 35.

“JT will'trade. Gird told me to trade her off How
will you trade”

‘Give me twenty-five dollars.”

“T'll give you twenty.”

“Tt’s a bargain.”

“Trust for the money.?”

“No; cash down boot money on a horse:trade.”

‘Leave the trade open till Saturday; got to go
home.” |

“Yes; any time in a week will do.”

He came in a day or two. It had frozen up rough.
and hard. He had to come thirteen miles over hubs..

‘Well, how.is horse: trade ?”

“ All right; unhitch.”

Of all stiff and sore horses I ever saw, she was the
worst, and stand up. She was. nearly off her legs.
Her legs were all covered with scabs. That was: called.
mud. fever; all scratched with sharp currycomb and
swelled. Let us get her in the barn. She is.all wet
with sweat. Cover up warm and feed. Another good.
job for to-night. Hurry to the shop. It is getting
dark. Folks waiting; all in a hurry: to get: home.
Hurry up! Shoe three or four horses; each has a
little tinkering job to do, and before they are all away
it is an hour after dark. Do you suppose you gota
good job? I think not. Do you think the weight
was equal on all of the heels of those horses? If you
do it would not make it so, and if it was. it would not
stay so long, about which I have. already written and
the consequences.

By golly! in this hurry I liked to forgot that. poor
suffering horse I just got. I must go and see her.

36 THE HORSES RESCUE.

On follows four or five to see too. They all want to
see, and I wanted them to. I found her just as I ex-
pected to, lying down. I walked in, looked to see if
she had eat her feed. It wes not touched. ‘Did you
kick her up?” Idid not. “Did any one kick her?”
No; if they had, they might have got it back, for
self-protection is the first law of nature. This horse
was down, unable to help herself; but before I can
remove the cause of her suffering, [ must get her up.
I touched her on her hind parts; sbe was sore all over.
I succeeded in getting heron her feet. Of all the sore
horses I ever saw, all produced from asmall cause, she
was the cap-sheaf. Of course that called out remarks,
opinions, and beliefs, and not much knowledge, but a
great deal of talk.

“Doan, I guess that black man has waxed it to you
this time.”

Sam was black. Some one said she was chest
foundered ; some one thing, some another, and all dis-
agreed. I well knew they had no knowledge where
the cause was, neither did they know where the effect
was. I told them I would have her out on the road
in four days, and she would have as good knee action
as a colt. That is rather short time. I told them
what was the matter with her, as I always have; but
they do not seem to see itas Ido. AtitI went. At
that time I did not have as much knowledge of the
horse as I have now.

If you will sail with me through this wrk, I will
do all of the work. You look on; understand? I
am shoeing cripples and all kinds through the day
and sometimes the night, and it’s night now; but this

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 37

poor horse must be helped to-night. I must have two
quartsof whisky. That is not to be had short of two
miles. I got it. I did not drive this cripple, and
told short stories. I am home now, but before I com-
mence I will tell you where the cause of this poor
horse’s suffering was located, and what tke effect was,
and where and how I removed it, and that is what you
want to know and I want you to know. This is what
this long story is told for, and it is what they are all
told for. This mare had a small, round, thin-shelled,
flat foot, when natural; low heels. Let us take a peek
at those shoes. Golly! that is all wrong; that shoe is
not the shape of the foot; not wide enough across the
quarter. It is too wide at the heels. It is a long,
clevis-shape; yes; and it’s too long. So is the foot;
and the toe is too peaked, and the toe-cork is too mgh
for the heels. ‘Can’t you find a little more fault?”
Yes. The web is too narrow and too thick for such
feet. “Is that all?” No; let us take this shoe off
and look on the other side and see what we find there,
It’s not concave; it’s dishing clear around to heel—
bent instead of being hammered, and no flat rest; and
yet it sits hard on the sole. Let us examine these
feet. The toe is one inch and a quarter too long.
That should be cut off. It is nothing but useless
shell; itneeds paring some. Let us look at tlie heels.
These heels are too low. They are all mutilated and
break down, caused by the shoe not resting on the
heel an] not having a flat rest on the shoe at heel.
Whatelse? Being to» wide, it formed a lever purchase
across the quarter ana warps the foot. Let us look
and see if the heels are contracted. Not much. We

: J
38 THE HORSE'S: RESCUER:

will pare the foot so the shoe will rest: only on. shell
until we come to the heel. Leave brace: in, pare flat,
and fit all around—no springing business about it.
Well, what are you going to do with those low heels?

tis getting cold here; we can’t wait for those heels
to grow. They must be raised to-night. Won't to-
morrow do as well? There will be a lot:more horses
to the shop to-morrow, and there will be notime. It’s
fearful cold here. I guess you can stand the cold.
Let us go to the shop and. make a pair of shoes for
this horse. What sort of shoe shall we make for this.
horse to relieve him? In his present condition he is
braced out; head down; chest sunken in; shoulders
dropped back ; great strain on back tendons or cords;
the heels are even at top; the soleis alittle raised up.
She should stand back of straight comfortable. That
will be all we can do to-night. We will make a shoe
with wide web, at toe quite wide; very thin at toe;
one inch thick at heel; taper from center of toe to
heel. It should be made as light:as possible; thinned
an trued so as to reduce weight; wide where the heels
rest; concave clear out to nail holes; holes in shoe
close toedge. This concave should stop at about one:
inch and a half from the heel. The brace should. be
cutaway slanting toward the frog. We want to get
the sole down by the weight of the horse. That ex-
pands the foot. The shoe should be. made full aeross
the quarter; it is too narrow. It has been cut off.
Get the colt’s foot in shape—round, easy toe to rise on ;
good length shoe, not stuck out at-heel. Let us go to
the barn. Iam getting somewhat tired. It is awful
cold here, too. These shoes were made by eye and

THE HORS&2’S RESCUE. 39

measuring the foot. Now this is a hard job for me
and the horse. She has got to stand on one foot. It
must be done. Get two nails in, and let the foot down.
Back goes the foot, and the leg with it. Of course
now she can stand better. The strain is off the back
tendons. Now Ican set the other shoe easier. Down
goes the foot back of straight. Finish this job off quite
easy. Now| feel better, and the horse: too. It mat-
ters not what this animal is called, horse or mare. It
isa mare. It is principle I am working on:

I must tell you how the nails are in this shoe; two
are in the toe, six in all. None back of the widest
part of the foot. No corks on this shoe. That suits
me. My golly! her head and neck have gone up.
Look here! that hollow is:all gone in her breast, and she
sticks out right plump and full. Ivis getting late. It
It is not so cold as it was. I have removed the cause
and cured “chest founder.” The heart is not affected,
as have been told. She is eating hay; that’s a big
thing. It will be daylight soon. I must hurry up. I
want some-warm, soft water. We will have to go to
the house, build a fire, and warm some water. Get
tat whisky, castile soap, and sponge, and back to
the barn again. These scabs must all come off clean
and lean all over.

It is a good time, while I think of it; to say that I
never use acurrycomb. A stiff brush is all I want,
brushing always the way the hair lies. Wash off ma-
nure.

I must rub the mare dry, and wash her all over with
whiskey with a sponge, and rub dry three or four

40 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

times. Rub lightly, put on a light blanket, and make
her a good, soft, dry bed.

Gracious heavens! It is daylight, time to feed, and
I want my breakfast, too.

“Hello! Doan; sharpen these horses; have them
done in an hour ?”

rer ee

I want to say here that whiskey had nothing to do
with curing that mare’s stiffness. It might have made
her feel better, and it might have helped take out the
soreness. But it was the work done on the feet that
eured her. Castile soap and water was all I needed to
cure her scabby legs. Water would have cleaned them.
I have cured hundreds since, and used no whisky; all
I use is water. It is science, principle. I wanted to
make the mare comfortable, so she could lie down and
rest and sleep. All should do the same. If the
horse could talk in a language that we could under-
stand, you would hear louder bugling than you ever
heard from me. You would think that it was the
judgment-day, and that the supreme court of heaven
was in session.

I use the word “cure” in this book because it is in
common use, to convey what we are talking about. It
is all well enough; but I do not cure these horses—I
remove the cause and nature repairs the damages.
When I go at a horse to ix him up, I look him over
ard do all I can that will make him comfortable.

The day’s work is done in the shop. It has been a
hard road all day, I tell you. In all stages of suffer-
ing I have helped some, and I have made some worse,
which I well knew; but I did the best I could for

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 4}

them and the owner. Their feet were in all kinds of
conditions.

By George! in this hubbub I was likely to forget
my mare in the barn. I said before that J had cured
her, and she had not been out of the stall yet. But
I have removed the cause, or partof it. I have got to
polish her off yet. Let us go to the barn, move her
around on the floor, and see how she acts. She must
be exercised moderately at first. The change is so
great she hardly knows how to use herlegs. She will
soon recover from that. She has been changed from
natural so long, and her cords are out of harmony, she
can hardly control herself; but she does not suffer.
Her soreness is nearly all gone.

I will right here say to the readers of this work, in
this sail working on the horse, I am alonein this barn;
all are quietly sleeping. My talk is directed to you,
reader, and I want you to go with me, if you will, and
pay close attention. I wiil give you the biggest and
the most instructive lesson you ever had on the horse.

Let us sponge the mare’s legs, shoulders, and loins
with whisky; rub dry each time; repeat this three or
four times; take her out-doors; run with her awhile.
Again in the barn, rub her legs and shoulders an hour
or two.’ Let us drive herin harness. Now I ean ride.
Before we take this ride I will say I packed this
horse’s feet. These were dried up with fever, caused
by unnatural strain on the cords which fasten in feet.
Let us look at the bottom of the feet. The frog does
not touch the ground yet. That’s all right in this
case. Itisa little lower than the shoe-heels. When
the foot is on the floor, look! she stands her fore legs

42 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

back: straight. Where is: the weight’ now? It- is:
nearly in the center of the foot. That’s right. “Don’t
be ina hurry; we will take a sail after this horse
soon. We are experimenting now. There is some-
thing more, before we start, to be looked to. I told
you when we dressed this foot: to prepare it for the:
shoe we must have the braceslanting a little down
toward the frog, and have a flat rest:on the shoe-heel.
Now the shoe rests on the shell all around, and it is:
up from the sole: Where is that foot-hook? Let us
clean out everything: under that shoe clear out: to.
nails. Have thehookthin. The footis middling soft.
Pile in. Letus haveasail afterthismare. Thunder!
how cold it is. Yes, itis, but we can stand it to ride:
four or six miles, I guess. Golly! she moves finely.
Look at that knee aetion. See where her head is.
Whoa; let us get her in the barn; cover her up after,
she gets done steaming. let us look at the bottom of
the feet to see what we can find. There! that frog is
down even with the heel of the shoe. Let us look at
the foot at the hec!, and that sits. flat: on the flat: rest
on shoe. Let us look at the bottom. This foot: is
not as cupping as it was. Howisthat? lLook.at heel
of foot where it rests on heel of shoe. It is spread-a.
little. What:did that? Before we took this ride the:
sole was raised up, as I have explained before, and the.
structure of the foot was changed from natural, I
prepared the foot and shoe for the operation. The
weight of the horse is in the center of the foot. The
drive settled the sole down in the eup or top of hoof,
and when the sole is down in its natural place, all is:
in harmony of action: It should in no case go below

THE HORSE'S: RESCUE. 43:

flat. It would not: kill the horse, but: it would be
out of harmony, for nature has formed the foot.
When natural, the sole is arching and the frog intended
to rest on the ground; but’ these changes are con-
stantly going on in greater or less degrees. It does
not affect the horse’s shoulders as bad to have the
sole go down below natural, that is, get rounding on
the bottom. It lets up onthe back tendons. It never
would go down if the frog could rest on the ground.
When it rises it effect is terrible. Let:us examine this
horse we are at work on. Now the frog is down on
the ground ; the sole is down or nearly so; let us try
her and see how far back.we can put her foot and have
it sit flat down on the heel and not hurt her. See!
she can put it back from the point where her foot was
when we commenced on her; four feet and a half.
That’s boss! It’s cold, and it is threeo’clock. Let us
goto the house. This horse wants rest. So do I.
Give her good bed; build a fire. There is no use go-
ing to bed, it’s so late, and there will soon bea lot of
horses here to be shod ; and: there will be no. peace.
Sleep by the stove a little!

“ Hello, Doan; shoe these horses? ”’

“Yes, I will be there as soon as I swallow a mouth-
fai”

“This mare is lame forward. She interferes behind;
she stumbles. She never interfered, and. never was
lame until after that damned Bloom shod her.”’

Let us-look her over.

“How long has she been shod.”

“Tt is not over. six months, and the shoes. are all
clattering now.”

44 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

Well, what about this one? Sheis stiff. It hurts
her to go down hill, and she falls down once in a
while, and it hurts her to go up hill. And when she
first starts off she straddles out behind. Warm her
up, then she goes better, but it hurts her when she gets
up in the morning. She is awful sore then.

“Tom Jones sent me here; he said your were a
good shoer. Some think she is strained across the
loins.”

“Well, it does have that appearance.”

Of course J am at work at them all of the time. I
left one of that kind in this book. I shall go and see
him one of these days. Let us shoe this one we
looked over first.

“T want long corkson them; I am going to hauling
wood, and I want a good big cork on, so they will last.
Those corks that Bloom put on are all off now.”

“ Allright.” This lame foot is about one inch
longer than its mate. What is this? the hair is all off
on the back side of his leg.”

‘Well, I blistered his cords; they are sore.”

“T see they are. Did it help him any?”

‘Nor!

“Have you tried anything more?’

“Yes, I put on whisky, skunks’ grease, and angle-
worm oil,” | |

“No good? Why, you have been at work in the
wrong place. That is the effect. The hind feetare in the
same condition, only worse. The nails stick out and
cut like a knife, and it affects across the loins and the
kidneys. This is a flat foot, however. ‘The sole is
down; the foot is spread out over the shoe.”

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 45

These poor cripples are coming and going while I
am sitting by the window over my shop writing this
work, and it bothers me, but I must do it.

Well, let us fix this lame foot. Let us work on
principle, and see how that will work. Letus shorten
that lever purchase. How much? That foot has
been shod six months; and the toe was too peaked
when it was shod; and it was left about three-quarters
of an inch too long then. It has been growing ever
since. It takes about one year for a foot to grow
from the hair down. This foot, when natural, from
hair down, would be about five inches. It has grown
half a year, and was about one inch too long when
shod. According to this figuring, this foot is three
inches and a half too long. That isa trifle too much.
Let us do away with that lever purchase by shorten-
ing the foot. We better raise the heels a little, for it
is going to grow longer. It is growing now; but we
cannot see it. Now itisshod. See where his foot is
now—back of straight, weight in center. Sore some;
jt will be all right in ten days, I will warrant for a
cent. The same all round; like causes produce like
effects. We have got this foot fixed. Let us walk
him around. Golly! we have lamed him on the
other foot. The fact is, he was lame on both. The
lever was the longest on the one we fixed first, That
is, this principle effects all horses, shod or not, ina
greater or less degree. This is a flat foot. JI have
changed him some, and that effects him. He does
hardly know how to use his legs. His ankles area
little weak, caused by this sudden change. Exercise
will soon bring him out all right. Yet, with all this

46 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

work, he is not natural. But this.is the. best that can
be done with him—shoeing him. Try him. Place
his foot back as far as-you.can from point where his
foot now stands, and that. is back of straight. You
can see he cannot.get his foot down flat on heel more
than two feet, and the corks are higher than the toe
cork,.a little. .How is-this, the heels are pinched in,
and the structure is changed enough to cause that, and
I cannot fix it shoeing.

I. have cured thousands of this kind of feet of lame-
ness, and. the owners were well pleased. and talked for
me ;.and I will thank them right here. This work is
for them and all mankind and the suffering horse; and -
when you read this-work do not .take any offense, for
it is not intended to ridicule. I. have: thought of writ-
ing this werk for nine years. How to convey it in a
book I could not study out, for I talked and explained
continually. They did not learn much.and worked.
I have taken this way of explaining my methods of
treatment because there is no other way of giving the
information I wish to convey. It is all meant for
your interest and that of your poor, suffering horses.

Well, we have not got that horse done yet. His
foot is growing. He will go very well for.a while,and
you will hear from that lever purchase if you let it get
too long. Iam done with him.

Next! This horse i donot like to. tackle It isa
hard job, but I can help him a little. He has got it
bad, but it must be done. It will make us both sweat
before we get through. This horse has a thick-shelled
cup foot. He has got cold standing here. We should
have shod him first while he was-warm. Can't. shoe

THE ‘HORSE'S RESCUE. 47

them :all -while they are:-warm; there “are so many.
Some must wait. ‘Stand around here!’ Thunder!
how he-straddles!” “Back! How he raises up his
feet! and he drags them before they leave the floor.
They do ‘not go up very quick; if they did I should
think he .had spring-halt. There is not much
“spring” mction about it. I have -a mind to leave
him with the other I left in this book until I come
around again. I can’t help him much. I do not
think he can stand on three legs; and, worse'than all,
he has got twosets of feet on him, for they were not half
eut down when they were shod last, which was six
months ago, and they.are hard.as a stone. I-won’t
back-out; that’s not my name. I think we bad better
shoe him on his forward feet first. He can’t:stand un-
til we do, he is so changed from natural, and all isso
out of harmony.

‘“‘ How old is this horse ?”

‘He is nineteen years old.”

“ How long have you owned him?”

“T raised him: from.a colt.”

‘‘ Have you ever doctored him?”

“Oh, yes; I have tried:everything most.”

‘His chest' has fallen in some; that-looks like chest
founder.” :

“Ttis.not that, Ihave always taken care of my
horses myself, and never feed them when ‘they ‘are
warm; and no man drives my horses, they don’t.”

‘‘ Has one man shod them all of the time ?”’

“No, since he got stiff I have been to a good many
shoers.”

“'They help him any ?”

48 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

‘No; they say you can cure these horses by shoe-
ing.”

‘“T can help some of them for a while. I can help
this one a little.” |

This horse is different from the one just shod. His
feet are cup feet. His shoulders are perished some.

‘Yes; some say he is sweenied.”

‘ Kver doctor them ?”

“Yes; we inflated him.”

“What's that ?”

“Pull the skin up like this, all loose; cut a little
hole in; jerk it back and forward, and it will fill up
with wind. Well, it made it look full, and plump, and
soft. Before I got home it was all gone down again.”

‘‘How much did it cost you?” ,

‘“A dollar. I’ve paid out lots of money doctoring
this horse, and he gets worse every day, and I have to
doctor his water-works every little while now.”

‘“T see his shoulders have been blistered ”

“Yes; I’ve blistered them and his cords on the
backside of his legs and across his loin.”

‘“Hver try setons?” |

“Yes, in both shoulders, and I had him roweled in
the breast, and a fellow told me to cut the skin open
on the shoulders and take smoked meat rinds, put
them in, and sew them up, and let them rot out; that
was a sure cure for sweeny.”

“That help him ?”

iT No.”

‘What do you give him for his water now ?”

“Turpentine.”

“How much at a time ?”

THE HORSES RESCUE. 49

“Half a pint once a week, and I keep rosin in his
feed-box all of the time.”

“T see his legs are swelled.”

&e Yes.”

“ Do anything for that?”

“Yes, Ihave used gargling oil, Anderson’s derm-
adore, liniments, and all kinds of liniments I could
hear of.”

‘“‘T see he is sore under his fetlocks.”

* Yes; that is scratches.”

“ Ever done anything for them ?”

“Yes; [ have tried all kinds of salves I could think
of, and I bound live toads under his fetlocks; anda
fellow told me to make a poultice of human dung.”

“Well, how did that work?”

“Tt drew out the infammation.”

ee Didity”

“Yes; when I put it on every few days”

““T see some enlargements here.”

“Those are wind-pufis, They don’t hurt him any.
. Some say the cause of these legs swelling is yellow
water.” | 3

“T know they do- Did you ever give him anything
for that?”

“Yes, I have.”

“Help him?”

ra No.”

“Tt does have that appearance, looking him over.
What is this inside? He is swelled here and sore.”

‘‘T never saw that before. That is called the sec-
ond stifle bysome. Yes, he has strained himself prob-
ably getting up.” -

5U THE HORSE'S RESCUER.

“Whatis this up here? He sinks down here over
the whirl bone. Ever do anything for that?”

“Yes; I put on different kinds of liniment and
heated it in with hot irons.”

“ Did that help him ?”

“T don’t know as it did.”

‘‘ What are those marks on the inside of his legs ?”

“T had him fired—burnt; they say that makes them
stronger.

‘“‘ He seems weak on his hind legs. What are these
enlargements here?”

“They call them blood-spavins; some call them
bog-spavins.”

“What is this?”

“Well, they say them are curbs”

* What is this in here?”

“Oh, that’s nothing but thoroughpin.”

“ Hvar do anything for these difficulties?”

74 Yes,”

‘Did .it help them ?”

“T- can’t geeyas it hag.”

‘Well, we can’t stand here long. We must get
these horses out of here. It will soon be dark. I
have got a job at the barn to-night on that Kentucky
hunter mare. Well, we may as well tackle this horse.
Take up! Thunder! this horse’s feet are contracted.
Didn’t you know that ?”

‘They told me they were.”

“Did you ever do anythirg for them ?”

“Yes, Ihave used lots of foot ointment and salves
to make them grow fast.”

“ Well, I think that did make them grow. I guess

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 51

that is a good thing. It is about eight inches
from the top of the coronet to the toe on these feet all
around. Did you have irons on his feet when you
used this stuff ?”

pe

‘Well, I think they grew a little too fast. Where
did you put this ointment you used {’

“Well, I made a mark all around the foot just be-
low the hair, on the hoof, and I put it below the
mark.”

‘Did you put any on the inside?”’

“Yes; on the sole.”

“Did you get any on the frog?”

“Wo.”

“ Didn’t you know that in putting this trash on horn
or hoof that was already grown there was danger of
making it grow too fast ?”

‘No, I did not.”

“Didn’t you? Didn’t you know there wasa receipt
out to prevent it growing in case it should get to grow-
ing too fast?”

“Now

‘Well, there is, and they should always accompany
each other, for they are dangerous to be used separ-
ately. This is a fast age in which we live. I read a
receipt the other day that would makea foot grow out
from the hair down to its natural length in six weeks.
The natural growth of the hoof is about one year when
healthy, and no fever in it; and this is not all—with
irons on it could not expand, and that would incline
it to grow long and narrow. And at this rate of
growth a horse could be grown up from the time it

52 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

was born in twenty-four weeks to four your old. That
would excel the creator.”

I will show the effect of long feet before I get
through this work. Let us go on with this examina-
tion of this horse.

“This hois2 ever been bled in plait vein?”

ONES.

“ Help him ?”

“Nia;:’

‘““Hiver been nerved ?”

bNresi

“Welp him?”

odor

‘“ What are these scabs on here?”

‘“T had the wind-puffs cut open to let the wind out.”

‘They are sore yet ?”

ei Wees:

“Let us try him and see if he can stand on one for
ward leg while we get the shoe off the other.”

It has high corks on the heel to raise it to take the
strain off cords now He can’t stand down on heel.
It is lower with the shoe off. Well, we must work on
this foot until we get it fixed or we will have him
down. There will have to be some judgment used in
shortening the lever purchase on this horse with all
this contraction; forward legs braced out at least one
and a half feet from point where they should be, and
his hind feet shoved forward under his belly about the
same distance and from the same cause, and run over
at that; gambrels bowed out; toes in; hind feet hud-
dled together. This horse weighs twelve hundred ;
weight two-thirds, thrown back on his hind legs. Now.

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 53

this horse has got to be balanced in some way to
equalize his weight. Shorten that lever on toe, and
get his weight in center of foot, on all of his feet, or
nearly so, by dressing foot, or preparing shoe, or by
both.

“Well, Joe, you are too tall; you will raise him too
much; it will tip him over. I will try him. This
foot has got corns?”

“Yes; I had them dug out and tar burnt in.”

“They are sore now ?”

ie Sn : :

“Hiver do anything more to them ?”

“TJ put in spirits of salts and butter of antimony.”

“Oure them?”

No

“‘ What is this hole in the toe?”

‘“ A veterinarian said he was foundered ; bleeding in
the toe would cure him.”

“How much blood did he take from him?”

“Five quarts from each toe.”

“Well, what else?”

“He corked it with tar and tow, and burnt itin with
a hot iron.”

“Cure him ?”

Bea

‘We will never get this horse shod if we do not
quit examining them. What is this hole in this foot?”

“Well, a fellow told me to bore a hole in the bot-
tom of his foot and fill it up with turpentine. It
would cure him.”

“Did you?”

“Yes,”

4 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

Or

“Cure him?”

No.”

‘Well, this shoe is on at last. The weight is in
center nearly. Hus knee is a little weak, but I guess
he is about balanced on that foot. Let us shoe the
other.”

‘What is this cutting around the coronet or top of
hoof?”

‘A veterinarian told me the coronet band was too
tight. It should be cut so as to give it room to ex-
pand ?”

“Did it help him?

“Nog!

“That operation of spreading the foot by fitting
the shoe wider than the foot, so you could see the nail
holes all around, commence at the toe and starting all
of the nails and driving, no matter how high, by alter-
nate raps so as to spread the foot where it was con-
tracted ; and another process for contracting his heels
to tighten up the coffin-joint when it gets too much
piay ; that is, when it gets to cutting through neglect
to oil; and a few other great discoveries on horses’
feet, cost this government twenty-five thousand dol-
lars in the time of the Rebellion.”

“Tt’s larger at the top than it is at the bottom. I
guess that let it spread.”

“Did you take the shoes off when you cut the
coronet band ?”

“Neo,”

‘Were the fore legs braced out?”

whe ig

“Tf he had stood up straight, as he now does, it would

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 55

spread faster, the weight being in the center, with shoe
nailed on the bottom. Don't you think the bottom
would have been the proper place to spread the foot ?”

“ Well, it does seem so,”

“I have shod horses a great many years, and I have
never tried to spread the foot wider at the top than it
was at the bottom, but this process was recommended
by Robert Bonner, and I suppose it is all right. This
horse’s shell is thick. If it had been thin there would
have had to be some plan studied out to stop his foot
from splitting open in many places. Then it would
want contraction again to close the cracks. It is curi-
ous they could not see the lever; that tip-back
principle is not seen by many on horses, yet it
exists, which I shall show before I get through tbis
work. I intend this work to be an eye-opener. Iam
writing it in the night, when all is quiet, all asleep, for
I am so annoyed through the day I cannot write so
well.

These poor cripples are continually coming for re-
lief. Of course I tell them what to do. They want
me to do it. I tell them I am as stiff and sore as their
horses, and let them go. This book must be written.

Let us return to the horse. He is shod on the for-
ward feet. He stands a little back of straight. Let
us see how strong he is on his kness) Push him for-
ward on his knees. He is very weak, but he is kal-
anced about as well as he can be considering the con-
dition his poor contracted feet are now in. His toe,
that awful lever power, is growing. His knee will not
go over with this job. He feels better now, but his
feet ache awfully. Golly! in all of this hubbub, folks

a

58 THE HORSES RESCUE.

coming and going, horses, something the matter with
all of them; four or five talking at one time; all ex-
pressing their opinions and beliefs; new arrivals all
through the day, and late at night, no two affected
alike; some from one cause, some from. another, all in
a hurry to get home or go to mill or some other place,
To talk with them all and balance them all up in good
shape so they will not go lame in six months, and
fail nine times out of ten, is somewhat trying.

Well, let us go on with this job. Stand out about
eight feet from this horse, take a side view of him. If
you have a good sharp eye, if you are any judge of
the horse, or even if youare half blind, you can see the
position he is obliged to stand in. JI have fixed him
forward, and moved him back from the point where
they were when I commenced, at least fourteen inches,
and that is as faras I can get him without tipping him
on his knees, with his feet contracted as they are now.
Balancing deformed horses, you will find before we
get through this sail, 1s quite a science; and man will
have something more to do than to eat, sleep, and
wear clothes. Golly! that makes me think it is almost
night, and J have not had my dinner.

Are you looking at that horse? Yes. If you are
going to be my pupil you must pay close attention.
Where is the weight of that horse? See where his
hind feet stand now, and we have not even touched
them yet. They are all contracted, and eight inehes
from the hair down to point of toe. These feet should
be moved back at least eighteen inches, to get the
weight in the center of the foot. Of course, we ean-

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 57

not spread out his feet. We must do the best we can
as he ls.

Spreading the foot with nails, that is, by fitting the
shoe so much wider than the foot, I do not like. I do
not want to spread the foot at the toe; the heel is the
place. All feet spread at the toes, on that principle
would contract the heels; they are contracted enough
now. And that is not all; it would tear all the shell
off; besides, when they get soaked soft, the shoe,
shell and all, would go. Itis curious, is it not, with
all of the ailments this poor horse has, his doctors
have worked at the wrong place—the effect? But I
have not got through looking him over yet. He
stands as we left him. What would be the effect on
this horse if we should leave him, and not get his feet
back, so as to have his weight on the center of his
foot? There is eight hundred weight on them now.
There should be more than half on the fore leys, and
the horse weighs twelve hundred. That lever is
rather long. In the position he is obliged to stand
in his hind legs-are of but little use. If we take up
one of them half the weight must come on the shoer,
and there will be quite a struggle before that leg can
be got in a position to shoe. It has been so a long
time, and the horse is sore across his kidneys. His
hind parts are too low for his fore parts. Look at
him; his back is humped, and there is a constant
strain. All ‘s out of harmony, both internally and
externally. This horse is not as bad as he will be
made yet by these effect doctors, these veterinarians,
these professors of great wisdom. He will stand a
little more torturing*and mutilation. He is tough.

58 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

I can fix him so he can haul his half of two cords of
green wood up and down heavy hills a little while yet,
and suffer night and day, and I am going to do it.
Come on, Oliver, let us try him. We will have a
tough time. This horse is finished, and he stands
well back on his hind feet, shortening that lever by
dressing the foot, and raising heel of shoe a little
higher than toe. Look the horse over if you must
shoe, not stand and talk about shoes. This horse
stands where the weight should be—in center; he is
in pain, and always will be, unless his foot expands;
and I well know it will not with those irons on his
feet—all out of harmony, structure all changed from
natural. He steps short, and every foot pains him,
night and day. Still, it looks well on the outside. If
you want to tell look at his movement.

Do you think these two horses were all we shod
that day? No, it was not. Forty-one years wrestling
with horses of all kinds—I am tired. Good-bye, poor
horse, I will come and see you before I yet through
this work, for I am determined to find the way out of
this trouble.

Supper is over. Let us go to the barn and see the
Kentucky hunter. By golly! Kit, you are Jooking
fine. Her feet have had packing in them all the time.
Sponge over with whisky twice; rub dry each time.
We must look this mare’s hind parts over before we
drive her any more, for we want all to work together
“in harmony of action.” That lever is too long.
Weight is back of center of foot. Too much strain
on back tendons. That must be fixed before the mare
is driven another rod. Let us go to the shop, pare the

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 59

toe and shorten. The heels are low enough. The
structure is very nearly all right. Hasy toe to rise
on; narrow web shoe; little thicker at heel. Short
corks; heel a little higher than toe. She is shod.
Take a side view of her now. She stands back further
on her feet.”

OTs thab sor"

No; her body has gone forward. Now her body
has all gone forward. Her fore legs stand further
back of straight. The weight is more equal on the
center of foot, and she is on her foundation or base,
and her head has gone up a little more. Let us go to
the barn. Kit, by golly, we will make some of the
great horsemen’s eyes stick out on this job. Kit, we
are going to take a sail now. Clean out under shoe.
This frog is flattening out. That’s all right. Pile in.
Let us go up on the Ridge road. That is getting worn
down smooth. Let us drive moderate for a while, and
let her get used to the change. It is a little weaken-
ing to be changed so suddenly, and, that, too, one end.
at atime. She will soon recover from that. She is
ehanged toward naturai. She is even with herself in-
stead of five or six feet behind, which I will show by
cuts, and by principles that will not lie, before I get
through this work. Try yourself, Kit. Golly! see
how she flattens out. See where her hind feet strike,
outside of her forward feet. All clear five or six feet
ahead. You begin to be as your creator made you.
To-morrow is the day you are to show those bovs
what you can do. Whoa! Into the barn; rub until
dry. Pack forward feet. Gu.od, bright, clean hay;

60 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

good, dry, soft bed. It is two o'clock in the morning.
Let us have a little nap.

‘Where is Doan?”

‘He has net got up yet.”

‘Tell him to come out; I want to seehim. I want
these horses shod all around. Iam ina hurry. Don’t
vou get up until this time of day? You will sleep
your intellect all away. I want them shod all areund
now. lam going to drive them to Pennsylvania. I
want them sharp, longcorks; I don’t want to sharpen
them again this winter.”

“All right.”

These horses have flat feet all around. In six
months that man came to the shop.

‘“ Doan, I want these shoes clinched, and some nails
put in. I guess the nail iron wasn’t very good.”

The shoes were nearly buried inside of shell.

‘Mr. Knap, we eannot always get good nail iron.
It varies so that we cannot tell until we try it. How-
ever, I will fix them up.”

They came again to get shod, and settle up. It was
just nine months. The same shoes were on. The
hoof was spread out over the shoe with the weight of
the horse. It did not kill them. See that lever at
toe. Ihave seen hundreds of horses of that kind set-
tled down in front between top of coronet and point at
toe, the weight being in center of foot; the frog has no
rest, and is raised by corks from the ground. The foot
gets soft sometimes. Heel-nails always break first
from iever purchase. The horse always, when draw-
ing raises on toe. When climbing heavy hills, the
sole settles down until it 1s below flat. Then it is very

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 61

weak. Thecoffin-joint is badly affected. The high toe-
cork, drawing in tlfis fix, weight in center, completely
dislocates the coffin-joint, and in this case the horse’s
foot is almost useless. He rocks back on his heel; the
toe turns up and has a rocking motion at every step.
And yet he is expected to draw heavy loads. That
lever works badly on all kinds of feet. If it has not
broken down, it hurts at coronet where the ring-bone
comes and strains back tendons.

This lever works both ways to a greater or less de-
gree, and I will show what power there is in it con-
nected with contraction.

For fear the readers may think I have butcnered
and mutilated these poor already tortured horses, I
will say right here I never did; I have always known
it to be wrong, and I never believed horses were stiff-
ened by anything they eat or drank; and I know they
are not now. I lived at Talcot’s Corners when I was
at work on the Kentucky hunter mare, which I have
not got through with yet.

I will go back to the time I had worked at shoeing
the horse nine years in the village of Northville,
Cayuga Co., N. Y. Chauncey Hinman bought a pair
of dapple-cream mares, very nice, black legs, mane,
and tails. his place is two miles from Talcot’s Cor-
ners. At that time I had a good reputation as a shoer,
and did a large business in that line. I had taken my
old shop dewn to build larger, and things were all out
doors. These creams I shod the first time. They
had flat feet, thin shell. I had shod them, as near as I
can recollect about two years. Theirowner was my
regular customer; his horses needed shoeing; he

62 THE HORSES RESCUE.

waited forme to get my shop up. He had business
about one hundred miles, and he wanted to drive it.
Having no fire, I could not shoe them. He had
waited along time. His horse’s feet had grown very
long. They must be shod. He took them to another
shop and had them shod, and went his journey and
back. I sent my apprentice to tell him I wanted him
to draw some stone for me. He came and saw me.
He said:

‘“T have foundered my horses.”

“Perhaps that is not so; bring them over so I can
see them.”

He said they were so stiff he could not get them to
the shop in a half day.

“You must,” said I; “I can’t go now.”

It was three miles. He came. J soon saw where
the cause was. I told him I would cure them both
for four shillings.

“That is just what two other blacksmiths told me. .I
had those shoes set twice while I was gone, and it did
no good. I have foundered them. I had been told
that when-on the road, if:you water while the horse is
warm, and then drive on and keep him moving, there
ig no danger; but I stiffened my horses in this way.”

They were so stiff they could hardly move. After
they had stood awhile I pointed out where the cause
was; and spent about an hour explaining. ‘Then we
went to the shop. These horses had lght limbs and
as good feet as I want on a horse, and not much
changed if they had been dressed and trimmed as
they should have been. There was three inches of
useless hoof in length on the toe. I cut it off, and

THE HORSES RESCUE. 63

talked all the time, teaching. The shoe was a coarse
botch of a thing; not concave; creased in the middle;
heavy nails; long, pointed toe, with high toe-corks and
high heel-corks. In fact, one of the biggest botches I
ever saw. When I got these creams dressed up they
had colts’ feet, and their bodies came back on their
base; weight in the center. They were sore in their
cords. The cause was removed. [explained it all to
the owner three or four times over, and told him that
in a week they would be all right; if they were not I
would take them and pay him what they cost him.
A week afterward I was sitting on the verandah at
my house, and I saw the creams coming down the
road; heads up, good knee-action, feeling fine. He
stopped.

‘‘Doan, my horses are as sound as ever they were.”

“ Yes, that’s all right.” “Say, now, look here; tell
me what you did to those horses. No man shall shoe
these horses but you.”

‘‘Go where you please to get your shoeing done.”

My God! what good did all of that talk do? I
told him again, “ Look out for that lever purchase?”

My brother Oliver and myself had those horses and
thousands of others of that kind to cure of ‘chest
founder "—some over and over again. ‘Talkand work
and teach, and no one would learn! Horses came
blistered and with setons in shoulders. The fact is, the
owners looked at us and not at the horse. After
you read this book, go and look at the horse.

Well, we have hada hard day putting these poor
horses on their base and balance. In all stages and

64 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

degrees of changes from natural. My head rings from
being bent over so much.

Supper is over. Let us go and see the Kentucky
hunter.

‘Kit, this is the night you were to show yourself
to those boys that examined you.”

The reader must bear in mind that this mare had
not been seen by anyone but myself.

“There, Bill Jones, straddle this mare” (Bill Jones
was a boy). “ Let her sail.”

She did sail better than any horse they had. She
was a good one. Some of the men were there who
seen her in a stiffened condition. Do you think that
attracted their attention? It did not, and that
is the reason I am writing this work. Next day
I had business at Kelloggsville to pay astallion license.
(I have kept stallions.) It was nineteen miles, hubby
and rough. J was on the Moravia flats ealy
in the morning. Gird Mead was leading his horses
across the road to water. Isaw him. I knew him,
and knew where he lived, when I traded with
his hired man, Sam. He did not know me; never
had seen me, asI knew. It is a good time to sur- -
prise him. He thought he had played sharp on
me. The flats were worn quite smooth, and that was
all the smooth road I found on that trip I let her
sail. I saw him looking and pulled up and asked,
“ Tow far is it to Kelloggsville ?”

“ About six miles.”

J saw him looking at the mare’s fore legs.

“Do you know her?” said L

*Well, I had a mare that would match her very

e

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 65

well, but she was stiff. I let her goa few days ago.”

“This is the same mare. I traded with Sam
Grover.” ;

‘Well, I would like to know what you have done
to her.”

I jumped out, explained the whole thing to him, as
I always do, and sailed on. Remember that lever.
The mare I was driving was worth one hundred and
fifty dollars, and the one he got, seventy-five dollars.
I got twenty dollars to boot. How does that loss fig-
ure? Ninety-five dollars on account of toe leverage
on horses. Do not forget that that principle works
bad on all horses, and worse on hind feet. I think
this mare would look better with the neck strap looped
over the turret to hold the collar up. I do not lke
that thing. She holds her head so high it feels dis-
agreeable. Here we are at the harness-shop. ‘‘ Whoa.”’
The saddler is getting the length.

“This looks something like the mare Doc Mead
had.”

“This is the same mare.”

“That can’t be. I saw her a few days ago; she
was awful stiff.”

“Tt is the same mare.”

‘How did you cure her?”

1 told him all about it.

“T have got a horse I just traded for,” says he.
“Perhaps he isthe same. He is stiff Will you go
and look at him?”

‘Yes, this is a different case; cause not so easily re-
moved; cup foot; take his shoes off, cut his feet

66 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

down nearly half; let him go without shoes; that will
help him some.”

‘hat poor horse could hardly stand; contracted
feet, leverage. I cannot do all the hard work and
furnish brains, too. There are so many making
more all of the time. I teach, talk early and late,
night and day.” Sail home; get home long before
night. Thirty-eight miles’ drive over hubs; stinging
cold; take good care of Kit. While doing it the
three or four gather around.

“Doan, where have you been all day ?”

“To Kelloggsville.”

‘We have waited all day for you.”

Horses all lame or interfering; some one thing,
some another.

“Can you do it?”

“Yes, as soon as I get something to eat. ve had
no dinner.”

Get in shop; sleeves rolled up; at it again. Get
them all pleased as wellasI can. It is nine o’clock,
perhaps later. Kit must be cleaned off, and made
comfortable before I sleep. I will have to wait five
weeks before I can finish her; but we will have lots
of good sails during that time in the night. She must
have exercise or I cannot cure her. This is the way
I cure all cases of this kind.

Reader, do you think I sat down and waited for
that time tocome? If you do that would not make
it so. I had lots of horses I was working on. They
were not in my care, only as they came to the shop to
be shod. Work and teach; give directions none fol-
fowed. Day after day this work all had to be done

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 67

over and over again and no good result, some going
on from bad to worse. Do you know what I thought
sometimes? Well, I will tell you. I thought the ecre-
ator had not got man finished yet. I have not changed
my mind yet on that. He needs some more work
done on him. He is not polished yet, and that is one
reason for my writing this work. Men have no knowl-
edge of the animal, the horse. I have two brothers,
Oliver Doan and J. J. Doan. They have been ground
through this mill for years. Sometimes we were all
in one shop together, all talking about principles to
shoe the horse on to keep him from getting Jame, and
how to cure. Sometimes we would agree, and at other
times we would not, and it would get middling hot:
but we still kept up the battle for the horse. We
were working for the horse, not for the man. Some-
times all scattered singly. We all carried on shops in
many places. I worked nine years in many different
shops. At the age of twenty-three I opened a shop
at the little village of Northville, in the town of
Genoa, Cayuga county, N. Y. I was a jobber and
carriage ironer, and carried on that business, connected
with horse-shoeing. Olver commenced to work at
Taleot’s Corners with Halsey W. Taylor six years
after I did. I commenced with Taylor to learn my
trade. For some reason, I know not what, Oliver left
and came where I was at work at Little Hollow for
Zenos B, Richmond, who carried on the carriage busi-
ness, jobbing, and shoeing the horse. Richmond hired
him by the year. We toned a year and a half there
together—his wages thirty dollars a year and board,
he toclothe himself. He went with me to Northville.

68 THE HORSE’S RESCUER.

We wrestled with the horse there several years. Then
Joseph, another brother, came. He is next younger.
He tried it for a while and quit. Oliver worked for
me in all about eleven years. In a short time
Joseph came and wanted to try it again. Then we
were all in my shop together. We had lots of hard
battles balancing these poor horses, all studying on
some principle to shoe on to benefit the horse. Oli-
ver had carried on business in the states of New Jer-
sey, Pennsylvania, and New York. He soon started
business for himselfagain. Then Joseph went with him.
Thus I lost the most trusty man Lever had to work on
the horse or any other kind of work. I had connected
wagon-work and painting with my business. That
they learned and carried on connected with ‘their busi-
ness. Joseph changed around; sometimes he was with
meand again Oliver. Then he went to work in other
shops; Oliver the same the fore part of his life. Joseph
carried on business in many places, and was shoer
in the Rebellion fora brigade. I carried on business in
ten different places. In this horse sail I came around
in the same place. I always bought. ‘T'wice I beught
the same property, and battled for the horse. I write
this to show you how queerly this sail worked. We
were learning the horse-shoeing trade, and we did
learn it. Weare nowall together nearly in the same
place. Hach dropped all other mechanical work and
fell in line, battling for the horse. We have made
shoeing a specialty for many years, working on
the horse, and intend to keep up this fight. As long
as we three live single or together, we are all united.

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 69

It is perfected, as near as it can be, and iron the
horse’s feet.

Go with me to Auburn city. There you will see a
man standing by a fine dapple-gray stallion. His eyes
are sunken; he looks care-worn, and his cheeks are
hollowed, battling, teaching almost night and day; J. J.
Doan doing the same. This man’s name is Oliver
Doan. I visit them often while I am writing this
work to see how the battle is going. They are curing
horses without medicine. Reader, do not think this
is the beginning; these boys have been master of the
horse’s feet about eight years; and Oliver, as I said,
has been working almost night and day trying to in-
troduce and teach this great discovery. He says he
will never give it up. I looked him over the other
day. I told him I thought he must give out soon un-
less he had rest, he was so over-taxed and broken of
his rest. If we lose this soldier it will weaken our
army very much. My own back is about given out,
and Joe’s is the same. I left them still in the field to
write this book.

Let us go back to Talcot’s Corners, where the Ken-
tucky hunter mare is, and work five weeks on horses
day after day and nights. I have four or five cup feet
horses. Jam trying to spread their feet, shoeing on
the wrong principle. I tried a shoe made in this way,
bevel out or incline plane; so that the foot would slide
out with the weight of the horse. I worked at that for
years, but I could not gain anything. I soaked the
feet and drove with the same result. Sometimes the
feet grew narrower instead of expanding. I made up
iny mind it was wrong, and for this reason: the foot

70 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

_constantly sliding out and going back at every step
the horse took kept the structure of the foot in
motion, and it was badly changed from natural. It
did not remove the cause; on the contrary, it irritated
it—made bad worse. The foot was always dry and
hard. I dropped that and went back to flat rest on
heel. That worked better. I rasped the foot in front
to weaken, so the heels would spread, and put a few
nails in the toe so as not to hold the heels. Still L
could gain but little, and often lost more than I gained.
Wet and dry weather worked against me, but that
power, the lever, was the worst. For years and years
I worked to try to save horses from getting stiff, and
still they came pouring in for relief. If they had never
seen a blacksmith or shoer, they would have been all
right, or nearly so; but I did not know at that time
they were thrown in sucha bad condition, as I after
many years found out by experimenting.

It is five weeks since I shod Kit; let us finish her
off. I always shoe my horses all around at one time,
unless a shoe should get torn off by accident or other-
wise. This mare’s foot has grown five weeks; the
lever on the toe has grown some. The heels were
too low when we shod her. Pare the toe now from
heel; make new shoes this time, the same as the first,
only with thinner heels. The heel is higher on the
foot. Look up and down the horse’s leg and calculate
how the work should be done to keep the strain off the
cords; place the foot back as far as she can, and heel
sit flat down on the floor, and not hurt her. If you
get the heel too high she cannot move well, and it will
tip her on knee and ankle. This principle works the

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. ra!

same on all horses. This mare was contracted but
very little. Now I am going to test this and see how
she will stand a big drive in the month of March.

I drove here on rough roads, up and down hills,
two hundred and sixty miles, at from fifty to sixty
miles a day, and no founder, no soreness of cords. I
had dressed up her feet for the journey. I sold her
that spring to a Mr. Smith. I shod her while he
owned her, which was one year. He sold her to Mr,
Niles, who also owned her fora year. I continued to
shoe her. She hauled wood all winter over hubs,
when Niles sold her for one hundred and fifty dollars.
In a short time she got in another blacksmith shop,
and became “foundered” in the chest. Then there
was arow. Niles came to mein a rage.

“ Doan, what is there about that black mare you
sold to Smith? They say you say she has been
foundered. The man I sold her to wants me to take
her back.”

‘“T have said nothing of the kind, She was the
stiffest horse J ever saw when I got her. I removed
the cause in four days, and can do it again.”

He had to take her back. I never saw her after
Niles sold her. I had all the horses I could take care
- of. I could have bought her cheap and sold in a few
days, and made some more money on toe-leverage.
I could find this kind of horses any day, and all over;
they were being made everywkere by the wholesale.
This work is intended to be an eye-opener. It is “The
Horse’s Rescue,” and if this does not do it, I shall.go
at it myself again; it is good business relieving the
suffering horse.

fee THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

I will bid Kit good-bye. I told her owner that if I
saw or heard of those mutilators, blisterers, rowel-
ers, and butchers at her again, I would “go for
them.”

Reader, do not think all of these sufferers are to be
cured like this mare; if you do, you will make a mis-
take. No matter what “they say,” give your atten-
tion and learn. After the cause is removed on them
by working on the feet, they must have work and ex-
ercise or they cannot be changed back to natural, no
matter how long or short standing. All must be
changed back and come in harmony of action, as their
creator made them, or no cure will be effected. They
must be balanced on all four feet, their weight equal-
ized on each foot and in center of each foot. The
structure of every foot must be in its proper place and
balanced in the center. Standing with his feet all ina
huddle under his belly, with his head down, and
asleep, you could take a natural horse by the tail and
rock him as youcoulda chair with rockers on itand not
move his feet or strain him or hurt him in any way on
cords or tendons. He can rear up and stand on his
hind legs straight; kick up straight and not hurt him.
I have watched the colt stand for hours balanced
in this way asleep. If he had not been balanced in
center, he cou'd not stand in that position asleep.
The stiff horse can stand and sleep if his hind legs are
not shoved too far forward under his belly by lever and
contraction, and by being run over, something as a
sawhorse stands; but he has no action, and he is
obliged to stand in this way, or not stand atall. If

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 73

he lies down, he often wants help to get up, end can-
not stand then.

I had a horse I called Bill. I have seen him play
for hours in the pasture in this way; he would rear
up, walk on his hind feet, then come down on his for-
ward feet, and kick up almost straight. I watched
him. I noticed his feet all struck in one place in the
center. That horse could get his head down to eat
grass and drink water without sprawling out his legs
or falling over on his head and breaking his neck,
which I will better explain hereafter. Curious, with
all of the books we have had; they never got away
from that poor sore foot, and these wonderful shoes all
polished up It seems to me they worked a very
small field on the horse, and it would have been better
if they had not worked that. After the horse got
so he could not get his head down nor up, they intro-
duced feeding hay on the ground. It is curious they
always got it wrong, as I will show they have. Then,
worse than all, they want to keep it so by trying to
enact laws so that no blacksmith shall operate on a
horse’s foot unless he has a diploma from some veter-
inary college or university, or an order from us.
‘Our heads contain all of the brains and knowledge
and wisdom, and we will furnish it for you. It is in-
exhaustible!” My, my! do you not know a man is
known by his works?’ Let us take a sail, and peep
around and see what we can find.

I must-pass over many years of hard knocks, work-
ing on and battling for the horse. It will not be inter-
esting, and I do not want to write it I could not.
Tet us go in the street-car shop in Elmira. Here

-

74 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

stands a row of horses, and it is all they can do to
stand, Whatis the matter with them? They are all
off of their base, caused -by lever power in all stages
and degrees of change, and all in the wreng way.
“What are these holes cut in here for where the hind
feet stand?” ‘To let the toes draw in to relieve the
cords.”’ Let uslook around. Herestand some in the
water—disabled—soaking their feet, which are con-
contracted, and with two sets of feet, and shoes on;
head down, suffering; blisters, setons, and all man-
ner of torturing going on. On one side is the shoeing
shop; on the other is a professor's or veterinarian’s
sign. Professor of what? Torturing the already suf-
fering horse. And yet te gets a good salary. Look
at the condition of the horses, and see if he earns it.
We have professional thieves, gamblers, and hars, but
their occupation is more useful] than mutilating these
poor helpless creatures. This work is “Tne Horse's
Rescuer.” Gerard Doan is the author of it, and he
does not “scare worth ‘a cent.” ‘There are two
brothers connected with this work—chips off of the
-old block. Let us go to Newburg, in Orange Co., and
see what we can find there. We see these horses
climbing up and down stairs, or inclined planes, two
stories high, at nearly quarter pitch, in this deformed
condition, all off base or equilibrium or balance. This
is not scen, I well know.. When these horses are
moving on the road they are behind themselves. I
can explain it in no other way better than this. It
put me in mind of the puppy in pursuit of lis shadow,
The object always remains at the same distance. ‘I'he

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 75
animal is trying to get on his base or foundation. His
weicht is unequally adjusted.

When looking around, talking horse, a man says:
“T have a fine-looking horse. He can hardly walk.
Will you go and see him?” “Yes.” They say he is
‘foundered ;” flat feet all around; shoes on; weight
in center; corks on shoe; frog on ground; went down
through the cup; long toes; rounding on bottom;
broken in front; coffin-joint injured or dislocated. I
told the man to pull off the horse’s shoes, cut off that
lever, and put the weight on the frog. He might get
well. It would help help him if he did not recover.
He thought that would not do. Here is another case—
cup foot. This horse is within a stone’s throw of a
veterinarian’s office in Himira. The owner says: “If
you will cure him I will give you ten dollars.” Let us
examine him. One foot is not half as long as its mate,
and that is contracted badly. He is only eight years
old. On one he has what is called a ‘heart shoe,”
frog-bearing; not nearly as longas it might have been.
Long pointed toe, and ironed solid. He was in great
pain.

They were trying to shoe this horse in that way.
A frog-bearing shoe should never be put on a cup foot
in any case. It holds the sole up and makes bad
worse for this reason: the foot cannot expand unless
the sole can come down. And that is not all; if
itis nailed it cannot run down unless the shoe gets
loose, and then the shoer takes a scurfing. This prin-
ciple is the same on all cup feet. I tried to induce him
to pull all of the shoes off and dress his feet down at
the toe. Cutoff that lever Icould not. I walked

76 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

away. Before I got through this work I will tip over
more than you are aware of with that lever.

Let us sit down on the hotel verandah and have a
rest, and see the horses pass and study them. This is
agreat thoroughfare to Elmira, a continuous stream
of horses passing and repassing, nearly all lame. Some
are stiff in one way or another. It occurred to me this
is the place for me. They are in a worse condition
here than any place I ever have been in. I lived in
Tioga county, Pennsylvania. At that time I owned a
farm and was trying to work it. J always had a shop,
and was always talking horse and teaching all I could.
It soon brought a lot of cripples for relief, as it always
had. There was no place I could do it all. I might
as weil sell my farm and give up trying to work at
any kind of business. I did sell it, and all of my
property except my horses and driving rigs. These I
inmust keep. ‘They are all nearly new and good. I
shall need them to exercise horses if I work on them.
T had as fine a pair as any I saw in Horseheads. They
were wanted to put.on the street cars. I said I would
rather see them dead than let them go there. And
they were soon dead. Before I got all of my goods
moved my Bill, that was balanced in center, had gone.
He was the first to go. JI was driving the pair to-
gether., The roads were muddy. A board was buried
in the mud. He stepped on the end; it flew up, ran
into him, and killed him. You can see me in a barn.
Jolin Saterly, born in Horseheads, examining a horse.
This horse is five years old, the very picture of my
Bill. His forward feet are soaking. I asked, ‘‘ How
came the frogs all out of these feet, Mr. Saterly ?”

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. Tt

“T think he must have cut them out on stone.”

That is not it; his feet are badly contracted; the
circulation is all cut off from the frog by the pressure.
The sole each side of the frog. You must get him
out of that.”

“Will you do it for me?”

sage tak ch

‘“ All right; we will have a frog in those feet in less
than a year. ‘I'his horse had not been used in nearly
one year. He could not travel. He was a present to
John from a friend. John suffered with the horse. I
relieved them both, How? I will tell you. I
spread his feet, and told John to drive him every day.
In one year hehad the colt’s foot on him, and John was
offered five hundred dollars for him. He would not
sell him. How much did I get for him? How much
did I get for that job? The price of shoeing the horse
and John’s friendship, and that is more than I got from
thousands for the same job. Iam going to send Joha
one of these books if I live.

Where next? On the floor in David Townsend’s
shop, driving on shoes for two fighters; work four
days at one dollar per day; have arow. I refuse to
drive on shoes unless they are more properly fitted ;
am called a damned botch. I told them I never had
slaughtered horses when I knew it, and I should not
begin now. Iam ordered out of the shop. I picked
up my tools and told them I would have a shop of my
own in this place soon. ‘‘ You can’t shoe all of the
horses if you do,” is the reply.

Where next? In ashop on the bank of the canal;
wrestled with the horse early and late. There are nine

(fe) THE HORSE'S RESCURK

shops in this place. Let us go and look Mr. Bennett's
stable of horses over, and see how we find them. In
a suffering condition; in all stages of suffering. I
talked with Mr. Bennett. Explain, teach, all of the
time. He tells me to take them and fix them up.
What ails this horse in here? Sh! He is gone up;
he can hardly stand. THe is strained, | think, across
the loin; his water-works are out of order all of the
time. ‘That horse and his mate,’ says Mr.- Bennett,
“cost me eight hundred dollars not long ago.” His
mate had a flattish foot. I shod him. He was in the
team at time we were talking. ‘‘ What is so inuch
straw in here for?” I asked.

“He can’t stand on the ground.” Let us get him
out of this straw so we can see his feet. Ob, horror!
this poor horse was nearly ready to fall over back-
ward, as his eyes and general appearance showed the
intense suffering he was obliged to endure, too plainly
for atyy man that had eyes not tousee. “Mi. Bem
nett,” said I, “do you know what is the matter with
that horse ?”

alk eva

“ Well, I do. I can relieve him in a very short
time, and will if you will let me. It’s a hard job for
him and me, too, but it must be done.”

This horse had not been able to work ina long time,
and had been crammed with all kinds of trash called
“medicine.” He had : shoes on and was higher from
the top of his hoof down to the point at his.toe than
any other horse I ever saw His feet were quite
straight up and down; his fore legs stood about perpen-
dicular; his breast was full, his shoulders nearly all

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. TY

right, his hind feet weet were drawn forward under his
belly by contraction and leverage, and were of but lit-
tle use to him. If his fore legs had been braced for-
ward he would have gone over backward, It would
have thrown so much weight on his already overtaxed
lees, they being so much off their bose. This horse
was eight years old; weight about thirteen hundred.
Reader, iow would you like to tackle that horse
aloneasI did? I hada goodsweat. I have thought
hundreds of times in my life that the worth of a man’s
work is not known until he had been dead five hun-
dred years, and not always then. I cut those feet
down nearly half, balancing the horse as well as I
could at that time. His feet were very sore. I put
on shoes suitable for him, pared the sole so it could
eome down by his weight in the manner I have already
described (see page 88), packed his feet with clay.
Remember, no nails back of the widest part of the
foot. The next morning, after shoeing this horse, he
was harnessed to a one-horse wagon loaded with a
small quantity of lumber, and driven at a walk by my
orders. He belonged to a man that owned a mill and
lumber-yard. The horse delivered lumber. I watched
his feet. Do not forget to clean in the morning all
cut under his shoe. If you do forget it you will fail.
This horse was heavy. I balanced him with his
weight in the center of foot.

Cripples come pouring in in all degrees of chanve
from natural, interferers, and all kinds but those in a
natural condition. Not one of these arrived in tlhe
lot. I fixed them all tp as well as I could. One
horse came that it will be particularly well to men-

80 THE HORSE'S RESCUER

tion. He had a thin-shelled, flat foot. He was lame.
His foot was large, and shod too large—uy on corks,
center up from ground; his foot spread too much, and
was constantly springing at every step from the weight
of the horse. It made him lame. I put clips on the
shoe at the quarters to prevent the springing. He
went off very well. I told the owner he must not
leave the shoes on more than four weeks; if he did, it
-would play misehief with the ecoffin-joint; the sole
would rise in center. What good did that do? In
nearly six months after I saw the horse—so stiff he
eculd hardly walk, with the same shoes on. They
had not been set, I talked with the owner about it.
He did not like my shoeing. He liked that lever on
the toe, contraction, coffin-joint lameness, perisaed
shoulders, and a deformed horse, better. It did not
injure my business any. He had watered or fed him
three or four timesa day. “They say” he is found-
ered, and that clears up the business,

Ten days have passed since I pulled that horse out
of the straw. He has worked drawing lumber every
day. It was rainy during this time, which was in my
favor. I did not have to pack his feet. They soaked
while at work. “Hello, boy! drive up here.” (it
was a boy that drove him.) Let us examine this
horse’s feet and body. He is working back on his
base fast. His hind legs stand back at least one foot
iarther than he did when we pulled him out of the
straw. Let us look at the heels of feet all around.
They are all spread a quarter of an inch over the
shoe. Take him off the wagon; let us spread these ,
shoes out even with foot, plump; this foot is flatten-

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. S1

ing and lowering. The sole is coming down, and foot
assuming its natural shape. The structure is gradu-
ally coming into harmony of action. He is improv-
ing internally and externally. He needs no medicine,
neither does he take any. Heisin my care. ‘Drive
on, boy.”

Readers, J was working a large number at the same
time. Some I helped, some I made worse. Their
owners all knew more than I did, or they listened to
that old “they say,” and went the rounds from one
shop to another, until their horses were nearly ruined ;
then back to me again. I did not have the horses in
my care, consequently I could not gain anything, con-
tinually dcing the same work over again. It put me
in mind of a puppy pursuing his tail, the object of
pursuit ever remaining at the same distance. I assure
you, reader, it is somewhat trying to a man’s powers
of endurances. I have a little boy, Frank. He is
fourteen years old now. Since the age of six years he
has stood by these poor horses for hours, sponging and
working their legs with warm warter, soaking their
feet, caressing, and talking to them, while I was shoe-
ing. He was all the help I had, and see what I did to
the horses. He can talk horse, and see their suffering
condition nearly as quickly as I can.

Two weeks have passed. Let us look to this horse
that is drawing lumber. His feet are spreading over
the shoe ugain. We must spread his shoes again.
The fever is all gone. His feet do not dry up hard
now. They need no packing. He can rest nights,
and can get up, and lie down. Let usspread all of his
shoes out plump with his hoofs. ‘Drive on, boy.”

$2 THE HORSES RESCUE.

I had some hard work at balancing during these
intervals at Mr. Bennett’s stables of horses, and
hundreds of other changes in all stages and degrees,

Here come two men with a fine pair of young
horses.

“They say you can stop any horse from interfering.
Ican sell this pair in E!mira for eight hundred dollars
if I can get him stopped. I will give you twenty-
five dollars if you will doit. Get in and ride See,
he creeps with his hind feet.”

“Tsee. You would not give me that amount of
money if I did stop him.”

“T will!”

I had heard that kind of bugling too much to ex-
pect any twenty-five dollars, for I well knew I would
not get it. Isaw at a glance the cause of the horse’s
creeping and interfering. “‘ Lead in.”

Reader, take this lesson. This horse was run over.
Too much weight on inside, which I have explained ;
lever on toe. He-crept for this cause. - He hardly
dared to step. Such ignorance! Claiming to know
so much, and knowing so little! The man told me
they drove about six miles, and went ail clear.

“T cuess the old blower has stopped him,” said he.

He shied around fora while, separated that team
for fear it could not be done again, then tried to get
him back, but could not. Did I get the twenty-five
dollars? No; this is one case in thousands worse
than that-in forty-one years’ wrestling with the horse.
Let us look after this horse whose feet we spread.
Try and keep track of this one we are experimenting
on. It has been six weeks since he was shod. That

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 83 —

lever has grown some. His feet are lower from top .
of wall to ground than it was when we first shod him.
It has been growing all the time. Expanding the foot
lowers it. The structure is nearly in harmony inter-
nally. He begins to play and shows some signs of
action. Let us shoe him. Reader, these are facts,
not lies. Dress his feet. What is this we come to
cupping out his foot, not scen before? Itseems to be
a mass of corruption, a watery, bloody substance I
cannot describe. His feet are all the same. At that
time I had never seen any so bad. Let us pare and
clean out. There seems to bea sole under this cor-
ruption. Shoe again, so the foot will expand by the
horse’s own weight. ~ It will go easy now. This horse
goes in the team again with his mate. Do not forget:
Like causes produce like effects on all horses. There
is no safety unless you understand the principles laid
down in this work. I saw this horse three years later
at work. I did not goto him. I was riding through
the village of Horseheads. Good-bye, poor horse.

I improved the condition of all of Mr. Bennett's
stable of horses so much that he talked continually for
me. That brought all of the shoers down on me, and
the doctors in their rage knew no bounds. During
this battle I waked up at two o’clock in the night.
Hearing a noise at the barn I went out and found it
allon fire. My horse and rigs were all consumed.
That day was spent in clearing up the wreck. The
next day I was again in the shop battling for the
horse. The cripples still came pouring in from all
quarters. This shop was small. I must have more
room. During this time a man was stopping at Mort

84 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

Bennett, Jr’s., hotel teaching a credulous but ignorant
people how to cure stiffened and blind crippled horses.
He lectured in the streets, and was hired to cure the
stiff horses. He charged three dollars. This was
done by bleeding in the plait vein. That would cure.
Tt would take a few months after the operation. The
blind were cured by the same butchery; in fact,it was
all mutilation. The horses there were a bloody-look-
ing lot. This was carried on for six weeks. These
horses all came to my shop at first to be shod immedi-
ately after the bleeding. I told them they were
fooled. I balanced between contraction, run-over
feet, and leverage as well as ITecould. Mort Bennett,
Jr., had a very fine dapple-brown horse six years old,
the best museled horse, I think, I ever saw; in fact,
the best I ever saw on all points. He had the best
material in his feet. That is an indication of good,
fine bone. This horse I had been shoeing. He was
bacly off his base on all of his feet, and badly air-
puffed on all of his legs, caused by contraction and
leverage. His feet were walled up behind about four
inches. They had been allowed to grow at the heel
to keep him on his base and prevent the strain on his
cords—always pare the toe and never the heel. He
had gone from bad to worse until he was nearly off
his legs, I had talked with Mr. Bennett about his
horse Mike (for that was his name) which was ia this
condition the first time I shod him. I told Bennett
his feet were badly contracted and he could not be
heiped shoeing. Ie must be shod. [did the best I
could. It would rot do to cut his heels down. He
would “sore? inhis'cords. T balaneed him upas well

THE HORSE'S RESCUR. $5

as possible. I well knew what would soon be the re-
sult. Inashort time this poor, suffering horse fell 2
victim to that wonderful professor of great wisdom.
Mike had got so bad he could hardly hobble any
longer. Something must be done. Mike was sent to
my shop with a written order from this skilful opera-
tor, giving directions how to shoe him, which I well
knew were all wrong. I told the hostler to take him
back and tell that man to send no more of his butch-
ered horses. I would not shoe them. “Tell Mort
Bennett,” said I, ‘that when they all get through tor-
turing Mike I will remove the cause of his troubles
for twenty-five dollars if you do not cut his cords off.”
Of course that set them all howling.

Reader, you want to know what that order was. I
will tell you. It was “pare the toes down until] they
bleed; cut none from the heels; shoe thick at heels;
thin at toe; no corks.” IT have already written about
the condition of these feet inside caused by contrac-
tion. This order was to cut and trim the foot so it
would have the appearance of a colt’s foot to look at,
although it did not say so in words. Reader, would
that work? Would it remove the cause of that poor
horse’s suffering? I well knew it would not. I can
tell in advance what the result will be. Cuused by
such work as that, on all contracted feet the cup foot
suffers the most. The work was done on Mike’s feet
by another shcer. I saw Mike tied to a post a short
time after, head down. His hair looked dead ; he was
suffering; his knees tipped and shaking. Mr. Bennett
came along. I called his attention to it. I told him
Mike would gnaw his feet in ten days. They had not

S6 THE HORSE'S RESCUE:

removed the cause. They had added more to it.
After a few months’ standing that would be harder to
cure than at first. That horse was a livery horse. He
soon gave out. J'he hostler told me he was groaning
and thrashing all night and day. The lips were worn
through to the bone. I called in to see him every
day in hopes I might rescue him. The hostler called
to me, “ Doan, Mike is gnawing his foot.” Previous
to this I had moved up-town, got in a larger shop with
three fires in it, and had lectured on the horse in
front of Mr. Bennett’s hotel, and exposed that butcher
ealled ‘ doctor;” called a crowd while I was trying to
teach the people what the cause was of all their lame
and crippled horses. I was dragged out of the wagon
I was standing in by Robert Colwell, the boss of the
towr. I stood just in the same place where that
slaughterer had lectured six weeks before. He took
some money away with him. He heard my lecture,
and sloped that might.

This book is called the “ Horse’s Rescue.” Let us
eo on with this horse fight; let us look after Mike.
While the hostler and I were iooking at Mike's feet
Mr. Bennett’s came in, and I ealled his attention to it.
Mike had gnawed his feet at the top of wall full of
holes, and his feet were raked all over with his teeth.
While we were talking, in came the shoer with apron
on. Then there was another row. Bennett said,
“Brees, what is the cause of this horse gnawing his
feet?”

“It is contraction.”

Ue was mght. Mr. Brees shod this horse from in-
structions this butcher had given him. Jt was not his

THE HORSE’S kESCUE. 87

fault; the butcher was gone before either of them
touched him, He was in the last stages. The last
time I shod him I well knew it. I told Mr. Bennett 1
could remove the cause of all his trouble in four days,
take all of the air-puffs off his forward legs, and
straighten his legs) How is that to be done? Make
him natural. Put the colt’s foot on him. Mr. Brees
says that cannot be done. It must beif he is cured.
Of course there was lots of money to be bet. I was
ready for that. I offered to bet one hundred to ten—
five hundred to fifty dollars—I could do it. No
takers. Lots of talk. No help for the poor horse. I
did not get him that time. He was led back into the
stable to suffer. Do you know, I could not sleep
nights. J must have that horse in some way. I talked
and figured in all shapes. All were fighting; called
me crazy; some called me a damned fool. I well
knew if I told them what I intended to do I would not
get him. I passed the stable going to my shop daily.
I called to see Mike; his sufferings were intense—
growing worse every day. As I was passing along
by the barn Mr. Bennett said:

“Doan, I guess I shall have to let you have that
horse.”

‘Maio he?

“ Now, if you do not cure him you will not charge
me much ?”

‘No; I will leave that to your honor. I want him
for an advertisement.”

“What security am I to have if you injure the
horse 2?”

‘“ How much do you eall him worth ?”

88 THE HORSE'S RESCUE:

“One hundred and fifty dollars.”

“ Allright. I will deposit the money in the bank
for you, or I will state before these witnesses, [ am
good for it, and will pay it if the horse dies from any
cause while in my care.”

“ How long do you want him?”

“Four days. Mr. Bennett, this horse is to be under
my control four days. If you get dissatisfied during
this time you cannot take the horse. You must take
one hundred and fifty dollars and the horse is mine.”
Witnesses were called to that bargain.

Reader, you can see a man stepping middling high
and fast going to my shop leading a suffering horse.
In less than five minutes his shoes were off, and his
feet were in warm water soaking. I had shoers at
work in the shop; horses coming all of the time, lame
and stiff, to get cured. Horses were going on from
bad to worse, caused by shoeing. <All wanted me to
shoe their horses. I told them, “ When I get this
horse out of his suffering I will be ready for you.”
Some of them coming eight or ten times a day, would
not let my workmen touch their horses. [ had to put up
with some abuse. Let them baw], I must cure this horse,

Reader, here is a good lesson. Let us examine
these feet, the forward ones first. Let us look at the
bottom. There is no hollow in this foot. It is, to all
appearance, a flat foot. It has been dressed in such a
way that the inexperienced could not tell where and
how it was changed from natural. The fact is, his
feet are filled up. They look all right. His heels are
walled up four inches high from coronet down, nearly
as high as the foot is long from coronet in front to

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 8&9

point of toe. Being dressed in this way tipped his
knees and ankles the same. His head is down; he is
thrown off his equilibrium and base forward; that is,
over on his nose, or in that direction. This is not all:
the inside of his foot or structure is all out of har-
mony of action; his foot is not the natural size; it
has been cut down at the toe too much, and it was
ironed solid and dead. Before we dress these feet let
them soak in warm water while we look this horse
over. Understand, this horse has air-puffs on all of
his legs half way to his knees and gambrels. Let us
see what condition his hind feet are in. They are
contracted as bad as his forward feet. His heels have
been cut down; his feet are shoved forward by this
contraction. His toe is one inch too long; the struct-
ure is changed all out of harmony. He is obliged to
stand in this position and work. How is’ this horse
balanced ? One-half of him is one way; the other the
opposite. What must the condition of this horse be
internally, and he obliged to draw heavy loads daily ?
Ponder, think! this horse was fed eighteen quarts of
oats per day, still he was thin, hair dead, no gloss on
it. He ate ravenously, and grain passed him whole.
The fact is, he swallowed his feed without masticating
it, nearly crazed with pain night and day; all out of
harmony all over—internally and externally. I was
obliged to keep heating water all of the time I
heated it on my forge. This poor horse would fall
asleep and partly fall, and tip the tub over and spill
the water. I had business enough, yet I was abused,
while I was at this work, by many different ones for
neglecting my business. They all had cripples they

90 THE HORSES RESCUE.

wanted cured. My men I paid $2 perday. Customers
would not let them shoe their horses. They said they
eould get their horses spoilt anywhere. No argument
eould convinee them I could not cure all of their
horses shoeing. Some I could cure, and had cured
They all wanted it done, and wanted me to doit. My
God! what a load on my poor back and head—nearly
all cripples. They were increasing on me. I dis-
eharged my help to save money. They were of no
use tome. I did not want to earn all of the money
to pay them to sit and look at me work. The fact is,
I was obliged to lock my shop and put curtains up at
the windows in order to go on with my work. They
kept up such a confusion I could not work. And yet
there was not much to be learned. It was their opin-
ions and beliefs and abuse.

Let us see if we can go on with this work now.
This poor horse continues to fall asleep. We can't’
pare his feet yet, he has had no rest. Some of the
pain has gone. Wewill have to let him soak and
sleep a while; we can’t work on him yet. Some one
pounding on the door every half hour for admittance.
No admittance! Iwas alone in the shop. After I
had been annoyed awhile I paid no more attention to
i. That set them howling. All Icould do that day
was to wash Mike in warm water, keep his feet in the
tub, and Jet him sleep. A good mght’s rest will help
us both. In the shop again in the morning, Frank
can keep Mike’s feet in the tub, while I shoe and fix
up other cripples. I must have money to keep the
wolf from the door. Let us pare an] cup out his
foot, Let us cut the heels down half. They are

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. - 91

that much too high at least. Pare none from toe;
cup it out; itis filled up; itis hard asa stone. That
will do, now, Soak him more; when it gets soft we
will cup it more. The doors are open now. Mr.
Brees comes in, apron on, to see and talk. His shop
is nearly opposite from mine. All in a bluster, he
said: “That is not doctoring horses; that is nursing.”
“Yes, this horse needed some of that.” This uproar
was kept up by many in the shop and all over the
town. Being in the business of tracing cause to ef-
fect and effect to cause, I well knew what ailed them.
Beat and excel them was what I wanted to do, and
relieve the suffering horse. That is what I went there
for. They were all strangers to me Let them
fight while we look at this horse. If you wish to
learn a lesson, look at the horse we are working on.
Now he stands braced out forward; now his knees
are tipped, yet his cords hurt him. He ean scarcely
stand. How is that? We cut his heels down; that
is the cause. Where is the weight of that horse
now, or what is the effect of cutting lis heels down?
Before we did that I told you how his weight was
divided, and the effect of it. This operation throws
him off his base with two-thirds of his weight on his
lind legs, which were also badly off their base before
we cut his heels down. He should be balanced or
poised in the center, and his equilibrium restored, that
is, equalize his weight on the center of each foot, and
balance him between the four. This looks likea rather
hard job, yet it can be done. It will take a little brain.
work withal. We must get md of some hallooing
around this shop; no one can do anything this way.

92 THE -HORSE’S RESCUE.

Lock the shop again! Let us finish cupping out his
feet. It will not do to cut away much near the wall
at toe; itis thin there now. Pare down next to the
point of frog until you can spring the solea little with
a pair of shoeing pincers all around the frog. Pare
the brace very slanting toward the frog. Care should
be taken to cut the sole even. Feel with pincers.
There, these feet are dressed for shoeing. Keep them
in warm water. ‘They have been days all of the time.
In comes Mr. Bennett. He says he is losing two dol-
lars per day by the horse lying still.

“Mr. Bennett,” says I, “my time is not up yet,
This horse’s feet are badly contracted. I cannot fix
him unless I have time.”

Now we will make a pair of shoes, narrow web, for
this horse has a very thick shell; six nails on each
side. Nail clear around to heel—light nails) Iam
going to spread these feet. It will be necessary to
turn the shoe-heels down a little to hold against the
brace, so as to spread at the heel and take the strain
off the nails and the shell. Nail solid, and clinch.
The shoe should rest only on the shell all around; the
foot should represent an inclined plain clear to the very
edee of the wall, and be left so when ironed. All
should slant toward the center of foot. The doors are
open. It is nearly dark. Mr. Brees came in in a
bluster when I was at work on the last foot, drawing
the shoe down solid, he looking on. When done, I
dropped the foot down, and said: “There, Mike, I
guess I have got you fixed at last.” I had been some
time getting these shoes on to suit me. They did suit
me, for the operation called out the remark I made.

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 93

Said Mr. Brees: “I think you have fixed him.” He
starts for the hotel, and tells Bennett I am spoiling his
horse so I can buy him cheaper. That starts another
uproar. I was in some fear they would get the horse
away from me. YetIdid not fear them. I held the
horse. Let us look at these feet again. Readers, you
remember how they were when we first examined
them. Now look in the bottom of these feet. There
is a deep hole in this foot. Itiscupped out deep, and
yet it is not cut through in any place; no blood
drawn. His foot is narrow, and the shoe follows the
shell around clear to the heel even. The foot has an
elongated appearance, and it isso. ‘The horse stands
braced out, chest sunken in, shoulders dropped back,
head down. He does not gnaw his feet. He soon
quit that habit when I got him in my care, and yet
he can hardly walk. “‘ Mike, to morrow is the last
day Ican hold you on the contract. We must fix
you for the night. You can lie down. That will
save your cords. Your poor feet ache yet, and they
are feverish. T'o prevent their drying up too much
we will pack your feet with sponge, filled with water,
and tie clothson them. It will not do to tie them
tight; that would give you pain. ~We will gather the
cloth above the hoof, and sew it so that it will not hurt
or stop the circulation of the blood. -You must have
a good soft bed. It is late at night. I will let you
out of some of your trouble before the sun goes down
another day.” This horse is not in my barn, but in
Mr. Bennett’s, which is open to all. This work, when
_ Lam gone, must be inspected by all to see what I have
done. Mr. Brees saw his heels cut down, saw him

94. THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

thrown back in this position. All talk. And I let
them. I had to.

Mr. Brees’s nephew had a good eight-year-old horse,
which I wanted to get tocure. I told him I would
do the job for ten dollars, as it would be an casy one.
When I first talked with him I could not persuade
him to let me have the horse, and [ dropped down on
the price. It was of no use. I was obliged to give it
up. His horse’s heels were walled up very high,
tipped on knee; Jame in one foot—lame in both, but
he could not see it. I told the owner that if he was
mine I weuld cut the heels down, and straighten the
horse out very quick. He looked at me when I was
talking. I walked away in search cf another suf-
ferer, which I should soon have room for.

Let.us go and see how Mike is getting along. It is
morning, and not light yet. Allis quiet, all sleeping.
We will have to go to the shop, heat some water, take
the tub to the barn, and soak his feet while he eats
his breakfast. Then we will take him to the shop.

It may be necessary to state the plan I intended to
follow out in experimenting to prevent inflammation
taking place by expanding Mike’s feet so much at one
time. I well understood this contraction and expand:
ing principle that was constantly at work, caused by
wet and dry weather, and tight and loose shoes. It
did not kill all its victims, but a great many it did.
IT had now to spread the foot and flatten it out at
once. If I did not do it, there would be no cure,
The plan was to have the foot as soft and pliable as I
could make it, so as not to hurt the horse. Then I must
watch his feet by feeling to see that no unnatural heat

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 95

should get the start of me, and I prevented it by soak.
ing and packing with sponge, as I have previously de-
scribed, after I had spread his feet, I think this
horse’s feet are soft enough to spread, and I am going
to try to spread them. ‘The shop is locked; curtains
up at the windows. Iamalone. I cannot hold his
feet and spread them; my arms are not strong enough
to do it in this position. I can make ascrew, but that
will take me nearly all day, and my time is growing
short. This horse is expected to be on the road to-
morrow. It will be of no use to ask these fighters to
help me, and I have other reasons for not wanting
their assistance, which I will explain hereafter. I will
take Mike to my barn, and get my wife to hold up.
lis feet. The reader can see a frail woman holding
up the foot of a horse that weighs about twelve bun-
dred, thrown off his base by contraction and leverage,
struggling to stand on one foot, which he takes away
many times; it hurts him so to stand. Do you know
she was in great danger of getting hurt? She weighs
about one hundred pounds. We were alone in this
barn, but we accomplished this difficult task. It is
two good-men’s work. We flattened his feet out by
spreading about three-fourthsof aninch. Look at the
bottom now. It has the same appearance to look at
that it-did when we commenced work on it, but the
cup is all gone, and the foot is flat Who can tell how
this is done unless he sees the operation? No man.
This horse’s heels are low now. I had eut them down
half or more, and expanding lowered them still further,
The horse’s heels are wide; his foot is nearly round;
he has got the colt’s foot on, and the structure of his

96 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

foot is all in harmony inside and out. His body goes
forward on its base with weight in center of the foot.

It will be well to more minutely explain this process
of preparing feet of this kind for operation. This
horse’s feet were badly rolled up in at the base of heels.
Expanding raises the heels until the wall gets perpen-
dicular. When it passes the line it lowers. In order
to have it come in perfect harmony when expanding,
you must use all the judgment youcancommand. If
you leave the heels too high you wili tip his knee; if
too low, it will strain the cords, and either will throw
the horse off his base to a greater or less degree. He
will not move well, though it will not kill him. After
the foot has been expanded, the shoe should not be
taken off again in any case until the hoof has had time ©
to grow and settle. Then it may be removed. If
you should take the shoe off before, the foot would go
back, which would create great heat, and cause great
suffering to the horse; to get him out of which the
same work would have to be done over again.

But we will finish this horse. As I said, he has got to
go on the road to-morrow. Spreading this horse’s feet
did not seem to effect him much at first. He tried
them by stepping first upon one, then the other. For.
a while I watched him. His head went up. I moved
him moderately around the barn floor. At first he did
not seem to have full control of his legs. J. was in
danger of being hit with his feet, and yet it was no
fault of his, the change being so great. Let us give
him a chance to recover; he is changed in many ways.
Let us take him outdoors and lead bim around. In
no ease at first get on the horse; he has all he can do,

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 97

if he is changed on all of his feet at one time, to hold
his own weight, until he has time to recover his equilib-
rium and bilance. It gives him a sick and weaken-
ing sensation; all is changed so suddenly internally
and externally. I Jed him on the back streets. He
soon wanted to trot, and [ran with him, my hand hold-
ing his halter at the head. After running some time
with him, his legs flying in all shapes, he seemed to go
faster. We started through the business part of the
town, which I was obliged to do to get to my shop.
Mike swung me and carried me clear from the ground
many times with his head. I could not helpit He
was a powerful horse in all ways. He was coming to
himself. I got him in the shop as quick as [ could,
locked the doors, got his feet in some hot water,
rubbed and washed his legs, and rubbed all of the air-
puffs off. The air-puff is caused by the skin being
loosened by unnatural action of the feet and legs,
which forms a vacuum, which fills with air. It in no
case should be opened. The cause is removed. Let
us rub the air out through the skin while Mike’s feet
feet are soaking in warm water. They will stay outas
long as we can keep him natural. Nearly all horses
are badly changed from nature when air-puffs appear
in many ways.and stages. Of course that sail through
the town attracted the attention of many. Some said
I was crazy; some called mea “damned oid fool.”
I understood all of that blowing too well to let it effect
me. I gotin the shop and let them pound the door.
I kept on a straight iine and on my base, which they
did not at all times. Let me paint a picture, while
Mike’s feet are soaking. of what I saw pass this shop

98 THE HORSE'S RESCUER.

oneday. This is only one of thousands, which can be
seen almost any day, and many times some davs, if
you have eyes. The railroad crossing was close tomy
shop. They had raised and graded so it made a little
rise. I saw a horse and wagon coming, the horse thin
in flesh. The wagon had two seats; three persons
were on each seat, and there were some bags in the
hind part of the wagon. A man on the front seat,
with a hickory.club as large as a broom-handle, five
feet long, was pounding the horse, which could hardly
move. Theman was badly off his balance. I cast my
eyes to the horse’s feet. They were very long; his hind
ones so long that he could not rise over the lever with-
out breaking his legs. I stepped out into the road and
stooped down to see what shape he put his feet in to
get up that slight grade. No two feet were traveling
on the same line. He was wringing and twisting to
draw that load, and that club was plaving on him con-
stantly. He turned his toes some in, ‘some out. He
could not rise over that lever. Do you know what I
thought at that time? Can it be possible the creator
has made such a botch making mankind? ‘This has
the appearance of a perfect botch. It has occurred to
me many times since that man was not in any wise per-
fected yet. He hasstill something to learn, and I con-
tinue to hold the same opinion. Let us look this
wagon over. It comes in all right, as this work is
called ‘‘ The Horse’s Rescue.” This wagon is heavy
enough for two horses; in fact, it isa two horse wagon.
Every wheel makes a separate track, something
as a snake would crawl; wheels grinding on the
shoulders of the axle, which has not been oiled in

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 99

three months; somuch gather that they are constantly
sliding on the ground, trying to keep on a straight
line. If they could move the way they are set they
would travel on lines that would cross each other sixty
rods ahead of the point where the wagon stood. The
driver being badly off his base, and out of harmony,
and the wagon running on the wrong principle, added
greatly to the horse’s suffering. The poor h. rse, also
off his base, trying to draw that heavy load up an in-
clined plain rising over a long lever, has rather hard
work; and yet he had to endure it, and it is no fault
of his. Look out for that lever! There is a power
in lever principle.’

After this poor horse has dragged that load up hills
many miles, for his reward he is stabled in some old
rookery you could throw a cat through; cold, bleak
wind and snow howling through; some old rotten
clover-stack hay for his rations; the place where he is
tied and obliged to stand has not been cleaned out in
three months, and ofttimes more; his hind parts ele-
vated according to the size of the pile.

Reader, the horse has four legs. It makes a vast
difference to him how he stands; give him his head,
he will tell you whether the position he is obliged
to stand is not right. How is he going to rest lying
in this position—hind parts elevated in this way?
Some morning he is found cast. Then club and boots
are used to help him up; if this does not raise him, a
chain is put around him, and he is drawn out of his
uncomfortable position. He cannot rise. The hard
treatment, that lever, the abuse he has been obliged to
endure, have exhausted all of his power of endurance.

100 THE HORSES RESCUE.

And this is no uncommon thing; it is a very usual
thing. Take a peek around. I have been peeking
around many years. I went into a shop in Auburn
city, and I saw two men turning horse shoes. I
looked at them a few minutes, then walked away. In
a short time I met one of these men on the street. He
said to me:

‘Were you in my shop peeking around to-day ?”

“Yes,” said I; “I was in your shop.”

‘‘T can beat any man in the state turning shoes,”
he rejoined; “I can turn one hundred shoes in just
forty minutes!” All talking about the number of
shoes made, and none about the principle the work
should be done on. This man was badly off his bal-
ance. There is great danger of shipwrecks and collis-
ions when driver, horse, and wagon are all out of har-
mony. But let us not forget Mike. The plan must
be carried out to prevent inflammation taking place in
Mike’s feet. JI was with him, taking his feet out of
warm water fora time to see if I could feel, by placing
my hand on his hoofs, any change of heat arising. I
did not perceive any change. I thought my plan was
going to work. Of course there was no sleep for me
that night. This horse was out of my control in the
morning. He would be put on the road.the next day.
There was no use in protesting; they all knew every-
thing that was worth knowing, and what they did not
know was of nousetoanyone. I had to take all of the
chances and do the hard work. When daylight came
you might have seen a tired man standing by this
thankful horse soaking-his feet in warm water, and
washing his cords, helping them to change back to

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 101

their natural place to give him as little suffering as
possible. That plan holds good yet. It does help
and relieve the suffering sooner than if it was not
done. There is one thing yet to be explained, that 1s,
how that process of spreading Mike’s feet worked. When
the foot contracts the sole rises in the center. That
pushes the structure of the foot up in the center and
raises it out of the cup or coronet az the top. Expand-
ing letsitdown. These wonderfully wise people could
notsee how this was done. The hostler swung his hat.
“Doan has cured Mike. I don’t know how, but he
has done it.” The shoes had to be looked at and pat-
terned after. They are just the thing. Of course
they must steal the secret; it is a big thing. Those
lips on the shoes at the heel are not of much use. He
has cut the heel down. Mr Brees and his relative
(the one who had the stiff horse I tried to get) are
going to cure their horse I saw in the shop. I could
sit in my shop and look in theirs. This horse being
buckskin in color, we will call him Buckskin. Before
we commence on this horse we must see Mike off on
theroad. He was to let out. I was at the barn and
watched him. He was whipped up when he turned
around the corner and fell on his knees. He was not
yet used to the change. But he was driven and
hurried off his legs, which I told them over and
over again, they must not do. I thought to my-
self, “ What is the use of trying to do anything with
such a pack of damned fools?” I am not yet done
with poor Mike. We will let him sail a while. He
is still in very bad shape.

Let us see what they are doing for poor Buckskin.

102 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

We can see from my shop. This is a good time to
trace cause to effect. They are cutting his heels down.
That is right so far, but they have left the toe at least
one inch too long. They have got his shoes patterned
after Mike’s as near as they can. He is coming out
of the shop. He has to be pulled out, for he can
hardly move. What is his condition now? He is
thrown back off his base the furthest I ever saw. Let
them work; it’s no use to say anything to them; it
would only set them to bawling. The crowd gathers
around this horse. All talk; no one knows what ails
this poor horse. The owner looks rather worried.
His horse is in a worse condition now than ever, he is
braced out so bad that his back sinks down. If you
snould get on him he could not hold your weight. He
can hardly move ‘This horse stand now on the oppo-
site side of the street from Mr. Brees’s shop. It is no
use to talk to them. They allfight me. Let us wall
away. We will watch that horse and see where his
suffering ends. I have many horses to look to. They
need my care. I can’t relieve them all, but I will do
all I can. I work for the horse, not the man. I
nearly always had from one to four horses in my barn.
Some my own; some belonging to others; and which
I was caring for in different stables, and my shop was
to be kept up. J hadalmost a night and day business
to watch the changes and effects in all stages I was
determined to get master of this complicated business.
I was sure there was a way out, and I would find it,
let it cost what it might. It is morning again. While
going to my shop I passed the place where we left the
buckskin horse. He was about two rods from where

THE HORSE’S RESCUE 1038

we left him the night before. His owner was with
him, and looked worried. He had a keg with a swab
in it, and was daubing his feet. I walked in. I felt
sorry for him and his horse. Said I, ‘“ What is that
stuff you are putting on?”

‘Tt is tar, kerosene, and soft-soap.”

“Mr. Brees, it is cf no use. You had better give
me eight dollars. Your uncle cannot steal this great
discovery. (I know not whether he was his uncle or
not, but their names were Brees.) The principle is
what I want to lay down correct in this work. They
had disabled this horse completely by throwing him
off his base, cutting his heels down. They had
lengthened the lever so much it had sprung his back
down and thrown nearly all of his weight back of cen-
ter. There he was fastened, and was obliged to stay,
They knew no way out of this serious trouble. I
would have helped them out, but they would not take
any lessons. This was early in the fall. The horse
was missing, and I lost track of him for a long time.
I think it was in the month of March following that I
saw Mr. Brees doing his chores at his barn. I went
in. There lay this Buckskin horse. I asked, “Has
this horse been lying in this condition all of this
time ?”

iP eRe:

‘“ Does he stand up?”

‘“ Ffe can, but lies down nearly all of the time.”

‘‘ Are those the shoes you had put on last fall ?”

ss Y-Geee

‘Have they ever been reset since ?”

FE Mo:i

104 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

“Mr. Brees, it would be my advice to pull those
shoes off, cut off his toes some, pare the toes down
well; cut no more from the heels; give him room to
travel around, and put no more shoeg on him for six
months. That will help him some. It will not cure
him by any means.”

He didso. I saw him driving Buckskin many months
afterward, and he was quite a horse. His knees were
tipped yet, but if they had done what I did to Mike’s
feet after cutting his heels down, and shortened his
toes a little more, he would have gone back on his base
or nearly so; instead, it threw him further off. It
would have straightened his legs at the same time,
Mike is in trouble again, but it does not surprise me,
T have got used to this business.. It has become a
common thing; I well knew he would be. He was in
a very bad shape when he started from the barn. He
has been on the road about two weeks. Mr. Bennett
said :

“Doan, there is something wrong about Mike’s hind
parts.”

‘Yes; there always has been since I knew him.”

“Can you fix him behind ?”

“Yes, if I can have him in my care and control
four days. Nobody must use or exercise him but my-
self during this time.”

‘ All right,” says Bennett, “ go ahead.”

It is a hard job to get this horse’s hind feet in the
soaking tub and keep them in. My little boy Frank
cannot do it; that’s a man’s business. I shall have to
neglect my shoeing for a while almost entirely to at-
tend to this horse and those I have in the barn. Mike was

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 105

was divided against himself. His forward parts were
changed so as to let his weight go back on the base, which
it did when he stood still. But his hind parts were con-
stantly pulling his fore parts off the base—always on
a strain—when he was on his feet (which I have ex-
plained). When traveling he had to draw his hind
parts with his forward parts over that lever, caused by
contraction, drawing his hind feet forward under his
belly. It hurt bim so that it caused him to amble.
I saw when he left the barn what position he was
thrown in. But what could I do? They were all so
smart, and they were losing so much money by their
horses lying still. Some people are always stopping
spile holes and leaving the bung out. The fact is,
Mike was divided against himself. How are we going
to put him in harmony of action, balance him in the
center, and take those large air-puffs off? The prin-
ciple we applied on his forward feet will work behind
more than it did forward to change him. It seems to
effect all horses more on their hind legs chang-
ing them back to natural, and it affects them behind
more to change from natural to unnatural. I soaked
Mike’s feet, spread them, and carried out my plan as
nearly as I could under the circumstances and the sur-
roundings I had to contend with. The sole is the
guide in spreading all feet. Some require more, some
less, according to the degrees of change. No rule can
be laid down. If the foot is skilfully dressed and pre-
pared, you can spread until the sole comes down nearly
flat. You must look when you are spreading to see
if you can see it come down. It must spread at the
same time clear to the top of the wall. If you do not

106 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

see it flatten after you have spread a little, you must
stop and walk the horse arovud or run with him.
Spread in pairs so as to drive the sole down. Look
and see how much it has come down. Soak in warm
water, spread again; continue to moye him around
until the sole is down flat. Some horses are so bad
their feet are pushed clear out of the cup at the top
and pinched in at the bottom. If great care is not
taken in preparing the foot for this operation, the foot
will get pinched at the top of the wall, the bone not
having room to go down between the cup at the top.
It would not kill the horse, but it would cause him
suffering for a few hours, then it would matterate and
cause a flaw in the hoof. It should be spread enough
to give it room to go down before he is driven much.
These are cases of long standing, as a general rule, but
there are many exceptions to that. If you do not
cut the heels well down you will be likely to get him
pinched, for this reason: it would spring the foot out
at the bottom, which would throw it together at the
top. You must see it go together both top and
bottom. |

Let us look at Mike after spreading his hind feet,
and see where he has gone to, caused by spreading the
foot half an inch His body has all gone forward on
the base; his back has lowered across his loin; his
forward parts are relieved of their constant strain. He
is wnited again; that is, the cause is removed. Some
hard work will have to be done yet to make him com-
fortable. The air-puffs have all gone around on the
front side of his legs. It hurts him. He stands up
on his toes. He won’t put his heels down to a flat

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 107

rest. He must be got down on his feet one at a time,
stand him in a tub of warm water, while those air-puffs
are rubbed out through the skin. This shop is locked,
curtains up. Iam alone. This is a heavy and power-
ful horse. There is no other way to get him out of this
fix except to compel him to stand on one foot, which
must be done by raising the others. Itis “‘ business ”’ to
hold up the hind parts of that heavy horse, he standing
up on his toe, and keep him in the tub andrub his legs
at the same time, and change around and keep it up
for three or four hours. Walk him around the shop.
Soak and rub. Hold him up while doing it; get him
nearly down on his heels; air-puffs are nearly all gone.
Open the doors; out we go. Run with him awhile;
tie to tree, take up one leg, rub the other, the horse
straddling and throwing two-thirds of his weight on
me all of the time. Change legs five or six times,
then run with him again ten minutes; tie to the fence
the same. Up with a leg by main strength; rub and
change. Keep this up. Run and tie for two hours or
more. Then run with him to the shop; get both of
bis feet in the tub of warm water. He stands down
on his heels flat rest. The air-puffs are nearly all gone,
and some hair is rubbed off in spots. That will soon
come in again. His trouble is over for a while. I had
no time during the operation to listen to bawlers. I
could hear them any time, and not go out of my way.
It affects the air-puffed horses on their hind legs all
in this way, and they have got to go through this or
no cure. It is business, but it brings them out all
right ina short time if it is done as it should be.
Mike is changed, or the cause is removed. He should

108 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

have a chance to recover from the effect of this great
change.

His hind feet were not so hard, and it did not take
so long to soften his feet. After this hard day’s work
for me and Mike, I got him in his stable and made him
as comfortable as I could by packing his feet with
clay (other packing would do as well, the object being
to keep his feet moist). Thus I left him and went to
' my barn, where I had business for more than half of
the night exercising, caring for, and watching the effect
of changes on horses, and the time it took to recover
from the change. ‘These horses were different from
Mike, which I will explain by and by. Ii is morning.
T must go and see Mike. I was at the barn before
there was much stir in town. I found Mike in a bad
fix. The hostler was there. Tow is this? Some one
has been driving this horse, and has nearly driven him
off his legs. He stood up on his toes, and could
hardly stand on his hind legs. Tho hostler told me
Mike was out all night. Of course there was some
loud bueling. It could be heard ten rods at least.
This hard work is to be done all over again to get him
down on his heels. It will take me all day, and it
did; besides, it has caused Mike unnecessary suffer-
ing. I pulled him out of the barn. I had got in the
middie of the stregt. Mike was hobbling upon his
toes. Mr. Bennett, hearing the uproar, came to the
front door of the barn. :

“Doan, what is the matter with that horse ?”

“Tt is the change.”

“T don’t like that kind of change.”

“T will have him all right by might. If you want,

THE HORSE'S RESCUR. 109

one hundred and fifty dollars come and get it, and let
me have the horse”

He walked away. The same process—soak, rub,
run, and tie to go through with again, all caused by
their not doing as they agreed. How do you like
reader, the business Iam at work at? Let us stick,
Never give up the ship. I got Mike in the barn at
dark that night. He was down flat rest on his heels,
and his ankles were weak. I. bandaged his ankles,
packed his feet, and left him again, and told them he
must have rest or they would have him down. The
next day I soaked his forward feet and spread them a
little.) They had grown some. It had been nearly
three weeks, the foot flaring from top of wall down to
tread. If it was not ironed. I would be wider and
not wear off, which it could not for this reason: the
wear was on the shoe and not the hoof, and it was
ironed so it could not expand. What would be the
result if I did not spread his feet a little? The sole
would raise, he would be thrown off his base again,
according to the degree of change of which I have
already written. He has six nails on each side of
these shoes, put there on purpose for this operation.
Let us draw out two of these heel nails on both sides.
We have spread his feet and given them liberty. They
will spread with his weight if they are kept soft. Do
not get discouraged. With all of the hard work we
have done, he is not right yet. His toes on his for-
ward feet have more lever. They have grown since
his shoes were set three weeks ago. Spreading his
feet at the heel will help him some, but that does not
shorten the lever by any means. To have him right

110 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

he should have had all his feet fixed at the same time.
I cannot do away with that lever. If I could it would
be one of the biggest things man ever invented. I
can see no way except to kill the horse; then it would
cease to grow. Putting on trash to stop a foot from
growing too fast, or to make it grow faster and iron-
ing, causing great fever and heat, and preventing na-
ture from having its course at the same tiine, is rather
antagonistic and claiming a little too much power.
Horses must, if ironed, travel on unnatural feet all of
the time, with the lever ata greater or less degree of
length. Before I get through this work I shall tip
over more than you dream of with that lever power.
I started to go to the end of the whole business. We
will put Mike in his stable again, pack his feet, all
four. The ignorant never have seen anything
wrong about the horse's hind feet, which should
have equal care. His hind feet and legs are necessary
to him. He sends himself off with his hind legs, and
draws more with them if he is as the creator made
him—which a very few are that have been shod—he
does not stay so buta short time. We will have to
let Mike sail on the road three or four weeks and
watch him. Take care of his feet; no one else will.
Neither will they pay for doing it. They had rather
sit with their feeton the back of chair tops and smoke.
Doan will shoe, balance all the cripples, and cure
them and keep them cured. He is willing to do it,
and we are willing he should. We can drive the
horses off their legs, and then go to him. It is not
necessary for us to be broken of our rest, neither is it
any use for us to know how he does it.

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 111

Reader, this has been going on in this way for many
years. I will say nght here that [never received but
five dollars in forty-one years aside from the price of
shoeing, except what I made by buying and trading
for these cripples, curing them and letting them go
again That five dollars was paid to me by Mr.
Hatch, of Auburn city. I gave half of it to my
brother, J. J. Doan, who did nearly all of the work.
Mr. Hatch gave me all I charged, and would have
given me more, but that was not my object. I wanted
to introduce this great discovery, and relieve the suf-
fering horse; and that is what Iam writing this work
for. I have put thousands of dollars in the pockets of
others, and will continue to do so if they will read
this work, and study the horse. It is no trouble to
look at a horse. They are before you nearly all the
time. Let us look at a pair that are passing now.
These horses are in Horseheads, the place I ain at work
in now, and shall be for some time to come yet.

This pair of horses are about six years old—a
matched pair of browns. They are valued at one
thousand dollars. I have looked them over in the
stable many times. Let us take a side-view of them
in harness. In order to see these horsesas you should,
you must see two pairs at the same time; and yet
there is but one. You should see this pair first, as the
creator mace them, before man tried to improve on
them. -They stand with their forward legs back of
straight; heads up, neck arched, head in, with mouth
closed; weight equalized on center of-all four feet;
balanced in center; no strain unnatural in any way ;
their head pointing on a straight line, and feet all

112 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

pointing on a straight line, providing they have had
their liberty to exercise and wear off their feet as fast
as they grew, and been trimmed and cared for. They
stand the perfect natural horses, as their creator made
and intended them to be. Now we will look at them
and see man’s improvements, trying to make horses
over, or, in other words, excell the creator.

I had looked at this pair of horses almost daily for
over a year, passing and repassing. ‘They are fitting
these horses for market for coach horses ; 1t will not do
to say anything to them; neither it will it do to point
out any defect in them, or tell them how to improve
their movement; it would set them bawling. Read-
ers, let me tell you their suffering condition, then you
can step out and see thousands all around you; and,
travel where you will, you cannot miss seeing them
if you have eyes and use them. I will try to describe
the suffering condition these horses are thrown in.
Tbe causes are many, and hard to describe. As this
work is tracing cause to effect and effect to cause, we
will begin at the first cause. That is, the fallible be-
ing, Man, is ignorant of natural Jaws and the suffering
produced by abusing them. These laws are the crea-
tor, and I recognize no other. The horse is the inno-
cent and helpless sufferer, and is part of the creator's
works. Through ignorance he has been made a great
sufferer—the greatest of all the creator’s works; and I
send this work on its mission for the purpose of res-
cuing them from their deplorable condition: and I ap-
peal to the supreme court of heaven to back me up.
Man’s courts would be of but little nse to me; no jus-
tice can be had in them. Let us return to this pair

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. : 113

of horses. They are all thrown off their base in many
ways, which I have explained. Like causes produce
hke effect. This is a pairof matched horses. This is
to show you how well they work and come together,
and shows their action and movement together, and
what a hard time .a man has that has no knowledge
of the horse, and the cause and effect he is obliged to
contend with, and does not know it. The nigh horse
is badly off his base on his forward legs, and a greater
degree on his hind legs. ‘Two-thirds of his weight
is on his hindlegs. His feet are all different lengths,
and all run over; some traveling the same line, some
not, and none on straight line. He wrings his feet at
every step, and ambles on his Lind feet. This move-
ment is caused by contraction, leverage, and run-over
feet, produced by ironing and not balancing kim and
equalizing his weight; and that is not all. Contrac-
tion has lengthened the lever on his toe to a far greater
length than you are aware of. You cannot see it
beyond the toe of his foot, and yet it is. This horse
is nearly always lagging behind his mate, unless he is
constantly urged up with the whip. Let us look over
his mate; he is the same, only not quite so bad off.
On his hind legs the lever is not quite as long; he
single foots. They are both thrown back off their
base badly, and are obliged to stay so, for all the
great wisdom their owners have contained in their
heads. Let us look at the gaggers and see if they help
the action and movement of these poor tortured crea-
tures. Readers, remember these horses are drawn
down by contraction and leverage, braced out and
fastened there.

114 THE HORSES RESCUE.

Now they are trying to make them carry high
heads by over-draws and checks. What is the effect
of this? It adds greatly to the suffering of these
horses. It throws them off their base further than
they would otherwise be. Their necks sink down,
their noses stick straight out, and they have the ap-
pearance of camels; the lines are so arranged they
turn their heads out nearly one-quarter around, when
they should point on a straight line when the horses
are traveling on a straight line. And that is not all.
They have been kept in the stable not very light.
They are brought out in the sunlight gagged up, and
obliged to haye the sunlight pouring in their eyes,
while the driver must have a shade over his tender
eyes and head. This is a rather hard picture, but
these are facts.

Let us look at the driver; he sits on the front edge
of the seat; he appears as though he was sitting on a
jug. He wants to go faster, his hands extending out
toward the horse’s loin. With each hand he has the
appearance of pushing on the lines. He does not like
the movements of his horses, but is ignorant of the
eause. It does not take a very clear observer of
human nature to see the unrest and worry he Is
obliged to endure, caused by the awkward movements
of his horses. Let us watch himeircle them. He will
be obliged to make a large circle, or they will be likely
tofall. See, he is turning them to the left. The
near horse’s head is drawn by the lines the course he
wants him to take. His mate’s head is drawn the op-
posite. Reader, is it not curious that these horses can-
not move together? Let us look and see how they

THE HORSES RESCUER. 115

handle their feet. They have but little knee action,
They drag one foot over the other. If they are hur-
ried, they will be likely to tread on their own feet, and
on each other’s. The near horse sags back on making
this circle; the off horse swings his hind parts cut
against the trace.

There are all degrees of this awkwardness, accord-
to the change. This pair are not very bad yet. They
were sold, I heard, for one thousand dollars, to a gen-
tleman in Bath, Steuben county, N. Y., though the
story 1s not to be relied on; but it can be done any
day, and is every day, all over the world. Horses are
sold and bought, and large prices paid for them, in all
stages of change from natural, and ofttimes they are
in the last stages. It does not seem to affect the sale
or price, for this reason: the people are ignorant of
the horse, and the position he is in. I could have
balanced them better than they were if I could have
shod them in my shop, by dressing their feet, making
the levers on the toes of equal length, shoeing them
all arourd at the same time, having the hind feet in
pairs, and the fore feet the same, and work to one-
sixteeuth of an inch both on shoeand foot, eye always
on run-over feet. I could keep them from showing
their defects by limping, for they limped equally on
all their feet.. I have balanced thousands of these
poor horses between contraction and leverage and run-
over feet in forty-one years, and while I am experi-
menting nights I am doing all I can at this hard busi-
ness daily to get money to keep my horses, which I
have no use for only to see if I can find out what ails
all of these poor cripples. My close and careful work

116 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

on the horse’s foot gave me a good run of business;
more than I wanted. Many thought I could cure
their horses by shoeing, for this reason—they did not
limp. That was all they knew, or could be taught
about it. They would come pouring in from a dis-
tance, sometimes thirty miles, and ofttimes more.
Some I could help, some were out of my reach, and
I could not help them by shoeing; but I could get
them out of their trouble, if I could have them in my
care a short time.

“What will you charge me,” they would ask, “to
cure my horse?”

“Well, itis worth from ten to fifty dollars to do it.
It depends something on whatails the horse, and what
condition he is in when I commence on him.” About
nine out of ten would rail out on me in this way:

“When you get ten dollars out of me for shoeing a
horse you can consider yourself damned smart;” or,
‘When you fool me you will have to be smarter than
T take you to be.”

That kind of talk I have heard daily, and many
times a day, in the past ten years. Before I get
through this work I will show you these smart men
could be fooled badly. I experimented on the horses
a little, just to see if I could fool them. I did not
take any of their money.

Mike has come around again to be shod. He has
done some traveling. His shoes are nearly all worn
~ off his feet. These shoes were flat all around, and
were nearly worn in two at the toe. Their wearing
off saved Mike’s cords some.. His forward shoes has
been on seven weeks, his hind shoes four weeks. Tle.

THE HORSES RESCUE. 117

looks fine; his hair begins to look bright and glossy,
and yet he has been traveling out of harmony some,
for this reason, that the lever on his fore feet has been
the longest. Ifit had been the longest on his hind
feet the effect would lave been more serious, which I
well knew when I set him sailing. Mike always had
a good friend peeking around, watching and caring
for his feet, to see they did nct dry up hard. Mike,
we will put the polish on you this time.

Reader, I have laid down the principles for expand-
ing the foot by shoeing a little on the Kentucky
hunter mare. That principle is right, and all there is,
except to spread it out at once. We will make the
lever on all of Mike’s feet equal length. The colt’s
f,ot he must have. Allis nearly in harmony of ac-
tion; structure is nearly right. We will shorten the
Jever a little shorter than natural; his feet are grow-
ing all the time. It will wear the toe of shoes off
some if we do not put on corks, which we will not do.
Tn this way we can fix him so he can go six weeks
very well, with good care taken of his feet. Then he
will want to be changed back aguin.

Reader, how would yeu like to follow this business
for forty-one years? I will tell you about the pay
before I get through this sail. Perhaps you will like
it better. That is what all seem to be after. I have
an iron-gray in my barn. J always, or nearly always,
had from one to four, seldom more than four, at one
time. ‘This gray is five years old. It was stiff v hen
I took it to cure. It is not mine. I have forgotten
the owner's name. It is no loss to me, however. I
took his horse to cure. The bargain was this way: I

118 THE HORSES RESCUE.

was to cure his horse for ten dollars. He was to pay
me for the feed while I had the horse in my care, or
furnish the feed, and he chose to furnish the feed. He
owned three farms. He told me if he continued to
have as good luck as he had had he would soon own
more, He came with the feed. It was a small jag of
wet wheat straw tuken out of a stack half rotten—-not
fit to bed a horse for me. I said nothing. This horse
was thin in flesh. I fed her well with good feed of
my own. She was so badly thrown off her base that
she could hardly move or turn around on her forward
feet. She was quite natural on her hind feet. I told
him it was something of a task to get her back on her
base; it would take me about two weeks before he
could take her home. This is in the winter. I shod
horses in my shop days, and had these cripples in the
shop, soaking and preparing them for spreading their
feet. Nights I was in the barn or exercising these
horses. While changing them it affects them. It
would set them howling worse to see these horses
while going through this change. It would put me in
danger of being mobbed; if they did not do that it
would bother me some about my work. T could do
better when they were all asleep. I had all I could
handle without being bothered. Nightafter night you
see a man in a barn with an overcoat on—cold winter
nights—heating water in the house, washing and rub-
bing these horses’ legs; sometimes in the street run-
ning with them; sometimes driving; sometimes riding
them. When you commence to change them there is
no stopping. Then you must go through. I had no
help; I had to do it all. I stood alone, nearly all on

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 119

my track. During this horse fight a Cornell student
arrived in town, a graduate under Prof. Law. He put
up at Bennett’s hotel. Helad a large stock of knives
and instruments. They were polished nicely. Whit
use he made of them I know not. I have no use for
such. He had a lot of bones of horses’ legs that had
been spavined and ringboned. He told me they were
ail curable but one; the pastern joint where the ring-
bone is located had grown solid together. That, he
said, was incurable. I told him cases where the bone
was so badly affected as they were it was out of the
power for any man to cure, for this reason: he could
not remove the cause. The bone is full of holes; the
enamel is all off; the bone is ragged and rough. You

cannot make it natural and smooth again. Of course
that set him to howling. He was an effect doetor. Lf
aked him if he ever saw a horse’s foot expand or
spread at the heels at once three-quarters of an inch.
No; it could not be done. They say it would spol
the horse. You would be arrested for cruelty to ani-
mals. ‘* Look here, professor, are you personally ae-
quainted with that personage, ‘They Say?’ I have
heard so much about him I would like te see him and
have an introduction. He seems to be very wise.
Nearly all appeal to him and quote him. If I could
get acquainted with him I might get him to help me
cure horses. J am spreading horses’ feet and curing
them every day, and nights too, and no one is smart
enough to tell how it is done. JI can’t see any danger
from They Say. This new-born babe on the horse had
just started out after graduating at Cornell Univers-
ity. He will learn, like all others, by experience. It

120 THE HORSES RESCUE.

takes time and practical work, like all other great
things.

Reader, let us go on with our work. This iron-gray
had been shod before she had grown up to her natural
size. Her feet were not their full size, when first
ironed, and were held by the shoe from growing nat-
ural; the sole raised. It served her as it does all
others; threw her back off her base, and held her
there, and she partly grew up in this condition. It is
a hard job to get such cases back on their base. In
about ten days I did accomplish this hard task. She
had good knee action. During these ten days I had
some cold rides inthe night when all were asleep. Her
shoulders did not come back as easy as some. They
must be worked back by drawing loads after you re-
move the cause, and you must keep it removed; that
is, keep the structure of the foot natural, and watch
that lever at the toe. This mare’s head is up; she
moves very fine; not many move better. Iwill drive
through the town and see what the effect will be tak-
ing this sail. They all seem to look at me. Ido not
see one looking at this mare. The fact is they do not
know her. The horse led through the town ten days
ago was foundered; that is incurable. It is the same
color. No argument could be produced or used to
convince them it was the same horse. The good care
and good feed with it had changed her wonderfully.
I drove past my old friend the blacksmith and shoe.
The better success I had the more his wrath increased.
There were several men with him standing in his shop
door. He commenced as I was passing to rail at me
so I could hear it. I drove on. The thought came

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 121

to me, “ This is rather hard after ten nights with but
little sleep, and days the same.” I had others 1 was
working on in different stages of change toward nat-
ural to care for, and they were not allin my barn. It
was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. This
inan had dogged me nearly one year, and had no cause
for doing so. [ had had as much patience as any man
in that town, but it was exhausted. At last I must
Shake that man off. I have carried him long enough.
He is no good to me in this work, and a damage to
himself. It will be better for us both. So I turned
and drove back and pulled up in front of lis shop.
The parties were ali there.

Reader, I assure you this was what I did not like to
do. I had tried to be friendly with Mr. Brees, and was
then, but he did not seem to look at it in that light.
{ did not want to shoe horses. I wanted to cure stiff
and crippled ones if I could get enough to live out of
it. I could not cure all of these horses shoeing; that
was what made the most of them stiff, with the bad
treatment-tney are are obliged to endure. I asked
Mr. Brees if he had plenty of business.

“Yes; what of it?”

“T think it would be better for you to attend to it
then. Mine is no part of yours. If you meddle any
more with my business [I will tell the people you are
slaughtering more horses than any man in the Che-
mung valley. They will believe me as quick as they
will you. J want you to shoe. The more you shoe
the better my business will be. You slaughter and I
will cure and keep still. We will build up a big trade.

122 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

Try that. Do not set any more troublesome fellows
onime.” That stopped that racket.

But let us dispose of this iron-gray. I kept this
gray two weeks. The owner took her home. She
had her spreaders on, I told him he must put her in
the team and work her; it would help her shoulders
by drawing to come back to their place. She was
nearly all right. I saw him drawing coal with her.
She was traveling fine, and on her base; good action.
I charged him to not take her shoes off. I would do
that when it was time. JI told him to drive around so
I could see her when he came to town. He lived
about three miles away. He did not pay me for keep-
ing, shoeing, or curing when he took her away, but I
was safe enough. He owned three farms. I was very
busy. I thought he would come around. I had no
time to run after him. THe was to come to me. Time
passed, and I did not see or hear from him. He was
almost a stranger to me when I took his horse to cure.
In about six months this man drove up to my shop
with this same mare, the stiffest 1 ever saw, If one
ean be much stiffer than another, she had the extra
touch. She was thrown back further off her base than
she was when I first commenced on her. I was sur--
prised to see him and her too. Jasked him what he
had been doing. He told me Dave Townsend told
him to pull those spreading shoes off. They were
pulled off in his shop soon after she went out of my
control. This was, the reason I did not see him
around. Mr. Townsend ran a shop in Horseheads.
He tried hard to make the people believe I was crazy.
I was very much in his way. He worked a very small

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 123

field on the horse. Hemight run a peanut stand. He
did for a short time. The poor horses would not have
suffered quite as much if he had kept at that business.
He caused this poor horse suffering that I cannot de-
scribe, and this man came back to me to have me get -
her out of it again. He said he would try me once
more. . If I did not do it this time he would give me
up. *#*

“How did she act after you pulled her shoes off?”

“T thought she would die. I had to stand her in
cow manure all of the time.”

“Tt would have been better for her if she had died,
then she would not suffer. She is not much use to
any one as she is. Dave Townsend can get her out all
straight. He does it with angle-worm oil.”

I did not touch her, neither did i get anything for
what I had done. This man I will have to let go free.
I think it is wrong to abuse a perfect fool.

Reader, we have another case to dispose of. Here
stands Mike at the same post where he stood nine
weeks previous. Let us look him over. No man
could tell by looking at him if he had aot known him
and seen this change take place by degrees. He has
been almost daily on the road and improved ail the
time. His feed, when I commenced, was eighteen
quarts of oats per day. It was reduced to twelve in a
short time, for this reason: Mr. Bennett had a partner
in his business. He started to go to Elmira, his wife
with him. He went part way and came back, drove
up to the barn, ordered the feed taken off of Mike,
ordered another horse. He told i in the hotel, “I
was not afraid of him; my wife was.’

lua THE HORSES RESCUE.

I was always peeking around. In the evening I
waiked into the hotel. There were several around the
bar. Mr. Bennett had a number of new bits. They
were counseling about the best bits to hold Mike to
keep him from running away. I told them Mike was
coming to life; he wasn’t running away. I would
drive him on a slack rein, and there would be no dan-
ger in doing so.. There was no reply. I walked away
and let them fight. They will be scared worse when
I get this horse balanced in the center. At that time
I had not fixed his hind feet. Let us look at Mike
after he is balanced standing at this post. I shall
never forget that horse. While looking him over in
all points I pronounced him the best horse I ever saw
at that time. J have not seen his mate since. There
isa great change in him. I stood up by the side of
him. Iam five feet seven inches tall. I put up my
hand, and could just reach to the top of his ears. He
stcod natural and easy; his hair was sleek and glossy,
and as handsome dapple-brown as [I ever saw. ‘ Mike,
you are as near as the creator made you asI can make
you; and yet with all the hard work I have done on
you nights and days, your owner is as ignorant as ever
he was. He does not seem to realize this wonderful
change in you. He cannotsee you gnawing your feet,
suffering night and day; shrunken and shriveled up;
all air-puffs; stiff and sore; Lair dead, and you nearly
so, but he tells the people there was nothing the mat-
ter with you, only a little roadsore. I wanted to cure
you for an advertisement, Mike. lam well paid now
if you would only stay so; but I well know you will
not; that lever will grow, contraction will take place,

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 125

and you have the ignorance of your owner and many
others to contend with. I will care for you all I can
when I can get a chance. No medicine has been used
on you internally; no butchering. The cause of all
your trouble has been removed by expanding your
feet and dressing them, and making them as your ere-
ator had made them before they were slaughtered by
ironing them. Hiram McConnell, the veterinarian of
this town, tells me that that butcher I drove out of
this town cured you. I suppose he had reference to
those skoes he ordered Mr. Brees to put on, that
caused you to gnaw your feet. Now I would like to
know, In the name of reason and common sense, how
McConnell came in possession of so much wisdom
about this complicated matter.” He was an agent for
the railroad company, and was obliged to be at the de-
pot all or nearly ail of his tin.w He kept his medi-
cine to cure horses there. I cured without it. He did
not cure these stiff horses with all of his trash.

The fact is, some wanted to drive me out. I had good
friends before I left that town. Their craft was in
danger. I think I will drop in there soon again, and
try them another battle on the horse; I have not quit
yet. I must clear away some of this rubbish before I
can go on with my work.

Mr. Bennett and I had a few words about shoeinga
horse; I shod his horses. He had traded and got one.
It was a strange horse to me. I shod it, and it inter-
fered afterward. He wanted me to try him again. I
did, and charged him for setting them over. He found
fault. I told him I was tired working for him for no

126 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

pay and no credit. If he had given me credit for
curing Mike I would not have said a word.
-“T paid you for shoeing.”

bes. 7

“Then you have no honor.”

So much for that hard job. Let us go on with
this horse fight. It is paying business.

There was another racket around Bennett’s hotel.
Mike ran away. Mr. Bennett was in the pump busi-
ness. A party of three went out in the country to set
apump. Some pumps made up the load. Mike was
the propelling power. Jack Racker was the agent and
boss. He was a reporter for the papers in this town,
and was a clever fellow. He was quite a bugler

a
good match for me on that. I was sorry to see Jacl:
hurt, for he did get hurt; his face was badly bruised,
and shoulder injured. ‘There was no use of my tell:
ing them anything before or after the shipwreck. |
was in the last stages of lunacy. They knew it all,
and I Jet them have their own way, and kept on a
straight line. Mike spread them all out along the
road, pumps and tools, and made a bad shipwreck.

While all this racket is going on I must go and see
Mike. Iam quite a hand to talk with horses. I en-
joy talking with horses better than I do with some
men.

“ Mike, how did you come to shipwreck those fel-
lows so?”

“T did not have room enough for my hind legs to
have full swing.”

“1 see the skin and hair are all off your cords, above
your hocks; that must have hurt you ?”

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. TOY

“Tt did; the cross-bar of the fills was chawing my
legs at every step.. You see, since you made me as
my creator made me, I need at Jeast eighteen inches
more room to clear my hind legs.- I can make long
strides now, and I like to do it; it scares them some,
but if they will give me room I will scare them worse,
if my feet are kept as they are now.” _

The fact is just as it is stated above, and that was
the cause of the wreck. As this work is called “ The
Horse’s Rescue, and Cause and Effect Book,” this
comes in all right. Such ignorance adds to the suffer-
ing of the horse.

The old, nearly worn out spreading shoes that I
pulled off of Mike were ordered to be carried to the
hotel, where they were looked at and commented on.
“These are the shoes,” they say, ‘‘ that cured Mike.”
These shoes had no curing properties in them; it was
the principles I worked on—removing the cause; na-
ture did the curing.

Mike was a natural trotter, and if he had been in
gool hands would have been hard to beat. He was
ambitious, and Lad great powers of endurance; for
strength and muscle I never saw his equal. There is
no use setting any price on him. The price of horses
is governed and regulated in many ways—sometimes
by fear, by fancy, by the size of a man’s pile, and-how
he obtained it, and the owner’s circumstances and sur-
roundings. This horse Mike was soon missing from
his stall. JI missed him, for I had visited Mike’s stall
daily for nearly three months, though I did not always
find him there. Where he went I know not. I never
saw him after the wreck but once, that I can remem-

128 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

ber. Fear was the cause of Mike’s changing hands.
He might get stiff and lame again; he might ship-
wreck some one again. And ignorance was the cause
of all.

There is not much use trying to teach a man when
he thinks he has all of the knowledge. Such a man’s
atttention can be attracted with children’s toys quite
easy. I have seen children wearing men’s clothes. It
is no indication of wisdom. A man’s grandfather may
give him three thousand dollars, but that does not add
to his knowledge. It does have an effect sometimes
in this way; it will cause a man of smal] intellect ta
wear a pair of boots three inches longer than his feet,
soles about one inch thick, causing him to toe out and
interfere, knocking his heels at every step; his head
thrown back of a perpendicular line, with a segar in
his mouth lacking only a few degrees of sticking
straight up; hands in both pockets nearly to elbow.
He can bend a little every five minutes to look at a
fob chain, but he could not bend enough to see the
lever on the toe of a horse’s foot It mightstrain him
across the loin, being thrown back off his base in a
small degree, on the same principle that his horses
are.

I do not want you to think a man’s foot is any com-
parison to a horse's foot. I speak of this to show the
difference. Ignorant people are always making these
comparisons. Mankind nearly always take their boots
or shoes off nights, and sometimes days if they hurt
their feet. I have worn mine a good many nights, and
clothes too, while working on these suffering horses’
feet. The horse is obliged to wear his shoes day and

THE HORSE’S RESCUER. 129

night if they do hurt. For many reasons the owner
does not want to pay for moving the shoes, and he
does not feel the pain the poor horse endures. I wish
they all could for twenty-four hours; that would be
Jong enough ; you would hear the loudest bawling you
ever heard. Man’s feet do not growin length; his toe-
nails grow; if he does not cut them off he will be
likely to have his attention called to the end of his
toes if he wears boots; and this is not all; his foot
has joints,.and his foot has no shell; it turns up at the
toes when he walks, if the soles are not too thick and
are made of leather, if they are three inches longer
than the foot; but it is rather torturesome to break
such boots in in any weather. When they do not get
soaked with water it hurts at the top of the instep—
where the ringbone is located on the horse. They will
slip up and down at the heel, which wears the skin off
the heels, but that will grow on again if you can stand
the torture a few hours each day. It will be neces-
sary for you to have rest from this suffering quite
often. If you can stand it until these boots assume
the shape of sleigh-runne:r, it will be more easy to
raise over that lever. I notice they do not all accom-
plish this difficult task, and they toe out, which runs
over their boots. Then they interfere and are con-
stantly wiping the mud off of their boots on their
trousers at the ankles at every step. But this is no
comparison to the horses’ feet. Take all into consid-
eration. The shell of the horse’s foot does not bend
as the lever lengthens, if it is not ironed, without pro-
ducing injury in some way. If it is allowed to get too
long it may cause it to sink down in front, or it may

130 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

turn up a little. If it doesit must split at the toe or
break nown. I have seen colts’ feet splitfrom point of
toe to top of wall on both forward feet from this cause
that never had a shoe on, and have drawn them to-
gether with nails. That is the best way I ever tried.
It stops the cracks from springing apart at the top. If
you can do that on any plan the new hoof will grow
out sound. If you cannot do that, it will crack as fast
as it grows. There is no bending that lever on the
horse’s foot, no matter how long it is made by ironing,
or allowed to grow, without producing injury in many
ways. It has joints and bones, but they are clothed
with a shell, and when out of harmony of action the
result is fearful.

The horse’s foot cannot be compared to man’s, and
yet this is not all. He has four feet and legs to be bal-
anced on, which I have already remarked.

Men ask sometimes if horses tuke cold from pulling
off their shoes! There is as much reason in asking
this question as there would be in asking if there was
danger of horses taking cold sleeping in the barn-yard
with the gate open. It all goes to show the ignorance
of men concerning the horse. Their feet do get cold,
and the horses get cold all over and shiver and suffer;
they are as sensitive to pain as mankind; and irons
nailed on their feet, with a row of nails driven inside
of the shell half way to the hair, does make their feet
cold in frosty weather. The frost will follow the nails,
which are very close to the membrane. Nearly all
shoers fit the shoe so narrow the nails start inside of
the shell. The feet being bound up, and the struct-
ure all changed from natural, causes heat. That will

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. t31

warm the foot some, but does not relieve the suffer-
ing.

Here came Mr. Bennett again with another stiff and
lame horse—a light-limbed young horse.

“Doan, what is the matter with this horse?”

“TY should think .you might see.”

“He wants his feet soaked, don’t he? How far
have you driven him ?” :

“About eight miles. Itis all ‘sposh.’ I should
think if that was all he needed he would be cured
now.”

‘His feet must be well soaked. The best way to
soak horses’ feet is to drive them in mud and water.
Your horse’s feet are badly contracted, and that is not
all.”

I walked away. This horse was badly contracted,
and he had two sets of feet on him, a very long lever,
and a heavy, bungling set of shoes, entirely too large
in every way, if his feet had been properly dressed. I
did not touch that horse. It looked to me as though
Mr. Bennett had gone to buying stiff horses for me to
cure for nothing. ‘That would have been all right if
I had chosen todo so. It is good business to have
others work for you for no pay, and grow poor all of
the time yourself. Some get very wealthy that way,
and sometimes you can hear them brag about their
wealth. Some folks may think it is the part of a man.
It may be in some cases; in this case it was a total
failure. I will have to let this case go in with some
other rubbish I have just cleared away, and pass on.

It is uphill business here all alone; no backing out.
When I first came in this town I was very cautious.

132 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

My experience had taught me it was rather dangerous
to tell a man his horse was stiff. It would hurt the
sale of him, and yet they were nearly all of them stiff
that had been shod—lame in a greater or less degree,
and they were in a worse condition in the Chemung
valley than in any place that Lever had been in at that
time; and I heard as much horse talk as in any place.
They all claimed much knowledge of that noble ani-
mal. My! isitnotqueer? Itissoallover. I have
taken the pains to demonstrate that.

Soon after I came in this town I was:looking over
the stables. There I can be found as quick as in any
place. You can see me ina horse doctor's stable, or
veterinarian, as they are sometimes called. His name
was Hiram McConnel]. It was Sunday. Hiram had
a little time that day. He was caring for a horse
while his feet were soaking. He seemed like a clever
fellow. I talked with him some about his horse, which
was atrotter. He was called Billy Crawford. This
horse, I heard, cost Hiram eight hundred dollars. That
may be the truth, or it may not; folks can lie. That
matters not, for it will not cure these horses. I could
see Hiram had some unrest about his horse. I ven-
tured afew remarks. I told him he could not cure
him soaking his feet; he was not working on the right
plan.

Hiram, being rather a quiet fellow, took it all quietly
and kept on at his work. I looked over his stables
(he had the best in town) and walked away. This
horse had contracted feet. He had shoes on. His
feet needed cutting down at least one-third. It would
have helped very much. At the time I first looked at.

THE ' HORSE'S RESCUER. pe

Billy he could have been cured very easily. I tried to
get this horse. Some weeks after I had a little tallx
with Hiram. He said he would give one hundred dol-
Jars to have him cured. 1 told him I would cure him
for that. I thought at that time I would be able to
get him soon. I was very anxious. He was going on
from bad to worse, which I well knew. I visited him
often; it worried me very much. I did all that was in
‘my power to get this horse tocure. I finally gave
it up. I watched Billy the same as I had others I
was at work on—one belonging to alady. She was
an agent for sewing machines, and traveled on the
road. A Mr. Wright took care of her horse, which
was a six-year-old roan pony. He had got to
be such a cripple on his forward feet he could hardly
hobble. With all the wisdom Horseheads contained,
they could not tell what ailed the horse, neither eculd
they get him out of his troutle; but they could call
me a brag and a damned old fool. It does not take a
very smart man to do that, and I got lots of that kind
of music. They could do that easier than they could
cure horses. All that ailed this horse was that his feet
were all cut off; that is, the shell was nearly all cut
off. His feet were not of the natural size. He was
on his base. His feet were not contracted. Ue was
ironed down solid, and was very sore, caused by this
botch-work. I soon got him out of his trouble by
giving his feet room and packing them. In a short
time he had his natural feet, and sailed all right. I
told Mr. Wright he must keep his feet soft. I did not
mean soak his feet all of the time when he was in the
stable. All at once this horse became dead lame

134 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

about three miles away, and could hardly be got
home. Wright brought him to the shop to find out
the cause.

“Mr. Wright, what have you been doing? You
have soaked this horse’s feet too much.”

“Tt was some trouble to soak this horse’s feet. I
have got a ground floor in my barn I dug a hole in
the ground and filled it with water, and tied him so
he would be obliged to stand in it.”

This horse had flat feet. After his feet got to be
their natural size the fever was gone, and they needed
but very little soaking. He had corks on his shoes,
and the frog did not touch the ground. The weight
is in the center of the foot. Driving on dry roads his
weight drove the sole down; or, in other words, he
went down through the cup ortop of the wall. His foot
was rounding on the bottom, which affected the coffin
joint badly and threw all out of harmony of action.
If it had been muddy it would not have been as
likely to go down. The frog would have had a rest.
This often happens on all flat feet where the frog has
no rest. Itis easy enough to get it back, dishing the
shoe, as ignorant people do, to get it off the sole,
that only makes bad worse. Most people, in cases like
this, will run from one shop to another until their
horseis nearly ruined. To pull off the shoesis all that
is necessary. The weight of the horse on the frog
will push it back to its place. I told Mr. Wright not
to soak the horse’s feet. “Put him to-night on the
floor. In the morning he will be all right. He will
he down; his feet will dry; his weight will be off
them, and as they dry the sole will rise up.”

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. — 185

In the morning Mr Wright said the horse was as
well as ever it was. Five years afterward I saw this
same horse and the lady that owned it driving it forty
miles from Horseheads, where I was at work. I talked
with her about her horse. She said he had been all
nght ever since [ got him out of his trouble, and yet
if I tell any one what I can do, and do it, they do not
all see me do it, and there is always plenty to fight
and bleat, calling you a brag. It is almost as dan-
gerous to find out anything new as it was two thou-
sand years ago.

We will go on with this horse fight in this town.
They begin to worry some about my spending my
money, and yet not a man has paid me a cent for cur-
ing his horses. I shall have to stop spending my
money soon, curing their horses for nothing, or some
of them will hang themselves. Then I shall be blamed
for that. They do worry so there is danger. We will
try it a little longer, and run the risk.

Here comes Jack Bennett with the Ameriéan Star
stallion. Jack is a wide-awake follow; got lots of
eash and horses. He tikes horses, and has lots of time
to play with them. His star horse is a natural trotter,
and is the nearest natural of any horse I have seen in
or around this town yet, or was before he was slaugh-
tered in his feet. Jack sent his horse to sehool at
Corning to teach him to trot. He went to Corning to
to see how Star was learning. He soon saw that some-
thing was wrong. He could not trot as well as lhe
could when he left home; and that was notall. There
was danger of his being spoilt. Star had white legs
nearly to his gambrels; the blood was running down

136 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

on the inside of his legs, and there was danger of
cutting his legs off. Jack brought his horse home.

‘“T can beat those fellows myself,” said he. ‘“ This
is the last time I send Star to school. Doan, what is
the matter with this horse? He never cut his legs be-
fore in his life. There must be some cause. He is
not right in some way. I can tell when my horse Is
right by driving him five rods. I want you to fix
him.”

All right.”

When Jack was around talking horse I had to stop.
T could not get a word in. He could talk louder and
faster than I about what was the cause of this horse’s
trouble. They had shod him in this way on his for-
ward feet with flatshoes. The shape was well enough.
The shoes were concave, but there was too much flat
rest on the shoes. The surface for the shell to rest
on was five-eighths of an inch. The shell is three-
eighths in this case. The way the foot was dressed ;
one-quarter inch rest was off the shell and on the sensi-
tive part of his foot. It made his feet sore. They
were ironed down solid and dead; not a particle of
give. The concussion soon caused soreness. Let us
fix his hind feet. The cause of his legs being cut
was they had been shod so they both toed in: the
weight was unequal on his heels. They had run overa
little—enough to cause him to hit his legs on the out-
side heels of his forward shoes. He did not spread
his hind legs enough to pass clear. He was out of
harmony of action all around, and that was the cause

of all. After I had shod him, Jack said:

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 187

“J will try him. [can tell in driving him ten rods
if he sails all right.”

Jack came back.

“ Doan, he is all right.”

This great science of working on the horse is called
bragging by men that have no knowledge of the
horse.

To-day while stopping to rest a little I was called a
brag. ‘They will not place much confidence in
your book, you are such a brag.” He quoted that old
fool “They,” as allignorant people do. A man might
think, to hear such men talk, that they or they say was
the highest authority that could be appealed to—equal
to the creator. The man that perfected this work
never paid any attention to what They Say says; if he
had, it would never have been perfected. I would |
like to have some of these wonderfully smart teachers
tell me how to introduce any new discovery without
writing or talking about it. You cannot put any ma-
chine in practical operation without talk to introduce
it; and of all the machines lever saw, the horseis the
greatest. When heis asthe creator made him, he is
the most complicated. Men have tried to improve this
machine, and have spoilt nearly all they have worked
on, sooner or later, by ironing their feet. No preof 1s
needed: neither will it admit of denial, for it stands
:n bold relief all over the land, go where you will.

Let us go to the fair at Elmira and see the show of
horses while there. It will be best to keep quiet.
Some big guns on the horse will be there, and we can
learn more to get in some quiet place and look on. It
will be no use to talk horse here; you will set them

138 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

on you, and that will bother you in your Jesson. The
only way for the inexperienced to learn these great
truths is to watch these horses when they are in mo-
tion. They cannot tell by seeing them standing. The
natural horse will stand sometimes, if he is all right,
with his legs sprawled in many ways, and yet be all
right, or nearly so; and he can be made by dressing
his feet and shoeing, to all appearance, while standing,
to look and seem natural to some. When put in mo-
tion, he will show his deformed and suffering condition
in many ways. ‘This panorama of horses that is pass-
ing is hard to describe. They have all been brought
here to be looked at, and to look at them is what I
have come for. The more the horse is deformed and
changed from natural, the worse he is used. If he is
stiff and sore, he must be driven around the track and
scored, to warm him up preparatory to trotting, He
must be jerked, whipped, and sawed, swung nearly off
his feet, being all out of harmony of action, which
eauses him to cut his heels, and pound his own legs to
pieces. These horses are nearly all thrown back off
their base, or tied up in some way or degree on their
feet. They do the best they can. See how that lever
they are obliged to rise over throws them up. They go
into the air, tanglec all up; break, trot forward, run
or trot behind, some on one foot, some on both; some
Jame on all four feet; and yet it is not seen by these
great horsemen, which I shall show if they are honest
by the premiums when they are declared off. Some
horses burst their feet in many places at top of wall,
caused by contracted feet. Then they pull off and
quit. Such horses cannot trot fast. They foot short

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 139

and rapidly. They are all tied up on their feet and
out of harmony. ‘Their feet pain them night and day ;
they cannot rest day or night. The avivet does not
feel the pain these poor horses are obliged to endure,
but that does not prove this suffering does not exist,
neither does it remove the cause, which cause is igno-
rance. They are all trying to make fast horses, and
this process ruins nearly all and makes them slower.
The next ebject is money, and ten lose that while one
makes; the country is no better off for all this whole-
sale slaughter of these horses.

If the people understood the horse, and would
take good care of him and keep Hit natural, or
nearly so, it would be a pleasure to ride after him.
The horse likes to sail when he is all in harmony of
action. I like to drive a good, sound horse; and if
you will take good care of him, he will sail you as far
in a day as you want to ride. In this race after money
the horse is the greatest loser of all. He loses his
sleep, caused by pain; he loses the use of his feet and
legs; his life is shortened, and he finally loses that be-
fore he is in his prime.

I cannot go on and describe all of these cripples.
I have written enough to show you where to study the
horse. Every foot on one horse may vary in degrees
of change, and it throws him out of balance on each
foot and leg according to the degree of change.

Billy Crawford is here, and is showing himself; he
was quite a trotter once. He is young yet, but is
Jame on one forward foot, that is, he is limping. He
seems stiff all over. He ambles and straddles. The
lever is too long. He cannot get there; he is a long

140 . THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

way behind. It is the best he can do If he was
untied he would show them some good stepping. It
is no use trying as I am now. These are facts, and
can be seen at any fair in the United States.

There is a cause for this condition of the horse, and
it cannot be removed by bawling at me. You will
not learn these great truths that way, nor will you any
other great science. The horse is a machine, and so is
man. The horse is a horizontal machine, and more
complicated than man; for this reason: he has four
legs and four feet to balance his weight on, and he
must be balanced in the center at the same time, and
the structure of all four feet must all be in harmony
of action when he is put in motion, or you will seea
bad movement, and the motion will cause heat and
soreness.

You let him stand still. When in this condition he
suffers greatly. The soreness will disappear some
when he is still. As soon as you put him in motion
it increases. The more yourun him the more he is
obliged to suffer, while in this condition. And thatis
not all; he is divided against himself in many ways,
and on no two feet alike. There are hardly two
horses to be found that are out of*harmony alike, and
and in the same degree of change.

A man (that is, he thinks he isa man; he is large
enough in bulk), knowing I was writing this book,
told me he would give a dollar to read it.

“ But I don’t care anything about your book,” said
he.

If it was a child five years old talking like that, we
ought to, and would, make some allowance, but when

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 141

men thirty or forty years old talk like that, there is
not much hope of their improvement. As though a
man could read any book without first caring for it.
That is what causes all improvements and progres-
sion.

This man told me, a few days previous to this con-
versation, that he had set seventy horse shoes in a day
in winter, and the first horse did not get in the shop
until ten o'clock, and it was dark at about four
o'clock. If he went without bis dinner it would give
him six hours to do this work. I have no doubt that
he did the work; it is too often done. Notwithstand-
ing all this boasting, owners of horses, when you hear
a man telling about setting seventy shoes in six hours,
if you get in his shop you will be likely to take your
horse home with two sets of feet on him, and in a
worse condition, or soon to be, than if he had not
touched him.

I must brag a little. Ican outbrag them all; that
is what ails them. If they could beat me bragging
they would be all on an equal footing; but they can’t
—I never meta man that could. But no man ever
heard me brag about the number of shoes I set in
one day, for I knew that the people were not all fools,
and that they could and do see something.

There is no use talking; it will only end in confu-
sion. [have no recollection of setting over forty shoes
in a day, and that was spun out to twelve hours; but
it was fairly done—nothing extra. The pay was
small, and I was obliged to do more than I ought, in
order to keep the business up. I have spent one
whole day—and faithfully to—shoeing one horse that

142 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

was going to make a trot, to please the owner, and
charged no extra pay; but I followed the horse to
watch his movement and action; and many are the
horses I have shod in forty-one years, and followed in
this way.

This show of horses is not all over here yet at this
fair. Iain here following Jack Bennett’s star stallion.
He will not show himself until these amblers and
shufflers and single-footers get through. Here comes
one down the track. My golly! How he does amble
and single-foot.

This is Hiram McConnell’s champion stallion. He
is not old. He was once called a trotter. He belongs
to a horse doctor, and his home is in the same stable
with Billy Crawford. He is a long distance behind in
this great horse show. This horse I have looked over
many times before he came to this horse show of
speed. There is a cause for this slow, stiff, straddling,
single-footing, ambling motion, and I well know what
itis; but there is no use talking when you are all
alone in the fight for the horse. Their time is more
taken up in trying to make themselves and others
believe Lam crazy. This was red-hot in this town.
The more big things I did on the horse, the crazier I
got. My, my!

This stallion was changed from natural in many
ways, and in many degrees of change, and every foot
was changed different from the others, and differ-
ent degrees of change; and he was so sore he could
hardly straddle around the track. Sometimes, when
looking at the deplorable scene, I feel bad, and think
there is no use. They brag and call these horses all

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 143

sound, or nearly so; there is nothing the matter with
them. .

Reader, I have gone off by myself and rolled and
laughed about these horse shows at many fairs, and
you can do the same when you study the horse. Af-
ter you read this work you can see it as quick as I
do, if you will give your attention to it. If you do
not you must suffer loss, and your horse will suffer.
No man on this earth, that has got any fine feelings,
would allow his horse to suffer if he could help him
out of it, and knew how to doit. You must learn as
I did. It need not cost you forty-one long years of
experimenting, and the hardest practical hee and
physical labor that a man ever did, and a power of
opposition. My God! it makes the tears come in my
eyes and my head ache, and back, shoulders, and hips
too, to write about it. You need not go through all of
this. Tears are no proof thata manis a baby. Be-
fore I get through this work you ean tell better. I
have to laugh sometimes at these horse shows. I can-
not help it. LI would not if it made the horse suffer.
Ido not laugh at the movement of the horses. It
does me good to laugh. It is no use to tell you what
I laugh about. I suppose these great horsemen have
seen me off by myself laughing, and that is one reason
why they called me crazy. Whatdid I care what they
called me, as I well knew they did not have any knowl-
edge of the deformed condition of these poor horses.
They were nearly all that had been shod in this con-
dition. In some degree you can see this any time
where these poor horses are put in motion.

Here comes Jack Bennett with a double team. This

144 THE HORSE'S RESCUK.

is the first time I have seen Jack to-day. He has got
his sorrel trotter and American Star stallion together.
Star takes the outside track; the mare is a good trot-
ter, see them sail. The mare is running nearly her
best, and Star trots. Not a break, no whipping, no
jerking around ; they go several times, Jack swinging
his hat over his head. Star is the most natural horse
I have seen in the Chemung valley, and Jack knows
how to keep him so. He does not drive him to death.

Jack stopped at the stand and blew his bugle and
Jaughed at them some and drove off. He does not
trot his horses for money, and does not keep his horses’
shoes on. This horse I shod for this surprise for
Jack, a few days before this great horse show; and as
soon as the horse got home I went, or Jack came and
got me, and off came Star’s shoes. He stood on the
ground floor.

Jack was a great talker, and I tried to beat him talk-
ing. When we got together you could hear some of
the Joudest horse talk you ever heard, because we
tried to talk each other down; and each had to raise
his voice a little at every word, and it would get to a
yell. Jack could beat me talking. Jack told me all
the objection he had to me was, I talked too much;
and that was all of the fault with him, but I could
beat him balancing horses.

Let us look at this tirade of cripples going home
from the fair. Tirade is a proper word to use, for some
of these horses were tied up on their feet, and in many
ways caused by bad shoeing and ironing their feet, and
some had two sets of hoofs in growth. . Of all the
sights a man ever saw this capped the climax. I have —

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 145

told you of their movement on the track. I cannot
describe this scene; they are deformed in so many
ways and degrees, straddling, stiff, poking along,
nearly all got cards on their bridles. They took pre-
miums according to their class and degrees of worth,
and yet not one of these horses was entered as a crip-
ple; neither did the judges know they were cripples.
If they did they were not honest. Reader, what
chance do you think a man would have with such
judges if he was to be tried for lunacy for talking
horse? I had to look sharp and keep watch of my
surroundings in this town. I have not yet got done in
Horseheads bawling horse and experimenting on the
horse to know the cause of all of these horses’ troubles,
and they are many. J must buy and work on many
to prove and test their ailments, each separately, in
order to know if this principle of working on the feet
would remove the cause of this trouble and suffering
condition of these horses. This is no easy task, but
it must be done in order to know. Opinions and _ be-
liefs are not knowledge. These things must be proved
by experimenting. It occurred to me after I had
worked on these horses some time, that it ought not
to cause any inflammation by changing these horses
back to natural by this process—spreading the feet—
if it was done right, and if I did not go beyond nat-
ural, that is, spread too much. It is rather hard busi-
ness to work on these horses almost night and day to
prevent inflammation taking place after spreading. I
must test this thing. I must have another horse. If

it kills him it will be my loss, and no one will know
what did kill him.

146" THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

This horse I prepared in the most skilful and care-
ful manner, to test this operation. I made the foot
very soft by soaking in warm water—water is all I
ever use—that Js natural; that is needed, and is the
best; it leaves the foot all right. I want no trash on
horses’ feet for me. Just at night I spread these feet,
that is, the two forward feet, and let the sole down
flat or nearly so, and exercised him some; put him in
the barn, fed him, and thought I would sleep to-night.
I did not go to the barn until morning. I lay on the
lounge—not any sleep that might. It was not the loss
of the horse that kept me awake. I never stop for
money when I want to test anything. I went to the
barn, the horse was eating hay ; he had not got over the

change yet. I well knew he would not without more
exercise. I felt of lis feet; they were cool; no heat
unnatural in them. That's a big thing to know; that.
will save me lots of work, and thatis not all; it proves
that in changing the horse toward natural, if done right,
no heat and fever or inflammation is produced by the
operation; if he is put in motion whea in harmony of
action none is produced. After this operation the
cause is removed, the unnatural heat is gone, and the
foot does not dry up as longas it iskept so. This old
shell on some of these horses of long standing is hard
and dried up, caused by great internal heat that closes
the pores in the shell; it seems dead, and there is not
much life in it, and it does help to soak and keep this
old shell soft. This old dry shell cannot be all cut off
at once, and if you do not keep the bottom spread it
holds the new from growing natural. There have becn
sets of feet grown and cut off, of long-standing cases.

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 147

When this old dried shell is removed, and new growth
of hoof takes place, the old shell kept spreading at
the bottom so as to allow the new to grow natural, you
will find, if you try it, if you keep the structure of
the foot in harmony of action, you have removed the
cause of more suffering than you ever thought of
There are some cases I have seen that are incurable;
some of long standing are quite easily cured; some of
short standing are hard to cure; all, or nearly all, are
caused by ironing their feet, and ignorance ig is the
great cause of all this suffering the poor horse has to
endure.

Reader, I do not want you to understand by this ex-
periment that there is no use in washing these horses’
legs with warm water and packing their feet while they
are going through this change. I have already writ-
ten that this treatment holds good, and always wil},
and you must always take care of their feet. After
the fever is gone tsey do not want much packing,
neither do they want much soaking. After they have
got back on their base they want work in mud, snow,
water; that’s what they want., Standing in the barn
wiil spoil the best horse ever was, and driving him
when he is out of harmony of action will do the
same.

Here is another experiment. I prepared one of
these contracted feet and Jet the sole down to its nat-
ural place. Jt required five-eighths of an inch to do
this on this foot. Tat first measured all of the feet
before I spread. I do not now, unless I want to know
how much I have spread the foot, or to show others;
the sole is the guide in raising and lowering if it is

148 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

prepared right for the operation. The colt’s foot in
shape is the object structure of the foot—all in har-
mony of action—when done on all feet of horses and
muies this is the point to aim at. After spreading
the foot, as 1 have above written, I waited six hours;
the horse was not lame. I had spread both of his feet
the same; he was doing well: no heat in his feet un-
natural. I closed or contracted his foot one-eighth of
an inch by measure by pressing the shoe and foot to-
gether to see if there would be any heat caused by
this operation unnatural; and how long it would be
before it would take place, and what degree of heat
would take place by this sudden change toward the
uznatural. The horse pointed his foot out instantly,
and was lame. I was shut upalone in myshop. I
put my hand on his foot; I could feel the heat arise;
the horse’s suffering seemed to increase with the heat,
and did. I left him in this condition about fifteen
minutes; I had Jearned all I wanted to on that change
toward the unnatural. This was a sudden change the
wrong way. Unwilling to see the horse suffer any
longer, I put it back to its original place, one-eighth of
an inch, put his foot in the tub of warm water a short
time, then moved him around the shop; in less than
fifteen minutes the heat was all gone, the horse stood
up straight with his weight on the center of his foot.
The man that allowed Dave Townsend to fool him by
letting him pull the spreading shoes off from thatiron-
gray got in this hot business; if they had been long
enough on to get settled and grow more they could
have been taken off and no trouble would have arisen
from so doing. He drove her home over the hubs,

ae THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 149

about four miles. It was wirter, and that helped to
set this heat a-going, and it increased according to the
degrees of contraction, and she went off her base ac-
cording to the degrees of change from natural; and
she went fast, too, and he lost money fast, and she
continued to suffer, allcaused by Dave Townsend and
the owner of the horse’s ignorance. This principle of
heating horses’ feet holds good; expanding too much
will cause heat according to the degree of change
from natural. So much for Dave Townsend’s skill on
the horse.

Here is another experiment in this town. George
Woodrough is a horse trainer by profession. George
was my true friend, and so was his father, Dr. Wood-
rough. George's stable was close to mine. I let him
in my stable after I had been working on these horses,
and he knew what I did on their feet. He hada very
fine mare, valued at five hundred dollars; he told me
she hopped behind; she was not trotting well; she
would go level at a moderate gait, but when he
wanted her to sail she would tangle up and hopon
one foot; he could not keep her level; he said she had
a record and she was geing back; I told him it was a
limp; he wanted me to look her over; at that time I
had not seen her move; I told him if I could not tell
which foot it was she hopped on I could not do any-
thing for her. I must see it in the foot.

“George, if I tell you which foot she hops on with-
out seeing her move you will think I know what ails
her, won’t you?”

“Yes,”

“Tt is the nigh foot; that is the foot.”

150 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

‘What do you see there ?” :

‘Look in front of these two feet, they are not
maies; thislame footis contracted ; look at the heels:
this lame foot is not as wide at the heel as its mate by
half an inch, the sole is raised, the lever is longer,
structure out of harmony, there is more strain on the
tendons, it hurts to raise over that lever which is not
seen at the toe; it tossed her up on that side and
throws her off her balance.”

‘Can you level her?”

“Yes, if you wiil let me.”

George had not seen these horses at that time go
through this change. I told him I was afraid he
would be seared. This is a valuable mare. He said
he would not. This was about ten days previous to
the fair. He wanted to show her at the fair; he had
a mate to drive with her; he wanted her level. I
told him I must spread her foot. I told him how she
would be in a snort time, and he must follow the
directions, and pay no attention to the bawling, forthere
would be lots of it. ‘ We must exercise her,” said I,
and you must doit. Ihaveall of the horses I can handle
now. If you get her ready for the fair I will operate
on her, and you must do the rest of the work. I will
tell you how.” I thought I would come out in day-
light on this job; George was not as much of a night
bird as I was. We got her in the shop and went atit.
I prepared her foot and spread it; it took George two
days to soak her foot to get it soft.

I took this mare right through the business part of
this town, limping and standing upon her toe A
crowd soon gathered around to know the cause of the

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 151

trouble she was in. In order to keep clear of this
rabble I was forced to battle with them nearly all of
the time, so [ might be able to go on with my work.
I was obliged to tell them a lie. I told them it was a
very bad ankie sprain, and kept on moving her around,
going through the same process in getting her down
on her heel to flat rest. This process they all have to
go through; some it affects more than others. It did
not last long with this mare. I took her in the shop,
closed the doors, and worked on her there. I,soon
got her down all right, no limping. Out I came in the
street again. Thisis quite abusinesstown. I led her
all over the town; the crowd gathered in many places
to learn how I cured her soquick. I told them I had
a way that belongs tome. George and I took a sail
after her around the town and out in the country to
see if she was level. She went all level, no hoppiny.
This foot was spread half an inch. Of course it must
have time to get strength after this change, and settle
and grow before it could get strong. After this hard
day’s work with this horse and others I thought I
would walk down town and see what kind of a racket
I had made.

I walked in the Riant House. I got it slapin the
face. ‘ You're a dam purty man, you are. You have
spoilt George Woodrough’s five hundred dollar mare.”
“You publish this in the papers; you can spread it
faster and it will be Jess trouble.” This man ran a
cooper shop on the bank of the canal. He came to
me after this to get an old cripple cured, not worth
curing. He bragged on her very much. He said she
came from Orange county; she was a fast sailer. I

i

152 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

did shoe her, but she was so much out of harmony
she was not worth curing. If I had tried he would
have fought me, so I could not do it. Such fools as
these § heeded not. This mare went to the fair, and
T followed her to superintend and see that her foot
was not allowed to get dry. She had not bad time
enough. The drying up of the foot would raise the
sole up. If it was but a small degree it would affect
her action at thattime. She showed all level. In six
months after this fair two men came to this place and
bought this mare and paid a big price. They came
from Williamspert, Pa. George was to deliver her at
that time; my time was all taken up experimenting.
I did not shoe any horses. In the morning George
was going to start with this mare. I went in the
stable. It was hubby. He said he was going to ride
her. Itisalong journey. He had her shod for this
journey. I cast my eyes down to this mare's foot.
“George, this mare will be very lame before you get
through. Why, look at them levers on the toes. She
never ean stand that.” It is no use describing this
botch job.

“T have got my pay and pav for taking her through,”
said George.

The men that did this skilful work on this horse’s feet
were my warm friends. This valuable horse was
slaughtered the first time she got in the shop after all
my hard work, and yet I eharged nothing for my
extra work. They got pay for spoiling her, and they
would like by their actions no better fun than to see
me crucified or got rid of in some way. That I was
uot ignorant of. Stay I would as long as.I wanted to, |

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 158

and did, and worked on those lame and crippled
horses of all kinds.

George returned. I asked him how he got through.
He told the man the cause, and they removed it by
removing the shoes, and that is the way to cure thou-
sands of lame and crippled horses, and never nail or
have nailed on any shoes unless it could be done by
men that have more and better brains than these men
seem to have. A man’s work ccrresponds with the
caliber of his brain, quantity and quality and degrees
of development, and when this is understood a man
will not be in so much danger of being killed for cur-
ing stiff and lame horses as I was in Horseheads. It
was a hard job for me to cure, and keep cured, so
many herses where there was so much slaughtering.
‘They could slaughter twenty times faster than I could
cure. One man could do that, and there were hun-
dreds at it, and those that I had cured they would
slaughter over again if they could get them, and yet
I tried to keep up with them. If they had thought
of that they might have got me in the asylum. Iwas
experimenting, and they were ignorant of this fact,
and had but very little knowledge of the horse or any
right or wrong principle to iron a horse’s foot. Siill
they had some power to control others to fight me, and
did, and yet after they got through they were as big
fools as they were two years before. As for knowl-
edge of the horse, I never learned in that way, and I
never saw any one that did. I sometimes fight with
my mouth to clear away the rubbish, and have to yet.
Tf I paid attention to all who advised me, I could
never get through. They seemed to differ so on all

154 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

points, and make none. It would drive a man like
me crazy. My mind is so weak, and I have been told
so very often I can hardly tell myself. If I am not
erazy now there will be no danger.

Let us go on with this horse fight. It is time to go
and see Billy Crawford. Poor Billy, I can’t get him.
He has got to die by inches. He stands in a box
stall. He is not seen out on the road lately. I must
see if I can find the cause. I well knew he would go
on from bad to worse. Poor horse, if I could only
get you how quick I could relieve you of some of that
suffering. Ican come close to you; your owner I
cannot reach. He did talk with me about you once,
and I thought I was going to get you to cure, but that
was all wind, and that will not cure suffering horses.
There are lots of that kind of horse doctors all over
the land, and yet these poor horses like you are owned
by them. They cannot cure them, neither will they
let any one else. I have performed some cures in this
place. I should think he might let me have you; you
are of no use to him now that you are past work. I sup-
pose he is afraid you will take cold if you do not have
shoes on. My God! what is the use of this poor,
dying horse having -shoes on, standing in the stall
month after month? If some good and wise man ean
tell me I would like to know. These shoes holding
the foot from growing natural, and two sets of feet in
growth on at that. This work is to expose all such
ignorance as that. Look at this horse; eyes sunken
and staring, and glossy hair all dying. He is very
nervous, eats ravenously, pot-bellied; he stands with
his back humped across the line; head drawn down,

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 155

and is so stiff and sore he can hardly move. Ii
he does it hurts him fearfully, and yet the owner of
this horse is a horse doctor. There is a boy sixteen
years old that takes care of this stable of horses. He
was blamed for this horse’s stiffness, which I well knew
he was not to blame for, and I am going to rescue him
before I get through thiswork. I talked with this boy,
and told him the cause of his favorite horse’s trouble,
and told him he would go on from bad to worse unless
it was removed. Then I walked away. I had given
up all hopes of getting him. It was not the pay that
I was after. I would give ten dollars to get him, but
I well knew I could not get him if I had offered to
do it in this way. Hundreds of such men have
talked with me for hours at a time about their
stiff and crippled horses, and told me they would give
me big money if 1 would cure them, but it was all
dead wind. It would have been just as well if it had
never been blown. ‘The horse remained a cripple the
same. I have cured, or nearly so, hundreds of these
horses ; so much so, they called them cured, and they
thought they were at least. They talked so, when I
well knew they were not. I did relieve their suffer-
ing some for the time. With all of my hard work, I
could get but little credit in this town,

While working in my shop some months after this
talk with this boy about Billy Crawford, he came to
my shop. He had never been in my shop that I knew
of at that time. In a pitiful way he approached me,
“Mr. Doan, will you cure Billy for me? I will pay
you. I have money of my own.”

“Tt will bardly do for me to go to work on him

156 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

without your father’s consent, will it? I have never
had any of your father’s horses in my shop.”

‘T get all of the horses shod and take eare of them.
He will not know anything about it. It will not do
for me to put spreaders on his feet. That will be
rather too high-handed without his consent.” .

‘“My dear boy,” said I, “I can help your horse
very much without spreaders if you will not let any
one know I am at work on him. Should your father
find I was working on Billy he mght make trouble
for me and you too. If you will follow directions—
my directions, not others’—I will put Billy sailing on
the road in two days.”

‘T will do just as you tell me,” said the boy. ‘ This
is to be kepta secret, and we two must keep it.”

“Yes; allright. Fetch up Billy.”

This horse was brought into the shop. I had not
seen Billy in a long time. He had been growing
worse daily, and the boy knew it, and that was the
cause of his coming to me. ‘The horse had shoes on
all of his feet, which had grown very high and long,
and were badly contracted. In one of his forward
feet he was very lame. It was contracted more than
the other. He had been lame in that foot ever since
I knew him. Itwas pinched badly “If I dared put
a spreader on this foot,” thought I, “ how easy I could
get him out of that, but it will not do. J must do the
best I can in the old way. That way is slow, and this
foot is so full of heat it will be a hard job to keep it
soft.”

It will help him wonderfully to cut his feet down,

THE HORSE’S RESCUR, 157

and it would be better if he could go without shoes
unless the work is done better than this seems to be.
Let us move this horse around, and see how much
he is out of harmony of action, before I commence
work on him, and we will watch the result. After
you read this, look aroun], and you may see some
cases as bad as this. There are not many put in mo-
tion that are as bad as this horse had got to be. They
are so out of harmony they cannot be put in motion
and run in any way. The whole business is com-
pletely tied up and clogged internally and externally ,
cords all out of place; structure of feet all out of har-
mony of action, and no two feet alike, consequently
no two of the cords of the legs are alike. This horse’s
shoulders were not mates. One foot had been worse
than the other for some time, and was yet. Certainly
it will require some brain work to get this horse sail-
ing on the road in two days. I told the boy that if he
would take good care of Billy I would not charge him
except for shoeing the horse; and he did take good
eare of him, ‘Stand around, Billy.” Heavens! I
cannot describe this horse so you can tell how badly
off he was from so small cause, and that is ignorance,
blind and wilfully so. But I have started and I must
go through. When this horse was made to move he
straddled his hind legs the widest of any horse I ever
saw of his size, and raised them the highest. It was
done with a stiff and slow motion. He was very nery-
ous, and seemed to tremble when I made him move.
I backed lim,and he dragged his feet and his hind
legs ; he seemed to have but little control of them.
Some would call this spring-halt. It was not that, for

158 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

he had got past all spring motion. His movements
were slow and stiff. He would not move at all unless
he was forced to it. It hurt himin many ways. He
was very sore across the loin and kidneys. In fact,
he was sore all over. This soreness and stiffness can-
not be removed in two days. It will take time for
that to disappear alter the cause is removed, and that
cannot be done by the process Iam obliged to work
on, but I can change him back toward natural many
degrees in this way, and his suffering will disappear
according to the degrees of change toward natural,
and if I can relieve part of his suffering I shall be well
paid. We will fix him behind first. It will be neces-
sary to cut away all useless hoof, and shoe on the same
principle I have shod all others for expanding the foot
by the horse’s weight—his forward feet the same.
This is all I can do. One of the forward feet is rolled
under at the heels. The structure of this feot is more
out of harmony than the other three. If I could have
this horse to do as I wished, I would soon put his feet
in shape. By spreading, I could put his foot in or
out of harmony. Cutting away the useless hoof and
shoeing this horse on scientific principles—thin, flat
shoes—helped his movement at once, and this same
treatment will help all horses that are in this deformed
condition, and there are countless numbers all over
the world, and countless numbers of people that are -
_ ignorant of this plain fact, as the owner of this poor,
suffering horse was.

“Bub,” said I, “take this horse to his stable; soak
his feet well in warm water all around, then pack
them all with cow manure; that is the cheapest and

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 159

best, and can be got with little trouble. It will draw
out the soreness, keep the foot moist, and stay in bet-
ter, and there is no stone or gravel in it, as there might
be in clay, for the sole to settle on between the sole
and shoe. I want the sole to settle. After you have
softened his feet, drive him, moderately at first, on
smooth roads. After afew aa you can Jet him sail.
Pack all of his feet when standing in the stable
nights. Never neglect it; and es the feet moist
while going through this change and afterward unless
you want to drivea cripple. Before you drive clear
all out under the shoe.” I have already written
enough about that. This is a lesson to this boy. I
called him “ Bub.” TI never learned his given name.
I write as I talk. Men use different words to convey
the same ideas, and I may use some that others would
not. It is principles on the horse which I want to
convey, on relieving the suffering horse scientifically
without medicine.

I watched the change and action of this horse. He
was driving by my ;s shop daily, and many times a day.
In ten days the spring-halt was all gone; he settled
down across the loin; he changed back wonderfully
in that short time. This ‘“spring-halt”’ business is
ealled by great horsemen “string-halt.” With all of
my experience I have never seen any strings about it.
Some say it is caused by horses sweating too much in
the flank. What is the use of talking such baby talk
as that? After they have removed the cause of this
difficulty on scientific principles they will know. Un-
til they do, or see it done, they must remain in igno-
rance of these Beticdcunated facts,

160 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

I superintended, shod, and cared for this horse’s feet,
with this boy’s help, for several months, and we had
the satisfaction of seeing Billy quite a trofter again.
He got to looking well, the hair brightened up and lay
sleek; his body rounded up; he could rest nights. If
he was not in harmony of action on his forward feet
he was so much so that it would not be seen by such
judges as awarded him a premium at Elmira six
months before. He could have been put in harmony
of action if I could have been allowed to do it by his
owner.

They called all of these stiff horses in this place
“foundered,” and classed them in four kinds. After
I had cured them it was something else—“ road-sore”’
or “rheumatism,” or they would get stiff again. I
had worked almost night and day in this town, and
had spent hundreds of dollars besides what I earned
shoeing, a great deal of which was paid me in prom-
ises that were never fulfilled. J saw that my money
was going fast. [ must change my course or there
would be danger of shipwreck. [used no medicine,
consequently I could not get any pay for my skill.

A thought occurred to me to experiment on the hu-
man family. I always have been experimenting and
watching the result. I picked up two castaway beer
bottles, went to the brick-yard, put some brick-dust in
_ them, and filled them with water. Then I got some
of the ingredients from a hen-roost to make up this
composition, and locked it up in my desk. They
would have it I used medicine in some way. I
thought, as I could not have my way, I would let
them have their way, and see what the result would

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 161

be. Soon there came a man with a lame horse. This
was a common thing at all hours of the day at my
shop. Some came thirty miles and farther. All came
to get cured for the price of shoeing the horse. My
fame had spread far and wide. This horse had been
lame about two years. His shoulders had been blis-
tered, and his cords, too, until the hair was all off.
He, too, was sent to me. He wanted me to tell him
what ailed his horse. Tired nearly to death, talking
with so many from morning until night, and working
at the same time, I told him it was coffin-joint diffi-
culty, as it was. But that was not all of his trouble;
he wanted to know if I could cure it.

“Yes,” I replied, “I can, but it will require some
powerful medicine to reach that.”

I heated up my water, prepared the foot, put it to
soak inthe tub, went to the desk, which I unlocked,
and took these two bottles of medicine out. I poured
some of the contents of each in the water. Then I
put the bottles in the desk again and locked it. After
this horse’s foot had soaked a short time I dressed and
shod it. All that ailed this horse, or rather the cause of
his lameness, was having irons puton his feet by some
one that knew but very little about the horse. Some
smith had cut off the sides of his foot, set the shoe
too narrow, and run it out at the toe. The lever
would have made him lame if nothing more had taken
place. The coffin-joint was out of harmony. I told
the owner he would go better by degrees; in ten days
he would be well. At the end of that time he came
to my shop and told me it turned out as I said it
would. I did not practice this new process of curing

162 THE HORSES RESCUE.

horses long, neither did I charge any extra aside from
shoeing. I soon saw they could be humbugged by
me, and easily too. But this was not what I was aim-
ing at. There were too many at work at that now for
the pay. Idid not cause the horse suffering, and they
did. My health from this laborious werk was likely
to give out. I decided to make a bold stand right in
the hottest of this battle for the horse. I would find
an old horse that was well known by many and was
stiff and lame, and what they called “foundered” of
lorg standing. I searched around for a long time to
find the one I wanted. J could hardly go amiss of
stiff and lame horses, and they were all for sale, but
were not what I wanted. At last one came tome. I
saw standing tied in the street an old-looking, stiff,
white mare, poor in flesh. She seemed shriveled and
dried up around her shoulders; her neck dropped
down from withers; eyes sunken. She stood braced
out, with her feet huddled together. I looked her
legs over. She was of Messenger stock; her limbs
were as smooth and clean as a deer’s, The hind feet
and legs were quite natural, and she stood well on
them. I looked in her mouth, and saw that she was
old. She had a parrot’ mouth—that is, the upper
teeth shut over the under ones. I knew she could
eat, for that kind of a mouth will allow the grinders
to come together when old. While I was looking the
horse over, & man came who was her owner. That
was what I was waiting for. I had made up my mind
to have this mare providing I could trace her past life,
if [ had to pay twenty timmes as much as she was
was worth. Her stiffmess was of long standing; that

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 163

I knew, and her worth to me was not ten cents except
for experiment. I did not tell him what I wanted her
for.

“Will you sell this mare?” I inquired.

He said she was a pet in the family; “the old
women could drive her.” They can drive all such
cripples as this, but not far in a day (I did not tell him
that).

“Whom did you get her of ?”

“Marshal. He keeps this crockery store right
here. His father raised her. Let us goin and talk
with Marshal.”

‘Mr. Marshal, can you tell me this mare’s life from
a colt?”

“T can, nearly so. Shewas owned by Yankee Wes-
ton. At three years old my father bought her. She
had always been in the fannly untii I sold her to this
man.”

“ How old is she now?”

“Twenty-three.”

‘“ How long has she been stiff ?”

“She was foundered when she was eight years
old.”

“ According to that, she has been stiff fifteen
years.”

S¥iesy'

“ How was it done?’

“ Wather let the hired man have her todrive, and he
nearly drove her to death. She has been stiff ever
since.”

‘Did you ever try to do anything for her?”

‘Yes; we did everything we could. She has been

164 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

blistered, seatoned, and roweled, and she ran out two
years. It did not seem to help her.”

“Cap.,” said I, “what will you take for this mare?”

‘‘ Had I better sell her, Marshal ?” said he.

‘Tet him have her if he wants her,” replied Mar-
shal.

‘You may have her,” said the owner to me, “for
fifty dollars.”

“Here are four ten-dollar bills,” said IL “I will
give them to you for her.”

“Tf you will let me keep her one week—that will
finish up my fall’s work—I will do it. I will bring her
down.” .

He came as he agreed. That was the biggest horse
sale that had been made in that town, and it would
have gone hard with me if they had hauled me up for
lunacy. Paying so much for such a horse as that, in
the fall, did show some symptoms of insanity; but,
said I, I will risk it. I will kick up a bigger racket if
they do not take better care of their horses. After
clearing my shop of some work I had on hand, I led
this old mare into the most public places, and com-
menced talking horse in order to attract attention.
After the crowd had gathered I told them the object
IT had in doing this was to get their opinion on this
horse. ‘ Many of you,” I told them, “know her. I
want you to say, in your judgment, if you call this
horse foundered of long standing. Marshal says she
was stiffened fifteen years ago.” They stared at me,
and looked at each other. Finally I got some of
them to pronounce her foundered of long standing. I
told them they had better put some private mark on

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 165

her or brand her. I was going to try to cure this
horse without medicine, and in six months they
would not know her. Then I went to another part of
the town. As I marched away I heard muttering like
this, “The damned old fool is crazy.” That I knew
would come, and worse, before I started out. I got
another crowd in another place, and told the same
story over. This I followed up for several hours, then
led the horse up Main street. She hobbled along,
stepping about eight inches, one foot over the other;
head down; lame on both feet, and Jamer on one than
the other. On my route home [wis in the center
of the street. People were passing and repassing on
all sides of me. I had got to be quite well known at
that time. I took it on all sides, but all they could
get out of me was, “My money paid for this horse.”
I led her in the yard at my house. My wife looked
at her. She did not say much, but I could see she
did not fancy my purchase. I put the horse in the
barn. Next morning she had to be Jed through Main
street to get to my shop. I took the center of the
street. This street parade got up more opposition.
The old women took it up, and they went to talking
horse. When I had attracted their attention I thought
there would be hopes that some of them might want
to know what all of this racket was about. In that
case there would be a good chance to teach them.
But these rackets would rise and fall, and no one
seemed to Jearn anything about the horse. By their
talk I judged they knew it all, and for this reason they
could not learn, When a man arrives at this stage of
progression, there is not much hope. When a man

166 THE HORSE’S RESCUE

is satisfied with what he has got, he is not prepared
for anything higher. I was not satisfied, with all my
experience and experimenting. I wanted to try and
see what effect it would have on this old, chronic,
long-standing case, to please myself, and as long as I
paid my way, and was burdensome to no man, and the
money I used was the proceeds of my own labor, it
was the business of no man to interfere with my busi-
ness until I wrong or injure some one, then, of
course, I should have been amenable to the law.

This old mare I took into my shop, pulled off her
shoes, and dressed her feet. They were so rolled up
by contraction on the bottom that they had but very
little frog They had the appearance of a grain of
coffee on the seam side, and they were very hard. I
well knew this was a long and hard job, and what the
result would be I knew not. I had taken a bold
stand. If I failed whose business is it? Where is
there a man that has not: made some failures in life?
But in this town I was in the way of some, and they
had their dupes to help them do their dirty work, and
they had lots of it to do in many ways. I put my
spreading shoes on. After sonking very soft aud
spreading her feet the first time one-quarter of an
inch, it affected her very much. She could not con-
trol her legs. JI moved her around the shop, soaked
her feet, and washed her legs and shoulders with warm
water. While she stood with her feet in the tub, I
held my leg in front of hers hours at a time, and
tapped her on her hind parts to get her on her base.
If the time had been kept, it would have amounted to
a month that I spent night and day on this mare.

THE HORSE'S RESCUK. _ 167

>

When I was in my shop shoeing this mare was there.
My little boy helped me. He could wash her legs
and move her around. I had other horses to take
cere of at this time. I worked on herin the stable
cold winter nights, and exercised her nights for six
months when all were asleep. After I had spread her
feet the first time she was so bad I did not show her.
She could not stand on three feet while I packed the
other one, but would come down on her knees. I kept
her feet soft. Ina few days she could stand up quite
well, though one foot kept lame about ten days. The
shoulders were so deformed, and had been so so long,
that it seemed impossible for them ever to come back
to their natural place. This was the cause of my hav-
ing so much work todo to get her there, but she could
not stay. I pulled her neck on top, rubbed and
pulled the skim on her shou!ders, and washed them
in warm water; the fact is, J was in the barn nights
with this horse and others, or on the road driving them
more than half of the time that winter. My wife told
me one night that I was a fool. I did not quarrel
with her, for I had had some serious thoughts cn the
subject myself. I was losing many nights’ rest, and
obtaining no reward. I was buying feed to keep
other people’s horses, and curing them for nothing.
When looking at it in this light, it did not look very
promising. They could not read my thoughts. I was
determined to excel as a worker on the horse’s feet,
and fit myself fora teacher; and before I can instruct,
said I to myself, I must know something to teach.
This old mare was to be my last experiment. I
could not expand her feet enough at one time to let

168 THE HORSE'S RESCUE

the sole down to its natural place. It had to he done
by degrees and without taking off the shoes. At the
second change I spread her feet three-eights of an inch.
This did not effect her as much as the first. It made
her iame on the same foot as it had at the former
change, but in about ten days she recovered from that,
and begun to have knee action and stay on her base
better. This was encouraging. This was a hght
mare; her weight did not seem to hold the sole down:
it was inclined to go back. It had been that way so
long that a little raise would effect her. If she could
have been put to drawing loads it would have helped
to draw her shoulders back to their natural place and
kept the sole down, and she would have got out of her
trouble in half of the time. That I knew, but I had
no such work for her todo. This horse must have
good care, and if I did it myself I would know it was
done. I fed her fine middlings. She was old, and in
order to cure she must thrive and grow fat. Theskin
around her shoulders must be got loose and filled up
underneath with fat. Withal, it is some work to lim-
ber up such cases as this.

While I was working on this horse’s shoulders
George Woodrough came up. He says:

“Doan, why don’t you use some linimerts on her
shoulders? Jt might help you.”

“Yes,” I replied, “it might, but I would not put
any on her for twenty-five dollars. If I should 1 would
only have to go through all of this work again. Jam
experimenting on this thing to see if this trash has
any curing properties in it, I am well convineed it
has not, and have been for many years; and I am go-

THE HORSE'S KkESCUE. 169

ing to know, by reducing this whole complicated busi-
ness to demonstrated fact for myself, then I shall
know when this is done. If it proves as I think it
will, I will sait that down as knowlege. There is no
knowledge in opinions and beliefs for me, especia!ly
what others believe.”

After working on this mare about four weeks I took
off her shoes and cupped the feet out and pared
them down some. . They were then narrower than the
shoe. I closed the shoe, and nailed it on. This mare’s
feet were kept soft all of the time—spread next time
half an inch; that let the sole down, or I thought it
ought to, nearly flat. It did not come down to suit
me, This was in the day-time. The horse must be
moved around; this sole must be got down in some
way, soon alter spreading, or it will play mischief. It
must all work together in harmony. I Jed her out of
the business part of the town. Her movement was
bad. After I got well out of the business part of the
town I got on her to ride, not for pleasure, but to add
weight, so as to settle the sole down. After riding in
this way for some time, I would get off and look to
see how this plan was working. It was going down
all right. It was rather hard work for me, worse, I
thought, than riding on a rail. 1 hurried her-up, but
she could neither trot nor run, and did not seem to
have any gait, but all kinds of gaits tangled up to-
gether. While going through this exercise I passed
some laborers that worked in the brick-yard, some
white men, some black. They were loading a boat
with brick. They hooted at me, and swung their
hats, which did not affect me any. I knew as well as

170 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

they did what kind of an appearance | made. I knew
what To was trying to do, and they did not T well
knew what they would be, some of them, after pay
day. They could wheel brick after others had made
them by having a man to superimtend the work.

Tiis mare for four months after this was not much
seen in the streets in the day time, not that I cared for
what I was surrounded with, but I had to work in my
shop during the day to get money to live on, and work
on the horse nights. I do not wish yeu to understand
T did not sleep any. My rest was not long at one
time. My mind was so fixed on this job IT could not
sleep much. All hands were watching this old mare,
and I could not tell how it was coming out inyself.
This last spread let up on the mare, and she stood her
fore legs back of straight. She was lame on one foot
the same, and about the same length of time. fter
having got this mare on ler base, reader, it will be well
to leok her over and see the condition her shonlders
areia. They look enlarged around and at the point of
the shoulder, caused by the shoulders being shrunken
above. Let us look and see if her shoulders are alike.
The side that she was lame on when I bought her, and
lame every time I spread her foot, is many degrees the
worst. She is crooked.

Reader, do you want me to tell you my thouglits
when I first saw this? I hadnot seen it before, as the
deformity did not show until I got her well back on
her base. I knew her shoulders were deformed, but I
did not think one side was so much worse than the
other. Isaid to myself—for I was alone--‘ The cake
is all dough; these shoulders will never be mates, that

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 171

is certain. If this old mare was back in some swamp
dead I would give twenty-five dollars. I guess I have
come out of my hole too far this time. hey have
got the whip row on me now, certainly. Well, the
world is as big as it ever was, and I have got lots of
time yet, and if I fail Ican move to another place.
If the mare is crooked, she is not Jame; and she
stands up good on her legs and has got good knee ac-
tion. Iwill spend five months on her yet. If she
never gets well and straight, the principle is right
Reader, there are all degrees of deformed shonlders,
and they are not always deformed in pairs. It is seen
only by men of practical and experimental knowledge
unless they become very bad. They are all caused,
or nearly so, by ironing the feet. These degrees of
deformity of the shoulders are regulated by the de-
grees of contraction of the feet. Expansion, that is,
settling down below flat, does not effect much. If the
horse is balanced up between contraction and lever-
age the shoulder is affected. If his feet are not con-
tracted alike, his shoulders are not affected alike. You
cannot iron a cup-foot horse and nail on his shoes as
it is usually done without these changes taking place.

In the fore part of this work Lleft two horses. The
first was badly thrown off his base by contraction on
all lis legs. When, as a boy, I first commenced
working on the horse, for several years I did not
know that cutting the heels too low and leaving the
toe too long would throw the horse off his base as this
horse is if no contraction had taken place. I was not
alone in this ignorance in that day, and as far as I can
see, nearly all are as ignorant now of this simple fact

Oe a | THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

as they were thirty-five years ago. I just saw one
pass, with a man on his back, so stiff from this cause
that he could hardly go; completely off his base ; back
settled down, and in no shape to hold up weight. I
should think this man, by his looks, would weigh
about two hundred pounds. His knowledge of the
horse must be very slight, Horses thrown off their
base in this way, and worked for many years, or even
if they are not worked, get in the same fix as this old
white mare I am working on now, and from the same
cause, contraction and leverage, which become chronie
and seated, and the longer standing the harder to
change back.

Let us look at the hind legs of this horse. It has
been a long time since I have seen him. He was
young when I left him, and is well along in years now.
He has two spavins. They are called by the veterina-
rians and professors of great wisdom of the horse,
“blood” or bog” spavins. These doctors tell about
curing these spavins. They burn, blister, and daub
on all kinds of trash, and charge for doing it, and yet
the horse is lame and so stiff I can hardly raise his
feet from the floor to shoe him, it hurts him so. He
cannot bend his leg, and I have many times been
obliged to raise the whole hind parts of these cured
spavined horses clear from the floor before they could
stand, and yet they were all cured. They did not
limp because they were stiff and lame in both legs.
Let us see if we can trace from cause to effect and see
what we can find. All horsemen and thinking men
will and do allow that what is called spavin is caused -
by a strain or sprain in some way, and that is what I

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 0 Re

think myself. A horse may slip and injure himself
running or playing, and there are many that do. Iwill
say right here that there are more horses sprained by
contraction and leverage than all other ceuses put to-
gether. When horses are thrown off their base, as
this horse is, by contraction, it lengthens the lever
very long. When a horse has to rise over that lever,
draw a load, and hold up two-thirds of his weight all
of the time, and when standing or drawing, he is in no
position to hold up this weight. I skould think there
was danger of straining the gambrel joints. Horses in
this condition you cannot go amiss of if you will look
at them.. They are in all degrees of change from
natural. Whatis the condition of these horses, if they
he down, when they want to rise? The horse always
rises up on his forward legs first. Then he comes up
on his hind legs with a spring-like motion. The more
these horses are thrown off their base, no matter from
what cause, the more the strain on the gambrel joints
in rising. It isin many ways a strain on these horses
to rise. The kidneys are strained; in fact, it strains
the horse all over.

Now, quacks, come on with your firing, blistering
trash and cure these spavined horses, or any other,
without removing the cause, if you can, with two-
thirds of his weight on these crippled legs. All you
can do, or ever have done in this line, is to torture the
already suffering horse, and there has been a great
amount of that done all over the land, and no good
result derived from it for either the horse or its owner.
This I have known for many years.

Let us Jook the ringbone over a little. I have seen

174 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

one colt in my life, I think, that was foaled with what
is called ringbone. I did not see this colt until he was
about four months old. The mother had ringbone on
both forward feet. I was looking at this colt. I
thought I could see a little enlargement around the
top of the wall. It did not look quite right tome I
watched him. At about eight months he began te
show signs of trouble in his forward feet. When he
traveled over frozen ground I could see it hurt him.
At one year old he was Jame in one foot. With all of
my study of the horse this is the only case of this
kind Lever saw. I think nine-tenths of the ringbones
are the result of irritation caused by contraction and
leverage. To raise over the leverirritates badly where
the ringbone has its rise. I have experimented on
these in this way by shortening the lever and giving
easy toe to raise on. They would go better as long as
the cause of the irritation was kept removed. I never
meddled with their feet spreading, I never have seen
one cured. I have seen lots of men torturing them
and watching tbe result, and have had as good oppor-
tunities asany man. I have lived with horses all of
my life, and been straddle of their legs, or had their
feet on me in some way (and sometimes they were on
my head), and their teeth, too. I have had these ring-
bone curers come into my shop to heat up their irons.
They would have several kinds, which they would
heat red-hot; kept some in the fire heating all of the
time, so as to keep this red-hot business of torturing
the horse a-going fast. I have seen this done on ring-
bone horses, when the cause of their worst trouble was
that the toe of the foot was one inch too long, and had

THE HORSE’S RESCUE 175

shoes on at that. These horses can never recover
from their lameness with this lever on the toe, and
growing longer all the time, and the foot made still
sorer by the most barbarous treatment a man ever wit-
nessed—that of burning. Ilorses treated in this way
-would be disabled for six months at least. I have
watched the result of this butchery, and lave seen no
eure and no relief. Reader, do you want to know how
I look on these burners of horses? They put me in
mind, when I see them at work on the horse, of the
wild and uncivilized savages tattooing themselves and
each other by burning and disfiguring their own bedies;
and yet these fine-feeling men have threatened me and
my brothers. J. J. and Oliver Doan, with prosecution
for craclty to anima, What innocent and syvmpa-
thetic barbarians these men are!

This horse I have been writing about in the fore
part of this work is not yet as bad as he can be made.
I may gct around and see him again. I have many
horses to watch, many miles apart, and some hundreds
of miles This watching has been kept up all my life.
Let us go back and look at this second horse, which I
left in this work—the one I had such a hard time bal-
ancing up between contraction and leverage. It has
been some time since I have seenhim. Mis knees and
ankles were straight when I shod him. He is now
tipped on knee and ankle on both his forward legs;
both ankles behind are crooked. His head is down;
wnkles swollen all around; cords seem to be thickened
up; he looks bad. Poor horse, they have got you in
a bad fix. I suppose the reader will want me to tell
the cause of this horse’s trouble, and the way out of

176 THE HORSE'S RESCUER.

it. That Icando. I understand this whole business,
As complicated as it may appear to you, it 1s as easy
for me now to tell you the cause that threw this herse
in this position, and the principle to work on to get him
out of this fix, as it is for you to pick up a basket of
chips; but to get him out of it is quite another thing.
It is a hard job, and yet it can be done. I have
learned something since I balanced this horse. That
was the best I could do with the cup fvot at that time
on him and all others. I have now got to be master
of the horse’s foot. I can do as [like with it. Ican
expand the foot on the right principle. Contraction
is the great cause of this horse’s first trouble. Then
to divide between contraction and leverage, the best
that could be done at the time when I shod him last.
He has been shod many times since, and they have
left him too high on the heels by not dressing his feet
properly, or the fault is in the shoe partly; in both
perhaps. They have thrown him forward off his base
by this work, and he has been so so long it will be a
hard job to change him back. I have tackled horses
that are harder to cure than this. This horse’s shoul-
ders are not half as bad as they would have been if
he had not been balanced up in this way. His shoul-
ders are badly out of harmony. He will not be
as bad to get on his base. The way to yo to work is
at the fect. This cannot bedone at once; it will take
time. It will have to be done by degrees, the same
way I am working on this old gray mare; but he is
different. She is thrown back off her base; he is
thrown forward. He has more ailments than she.
His knees and ankles have all gone forward, and yet

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 177

with all he has had done to him, the first cause has not
been removed. This horse is the on? that hadso much
experimenting done on him, and still he is alive; and
to the first cause there have been several more added.
The structure of the feet have been out of harmony
all this time. This horse’s feet and legs are nearly
paralyzed, and he has been a constant sufferer all this
time. After long-standing cases like this there is
some work to be done to let this horse down at the
heels, change the structure of the foot back, and put
it internally in harmony of action; relax the cords on
all four legs, and equalize his weight on the center of
each foot, and balance him on an equilibrium in the
center, and equalize the lever in length on all four feet,
and equalize the weight on the eight separate heels so
as to cause him to travel on a straight line; and yet
this can be done, so much so, that it would be hard
for the closest observers to tell where the defect is if
there is any. There are many cases that are past cure.
They can all, or nearly all, be helped. Old horses are
not worth curing. They are never as good as they
would have been if they had not been in this condi-
tion. Young horses are easier to change back, and are
as good as ever. This poor horse is the final result of
thousands and millions on the globe. There is no use
describing the process of curing him. The same
method by which I cured the dapple-brown called
Mike cures all the troubles they are thrown in that I
have laid Cown in this book. I never tried to cure
bog or blood spavin by throwing the unequal weight
off their legs or removing the unnatural strain to see
what the effect would be. I considered them_incur-

178 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

able, and do yet. I will leave that for some more sci-
entific man than Iam to test. Ishall spend my time
in introdueing what I know. The horse cannot be
cured or the cause of this trouble removed while he is
standing in the stable. After the change he must
draw loads, and that will draw him back on his base
by degrees. The first change will effect him very
much, and he should be helped by washing and rub-
bing his legs in water as warm as he can bear, and keep
it up. Do not get tired; if you do, you will never
eure any stiff horses. This is the only way they can
be cured. The effect doctors can sometimes find the
effect when it gets very bad. That is a little of the
effect to tinker at. They have a good long list of
names for the effects, many of which have no mean-
ing, or,if they have, it does not remove the cause that
produces the effect. I have had many of these fel-
lows gather around me, trying to put me through an
examination, asking me what I was going to do in
cases of ossified cartilage and navicular disease. Poor
fools! what can they do? They have dissected some
dead horse’s feet, and found that this or that had taken
place; and this trouble lad shortened the horse's life,
and in many cases caused his death by the suffering he
was obliged to endure frem being out of harmony in
many ways internally and externally. I would ask
these wonderful talkers, What help is it to the live
horse in this same suffering condition that you are.
able to tell what ailed these dead horses? They can
see no farther inside these horses’ feet than I can to
tell what condition it is in. All they can do is to
open them after the horseis dead. I can make them as

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 179

they were when they were colt's feet. If they have
been contracted very bad, so as to cause ossification,
expanding lets the body come back on the base and
helps in many ways that they have never seen, and
which I think some never will sec. They have so
much talking to do they can spend no time to learn
this great science, and that is not all; they will have
to take as much as two lessons before they will be
able to teach. I use no medicine, and work on the
feet, the cause of all this trouble, and cure; they work
all over the horse, and use all kinds of liniments, blis-
tering, and butchering, and the horse goes on from
bad to worse, and no cure is effected.

After I get the colt’s foot on in shape, and all in
harmony of action, and keep it so or nearly so, and
nature does not repair the damages caused by contrac-
tion, then I think there is some trouble inside that na-
ture cannot help. I never applied this principle on
any horse that I did not help, and wonderfully, too.
When I quit one of these horses the effect doctors
need not take the job of curing. Their medicine is
useless trash, and their butchery is worse. If I can
do this as I state, that is proof enough.

I read a sinall piece in apaper about ten years since,
written many years ago by Dr. Gangees, on the horse’s
feet. They had been held, he said, from growing nat-
ural by ironing. ‘That was all he could say about it.
He knew nothing of the effect it produced. They had
been elongated. Ile was an Englishman. Here are
some sayings of a horse-shoer, also an Englishman,
who wrote a book in 1700. His name was William
Osmer. He was a practical horse-shoer. They had

180 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

stiff and lame horses in his day. They called stiff
horses “ shook in the shoulders.” He said in his writ-
ings that the people were ‘‘shook in the head,” and I
think he was right; and that saying holds good yet.
He said, too, that the cause was in the feet, but he
could not get them out of their trouble. The English
have spent as much money experimenting on horses’
feet as any nation on the globe, without doubt.
There are many things to look to at the same time;
and in changing these horses all must work in har-
mony. The cause of failures in the spreading of
horses’ feet is due to the fact that the men who have
attempted to do the work could see but one thing at
one time, and that one thing they did not see as they
should. It is very simple when understood.

My experience and trying to introduce this science
convinces me that Robert G. Ingersoll’s lecture on the
“Skulls” is the soundest lecture I ever read or heard.
Bob did not mean to say that the skulls had any knowl-
edge in them; he meant that the brains that were in-
side of the skulis were what did the business. He
said in this lecture, at the first start, ‘“ Man advances
just in the proportion that he mingles his thoughts
with his labor.” There is more sense conveyed in
these few words than whole volumes written by some
that are dogging on his track.

That is the way this work was perfected—mingling
thoughts with labor for forty-one years; and I have
had lots of dogs at my heels, but I never felt I was in.
danger. Itis queer; some folks will not no anything
themselves nor let anyone else if they can prevent it.
What a lot of trouble they do have!

THE HORSE’S RESCUE 181

I had to tack ship sometimes in this horse sail,
Those that were’ with me sometimes, blowing their
bugles for me, would change their tunes and blow the
other way. ‘Then I would be obliged to tack ship. It
is queer, when you think this matter over, how quick
aman can change a tune on his bugle after he gets
used to blowing it. In order to understand these sud.
den changes on these bugles you must trace from the
change to the cause of the change. These changes
are constantly taking place in all things.

About the first stable of horses I tackled was Mot
Benneit’s, in Horseheads—not the hotel keeper, but
his uncle. He was carrying on a heavy business at
that time in many ways. He was building railroads;
he was opening an avenue six miles long to connect
two towns; lie kept a large lumber yard and sawmill;
he had ail kinds of machinery connected with this to
get out brackets, cornices for buildings; in fact, en-
tirely too much for any man to carry. He had lots for
sale on thisavenue. He gave employment to a large
number of men that wanted work. But times changed
on Mot. He bucked at it hard to keep it going, but it
was no go; it balanced over the wrong way for him.
Men that he had paid thousands of dollars would not
take his promises to pay written on paper any more.
T shod Mot’s horses through these trying time. It was
all charged on the book, and the amount was about
forty dollars. I well knew I would stand no chance
to get my pay. The big fish always eat up the little
ones. I took my pay in an old wagon at about three
prices, and let it go at that. Poor Moi, I liked him.
He was a whole-souled fellow, but he was carrying too

182 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

heavy a load. He came home from his hard day’s
work over taxed, and sat down in his chair, his speech
lost. Ina few days Mot passed away. Some time be-
fore this I was taiking horse in the streets. Mot said
to me, * You had better go to work.” This remark,
coming from him, rather shocked me. I thought of
his horses that IJ had been caring for, and the one that
I pulled out of the straw—that four hundred doilar
horse; besides, at that time I was doing more hard
work and working more hours than any two men in
tiat town. Highteen hours a day and night were put
in; the fact is, 1 was nearly used up. The cripples
kept increasing on ne. I waz over-worked. and I was
obliged to send some away, and I dropped Mot’s horses.
Money I must have to live on, and to buy feed for
these horses that I was experimenting on, or I should
fail. This caused his bugle to change, but the blast
did not blow me off my base. I was likely to lose all
of my friends in this town. Some fought me for cur-
ing and some for not curing their horses and keeping
them cured. The whole business seemed likely to
ium against me. JI made up my mind I would switch
off awhile and rest up. I was about whipped in this
horse fight. I went to my shop, threw both doors
open, got a shoe-keg and set it near the door, took some
papers and books and commenced to read. I did not
read much; I did not get a chance. New customers
kept coming all of tke time to crowd out the old ones.
IT could not do all of this hard work. They would
come an go. None of these men stayed with me all
of the time They did not come to my shop except
oceasionally. There was not one man in the lot that

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 183

knew how much work I was doing, and I came to this
conclusion: It was none of their business if I take a
rest. I made up my mind to clear away some of this
racket. The horses commenced to come. Isent them
wllaway. I was asked:

“Are you not going to shoe any more horses ?”

‘Not at present.”

Some would ask: ‘ How are you going -to live?
You live, don’t you ?”

“Yes; I can live anywhere you can. There are
plenty of shops in this town where you can get your
shoeing done.”

I sat on that keg every week-day for two weeks and
sent all away. That seemed to quiet the noise for a
tume. Then I resumed my work. The horses came,
all I wanted to wrestle with. I had bought a house
and six village lots in this town. The street-cars ran
past my place. They run from Horseheads to Elmira,
The distance is six miles, and that was the main wagon
road. At the time I lived in this town it was a great
thoroughfare. Here I saw some of the worst cruelty
I ever witnessed dealt out to these poor, stiff horses.
It was all I could do to keep cool. This was going on
daily, and Sundays it was worse. It was brutality run
mad, made so by rum.

When I commenced this work it was to be confined
to the horse’s feet, tracing cause to effect and effect to
cause. This book was not named until J had made
quite a start in the work, and ‘as it is called “ The
Horse’s Rescue,” I shall have to meddle a little with
the rum question. IJ never have talked much on that
subject, but I cannot see any way to steer on my course

184 THE HORSES RESCUE.

without coming in contact with it. I have heard lots
of men lecture on this subject, and talk about the
effect of ram on the human family, and I have seen
the effect punished while the cause remained undis-
turbed. In all of these lectures I ever heard or read
I never heard one word said in defense of the long-
suffering and abused horse; andas I am come to their
rescue, I shall work all the field I can to accomplish it.
This lecture on rum is to show that it affects the
horse in many ways, and badly, too, all over the United
States, and I have been over some of it. It is the
same in all places, some worse than others. I will
give you a little sketch of this wholesale abuse caused
by rum in this God-serving town where I am battling
for the horse. These are facts. They are no third
hand business. It was a common thing on Sunday for
me to see three and four wagens pass my house at one
time, going from Horseheads to Elmira, four in the
wagon, one horse drawing the load, and he stiff and so
sore on his feet—caused by ironing his feet by suchas
are whipping and pounding him—that he could hardly
keep on his balance; all swinging their hats over their
heads; one plying the whip, sometimes a club; cross-
ing and recrossing this street-car track every ten or
fifteen rods Some of these beings called human were
so badly off their base they could not sit up straight
if they tried. They would balance over in all shapes,
some forward, some backward. Some would hang
over sideways, and they were constantly changing, all
the time yelling and whooping; horses goingas fast as
they could be made to go in their deformed con-
dition. This could be seen, passing and repassing all

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 185

days. Sundays with me part of the day was spent
fixing up my patients, the horses, making them as com-
fortable as I could. The shop I did not work in in
this place; they would not bring any work on that
day, so I got a little rest working in my garden, which
is no labor to me; it is enjoyment. I could enjoy my-
self hoeing and weeding in my garden on this day as
well as anything I could do, if it had not been for this
panorama that was constantly passing ; that destroyed
all. It was very anncying tome. Of all the damned
sights I ever saw, these are the worst to me. I use
the word “damned” because it suits me the best to
convey my feelings. Damned means condemned, and,
if somebody does not get damned for abusing these
horses, neither of these two words has any meaning at
all. I think the damning should rest on the cause.
What kind of compositions these poor, duped speci-
mens of humanity had been taking into their stomachs
I know not; they did not seem to know what they
were doing, neither did they seem to see where they
were steering to. These are fit subjects to have the
horse! If these horses were balanced in the center
and limber there would be some brains spilt. One
cripple sailed past my house, after crossing and recross-
ing this track. He was quite a sailer, for a three-
legged horse, for one was not of much use except to
keep him from tipping over. I told my wife, There
will be a shipwreck soon ; that craft cannot sail long in
this course without one.” In a few days, not far from
my house, this wreck took place. The driver had been
helped into his wagon; up-town he went, steam all
up, and no regulator. This two-legged, perpendicular

186 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

machine in the wagon was so badly off his balance
that it fell over the horizontal machine—the propell-
ing power. The center or vital part was all in mid-
dling order, so much so that it was dangersus to set it
in motion without a governor. Somebody started it,
and down it came, It ran wild. Out went the man
headfirst, struck his head against a stone, and knocked
his brains out. This horizontal machine kept on go-
ing, and if there had been three or four more in this
wagon in the same fix the first was in, this machine
would have run the same until it smashed up some
more. The horse smashed up at his stable. This
kind of steam all adds greatly to the suffering of the
horse.

One Sunday, while working in my garden, there had
been more than usual of this kind of business going
on, which seerned to come from up-town. There
must be a fountain, 1t occurred to me, up there where
all this corruption has its rise. It all scems to come
from one source. But I have got all Ican attend to
working and experimenting, and if they will let me
alone I will them. I can only fight on the defensive.
There are too many balanced over the wrong way for
me here. I shall, in order to carry out my plans, keep
as quict as possible. It seems to be going rather
smooth now. I think they have made up their minds
to let. me go on in peace.

After hoeing in my garden all day Sunday (1
thought is was Sunday, and others told me it was), I
asked several through the course of the day, and my
wife said it was. From what I could see going on all
around me I could not tell. To look at the day it

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 187

seemed like all others tome; and I amso forgetful that
if there had not been somebody to ask I should have lost
track of this day. The canal was close to my house,
and the boats and street cars were running. This was a
great place for cars in this valley. I could hear the
locomotives blowing their bugles, and the music came
from all directions. I could hear them many miles
away, talking with each other, at all times of day and
night. I could hear and see this without stopping my
work.

I had my sleeves rolled up, vest and coat off. It
was a warm day. My garden wasquite large. There
was six large village lots all in one garden. It lay
close to this great thoroughfare. The Sunday did
seem to me to be the most business day I had seen in
along time. All seemed to bein motion—all life and
action. I did stop and rest on my hoe and take a
telescopic view of what was passing. The streets
were full of horses, some running, some trotting, or
trying to; some limping at one end and some at
both; some stiff; in fact, they were in all stages of
deformity. I could see I attracted quite a little
attention. They stared at me; that is, some did, such
as had sense enough left todo this. They could not
stare long at a time. If they did they would be in
danger of asmash-up. There were lots ef machines
running on this street without governors, and they did
not always run on astraight line. When a man got
on this road, if he did not attend strictly to busiress,
there was danger of shipwreck. Milk wagons were
running morning and evening; some selling it by the

quart and half pint, some taking it to the creamery,

188 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

some to the cheese factory, and selling it. The birds
were singing, the street cars were making extra trips.
They left Horseheads every fifteen minutes for El-
mira; the same coming to Horseheads. It was a sorry
day for these poor, crippled, and deformed horses.
Street cars off the track; men jerking the horses on
the mouth, jamming them back, yelling, ‘‘ Whoa,
damn you!” every half-minute, the horses at the time
standing as still as they could. Some had all they
could do to stand, and were almost ready to fall over
backward. Some, unable to stand, did fall, and yet
they were obliged to do extra labor on this day called
Sunday. It did seem to me they were all let loose on
these poor horses this day. Some of them were run
from morning until morning again.

There was all kinds of music, pianos, organs, vio-
lins, and I actually heard roosters crow, on this day,
on the backside of my lot. I saw the water run in
the creek. I did not see it stop and pile up in heaps.
There were fish in this water, and they were constantly
in motion.

Reader, when I bought this place I intended to or-
nament up this ground and fix up a pleasant home.
There was a large, lively stream of living, sparkling
. water on the backside. When I bought this property
I thought it was in a sightly place. In this I was not
disappointed. I could see too much, and the sights
did not suit me. I saw too much cruelty and abuse
practiced on the helpless horse, and it made a hell for
me. I gave up fixing up the place, and this was the
cause of my moving.

On the day following this red-hot day of abusing

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 189

these deformed horses I was on my way to my shop.
Reader, I was loaded to the muzzle. It would not
take much to touch me off. I was the horse’s sworn
friend, and always had been through life. Right in
front of Bob Colwell’s place of business, the boss of
this town at that time, I met Jack Racker, the cat's-
paw general of all the dirty work that was to be done.
He said to me, “ Doan, they are going for you.”

“What have I been doing now, and who is ‘they’
this time ?”

‘The authorities of the town.”

‘‘Bob Colwell, what is the charges ?”

“ Well, I sat up-stairs in my house writing for the
paper, and I could see you hoeing in your garden all
day. They are going to arrest you for violating the
Sunday laws.”

“My, my! did you write about me?”

1S Not

“You should have done so; it would help fill up
the paper.”

“T told them you would be the first man up here
Monday morning after working all day Sunday in
your garden.”

“ You told a lie; there were lots of folks here when
Icame. Jack, what do you think it will cost me?”

“T can’t tell you.”

“Tell that great business personage ‘They,’ you
quote so much, that I will pay all the fine they can
get against me, and I will double it if they will let me
lay it out.” 7

“What would you do with it ?”

“T would give it to some poor widow woman tbat

190 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

was trying to support herself and her children. Not
one cent will I ever pay to any authority in this town
or in any other for the use of this day you call Sun-
day, for this personage you call ‘They’ to convert to
his or their own use; but I do intend to have a lot in-
dicted before the grand jury for violating the license
law on all days, at the next court, if they do not stop
drugging these poor fools, causing them to kill them-
selves and others, and misuse and kill and cause to
be killed their helpless horses, and endanger innocent
parties, and place the lives of children and ail living
things in jeopardy. And this is not all; itis very an-
noying to me when I am at work on Sunday. If it is
not stopped soon I shall appeal to the courts.”

This lecture was delivered in front of the office of
the boss of the town. Let us go on to the shop.
There will be a lot of cripples waiting. That racket
is stopped. I wonder what will come next.

Reader, [ suppose you want to know how the old
white mare gets along. It lias been four weeks since
she had her feet spread. The same shoes lave been
on all that time. She has been driven every mght in
some by-road. She is not lame, and is growing fat—
improving slowly. She must have her feet dressed
and spread again. Her feet do not dry up now, and
there is not much fever in them. I cupped out her
feet and pared the shell properly for this spreading
operation. Itis the same proces. It is by degrces I
am doing this. It could not be done on this mare all
at once, she was so badly rolled up. I closed up the
shoes, nailed them on, souked the feet soft, and spread
them one-quarter of an inch again. That let the sole

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 191

down as far as I wanted it. In all I have spread this
mare’s fect one inch and three-eighths at different
times, and yet itis not more than five-eighths of an
inch wider than it was before I spread it at all. Every
time I spread this old mare’s feet it threw her off of
her base on both feet and lamed her on this same foot
that she was lamest on when I bought her. She was
lame on both, and had been for many years. This
time she was not so lame on this foot, and recovered
sooner from the effects of the change. As she pro-
gressed toward natural by degrees she was easier to
get on her base; the time lessened, and the effeets les-
soned by degrees the nearer she approached natural.
This is encouraging, certainly. She does improve
slowly; her shoulders are not mates; she is very
crooked yet, and both badly deformed. She does nos
look like the same horse now I have changed her;
this is certain, and the cause is removed. This long-
standing effect around these stioulders is stubtorr. and
tough. I know the bones are net broken; all else
will yield by degrees, but it must be slow. It has
yielded a little now; and if it has yielded a little it
will yield a little more. This is the way I reasoned
with myself in the cold barn many cold winter nights
while others were sleeping or sitting by comfortable
fires. Days I was in my shop doing all I could to re-
lieve the suffering of horses for the same men that
were fighting me their level bestin many ways. Some
of them were poor dupes, which IT well knew, sect on
and made so by a jealous, ignorant set of pretenders of
great knowledge of the horse. I well knew I could
out general them working on the horse. A man did

192 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

not have to know much about the horse in this town
to do that. In this town, where they worried so much
about my spending my money and so much time, I
was obliged to ste two men after waiting one year for
my pay for shoeing their horses. One of these men
lived in a house that cost forty-five thousand dollars.
Bragging all the time about their wealth; I never
heard them brag about their knowledge. The fact is,
they did not have much of that. That was a scarce
article on the horse in this town. I want to ask.these
men who this time belongs to, and how much money
they have got invested in time. Some folks talk and
act as though time belonged to them, and they wanted
to monopolize it and convert it all to their own use,
as they have many things. I have used as much
time, probably, as any man of my age, and others
have used it, and yet there seems to be lots of it left.
Some use time in one way, somein another. It is used
in many ways. Some use it fighting against their cwn
interest and others’ at the same time, and do not know
it; and that was what the ignorant part of this com-
munity was doing in this town for two years fighting
me. I suppose they will fight this work if they ever
see it. Then they will be fighting against their inter-
est. It will not hurt the sale of this work; it will
help it to sell. It will call the peoples’ attention to
see what all this racket is about. That was what I
got up so much racket in your town for, to get the
people’s attention attracted to me. I wanted to teach
them something about the horse. I well knew they
did not know but little about this great science of
working on the horse. After this science is under

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 193

stood, the long lists of names laid down in books for
effect will be buried with many other dead and useless
names and things of the past. There will be no effect
to name. Men lose money and their herses too. If
there is a way to prevent it, and they know it to bea
fact, they will grasp it very quickly. All they want
is to know that this is a success (and it is, and all of
the howling and bawling of these effect doctors will
not make it otherwise).

After working in this town, with no one to help me
but my little boy and my wife, I thought I would
teach a young man. He had worked at blacksmith-
ing a short time, and was trying to learn hew to shoe
and work on the horse. This horse business requires
two good, able-bodied men at least part of the time—
one to hold up the feet while the other spreads them.
Sometimes he is obliged to hold up more than half of
the horse’s weight. It takes some strength and cour-
age to tackle all kinds of horses in this way, and yet
it must be done if these horses that are in this fix are
ever to get out of it. This young man saw me do this
and helped me some, and yet he did not have confi-
dence enough in himself todoit. He could not stand
the opposition we were surrounded with. It did not take
much to cram him down. I soon saw he would not
make a good soldier in this horse fight. Hedared not
come right out and talk. He wasshy. Hedared not
get uparacket. He could not stand that. I soon
saw he would be of little use to me. I wanted fear-
less men to introduce this science; no coward could
doit. The horse he must notfear; he must drive and
handle him in many ways, and allstrange horses. Ail

194 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

of the time he was too weak on his knees. . I dropped
him. In about one year I went in his shop. He was
shoeing horses. The work ne was doing looked rather
ragged. He told me, “ This is the way I am doing it
now.”

He was driving in old stubs in the old holes, with
the lever all left on the toe, and growing longer all of
the time. I said to him:

“This is not right; the horse is the sufferer. Your
customers will go back on you.”

“Thev do not know the difference,” said he.

In that he was partly right. Some do know when
they have got a job that looks well. This irouing a
horse’s foot is quite a different thing, if botched, from
other mechanical work. It causes the horse to suffer.
A man can botch a job on a wagon, and yet the wagon
does not suffer. I have seen anid heard some groan as
if they feel pain. ‘he cause was a botch job, and it
caused the horses to suffer that was drawing these
wagons. To set the tire too tight on the lumber
wagon dishes the wheels one inch each too much.
What effect ean that have on these deformed horses?
Put on forty hundred weight on rutty roads, then you
ean tell. If the wheel runs in the rut at all it con-
stantly crowds and grinds against the shoulder of the
axle This causes the horse to suffer. I have had
many of these new-born babes on the horse try to talk
and lie me down to build themselves up.

T shall state here I know the horse’s condition has
grown worse for the last twenty-five years, and for
several reasons. Since shoes for the horse, and nai!s
to nail them on, have been made by machinery, the

THE HORSK’S RESCUE. 195

shoer, as soon as he can learn to weld on a cork on the
toe in a bungling way, buvs some stock and sets up
the business of slaughtering the horse. He works on
no principle, either right or wrong. . He brags, and his
friends brag for him, and they know less, if it is pos-
sible, than horses. He is safe enough if they all get
crippled on his hands. The creator has made such a
botch of making the horse, he can’t eat or drink water.
All kinds of grain will make him stiff or Jame in all
| degrees, some on one foot, some on two, some on all,
in all degrees, and yet he must eat or he will die. In
some places they are nailing on cast shoes. In this
case the foot must be cut to fit the shoe.

Of all the damned fools that I ever heard talk, the
biggest is men that claim that horses are stiffened by
what they eat or drink. There are so many degrees
on the same horses, and on the same horse; and these
men gather around me in herds almost daily, teaching
me these wonderful truths they claim to know, and all
driving stiff and lame horses in some degree. If
what they say is true, they are a careless, ignorant lot
of fools, and their talk bears witness against them-
selves, and it needs no other proof, for their horses are
enough to condemn them. They are nearly all crip-
pled in a greater or less degree. That needs no proof.
It crops.out all over the land in bold relief; and if
these horses are stiffened by grain and water, why do
they scurf the shoer so much for spoiling their horses
and run to him to get them cured—the same place
where they get them spoilt? It is curious how many
tunes can be played on one of these lying bugles when
some men get to blowing them,

196 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

There are many animals that eat grain, but none are
stiff and lame like the horse and mule. Al] animals
drink water, and it does not affect any but these two
species in this way. How is this, you wonderfully
knowing men? Ishould think you would appeal to
the creator to have an imprevement made on these two
species of animals. According to your reasoning,
there is something wrong in their construction, or you
should use more reason and judgment about feeding
grain and giving them water, knowing, as you claim,
so much about the cause of all this. Suppose you
experiment a little and stop giving your horses grain
and water, or a very little, and keep their feet ironed,
and that by a botch; you can tell soon where the
cause is. They feed ajl kinds of cattle, young and
old, the strongest kind, and they are ticd up and have
but little exercise; yet they do not get stiff by any-
thing they eat and drink. The ox is kept shod in
many places the whole year round, and fed grain, and
heavy too, and I have seen them when warm drink a
half-barrel of water at once, and have shoes on at the
same time, and not get stiff. My father lived among
the rough hills of the state of Pennsylvania. He
kept them, shod and fed them, anl yet I never saw’
him have a stiff or sprained ox. He worked these
oxen. The ox’s foot is split; the shoe is in two
parts, and there is nocontraction. The lever does get
long. It does not effect the ox as it does the horse.
The lever on the ox’s foot does not extend beyond the
useless growth of the hoof. On the horse it is very
different.

After I get this work from the press ] am ready to

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 197

go to school to these great teachers to see what great
discoveries they have made on the horse. Some have
never been out of the town in which they were born.
If they can tell me how and on what theory or plan
they obtained so much knowledge of the horse's foot
and the cause that threw him in this deformed condi-
tion, without any experience or experimenting, they
willeonfer on me agreat favor. They can make their
independent fortune out of that. It will do away
with experimenting on all things, and save a vast
amount of useless labor. This is the way all great
things have been perfected. It will save mental taxa-
tion. I wish I had known this new theory forty-one
years ago; my back and hips and shoulders would not
ache so while J am writing this work. I have heard
in my life folks talk about usingcommon sense. How
plenty that article is I know not. There is not much
used for the benefit of the horse, that I know. The
article of reason, talking, and working on the horse js
almost out of use. Judgment, there is lots of that of
all kinds. here is all degrees of it. They all differ
using judgment. There is good and poor judgment
used on the horse. Of that article ninety per cent
used is very poor. Useless opinions and beliefs are
used by the wholesale. Still the horse suffers. Igno-
rant men have the impudence to tell me I cannot cure
these horses, and never did. Anyone would think, to
hear them talk, they knew all things, and were in all
places at the same time. NowTI want these poor fools
to tell me how they know I cannot cure these horses.
They are in one place drawing manure, which they
can co after somebody has made the wagon to draw it

aes

198 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

on; that they could not make. I am hundreds of
miles away curing these horses. I could do this ina
small village and they be ignorant of the fact. It
might be put in print in the daily papers, and such
ignoramuses as these never know it. They seldem, if
ever, read; and yet I have had nearly all of my abuse
from this source. To get drunk on what they call
whisky is the hight of their ambition. The next is to
abuse and misuse these helpless horses in many ways.
Reader, if you ever try to introduce this science, my
experience has taught me from such to turn away.
They cannot take in this great science; they only
fight; you cannot teach them. The higher always
teach the lower. You cannot get teachers from the
lower to teach the higher; that would be too much
like spreading the horse’s foot at the tye or at the top.
You must select naturalists and scientific men—men

f brains, men whose word is good, not hars. I have
studied man some in the same time I have been study-
the horse. There are men that can and do hie, and it
is wonderful kow they will multiply. Liars are very
prolific. If one big liar should tell lies out of whole
cloth before six or eight bearers of lies, it is surpris-
ing what a crop you will have in a short time, and
how they will multiply, and what a field they will
spread over. They are borne in papers, on the tele-
graph, and telephone, in the mail, and across the ocean
and under it. I speak of this for this reason, to post
you up. All this I have had to contend with in try-
ing to perfect this work and trying to introduce it.
Before I get through I will show you where I experi-
mented a little on this lying business. The lying fruit

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 199

some are very fond of They can masticate and swal-
low and digest this easy. They seem to relish it, too.
No matter how large this fruit is, they can swallow it,
and some have swaliowed so much of it that it is
almost impossible to get them to taste the truth. It
is surprising how full some folks will allow themselves
to be stuffed with lies) Why do you not investigate
for yourselves, and go for facts and see them demon-
strated? and then you will know these lies are only
told to deceive you by men that want to keep up this
torturing business on your poor, suffering horses, and
put down this great science. They are badly scared ;
their craft is in danger of being wrecked, and they do
not like to be made out worse than fools. When this
science 1s introduced, they will feel exceedingly small.
This is certain; itis and has been almost a daily oc-
currence for many years to hav a Jot of teachers
gather around me, all talking horse, all talking at the
same time, all directing their lesson to me.

Since I have commenced writing this work several
have toid me they were going to write a book on the
horse. I told them if they wanted to I had no objec-
tions. “That is all right,” said IL “ You may know
many things about the horse that Ido not. Your
book would perhaps sell as well as mine. You have
as good a right to. make books and sell them as any
man.” But they would have to write different from
what they talk in order for the reader to understand
what they wanted to convey. If these books ever do
come out I will compile them. Then you will have
the best guide to cure these lame and deformed horses
that ever came from a press. I have tried to learn

200 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

these lessons so £ could talk them. I may give a
short leeture that I have learned from these teachers
after I get this work out. Ican talk it better than I
can write it. It 1s very complicated. It requires
quite an expert to talk eight or nine men’s lessons and
earry them all alongat the same time, and all disagree-
ing on all points, opinions, and beliefs. The more a
man believes the less he knows. The more be knows
the less he believes. A man thatis satisied with what
he has got of knowledge is never prepared for any
more.

I have no power to convey with my pen these horse
lessons that I have had. I think after taking five or
six hundred more I will be able to talk it. Iam going
to try to learn them. If I can learn to talk nine men’s
talk at one time on the horse, that will be a big thing.

It has been now one month since you have heard
from the old white mare. It has been all of this long
month the same thing—continued talking, shoeing,
and working on all kinds of lame and crippled horses,
early and late, sometimes all night. ‘These few horses
that I write about are only now and then one of thou-
sands I have worked on in forty-one years. This
fight for the horse has been a long one, and it is not
over yet. We are just getting in the hottest of it now,
but the hotter the battle the more glorious the victory
—for that we are going to have. It has got started,
and it cannot be stopped. ‘Too many have seen this
work done—scientific men, which I shall refer to be-
fore E get through this work.

This old mare is doing finely. She must have her
feet dressed as before and spread a little. I did not

THE HORSES RESCUE. 201

measure her shoe to see how much I did spread it. It
needed but very little. The sole is the guide on all
feet. I cannot furnish any reason, sense, or judgment
in this work. I want all I have got for my own use.
You must use your own on this work—all you can
command—and use it all of the time in all cases,
They all vary in many ways, as I have already written
many times.

I spread after this operation a little every ten or
twelve or fifteen days, according to my best judgment.
The object in doing this was to keep the structure of
the foot always in harmony of action, and this coffin-
joint and all others as rear their natural place as pos-
sible all the time. So as to have her improve, I did
not leave anything undone for one hour that I could
do to forward this work I was trying so hard todu. I
had got this mare’s feet flattened out, and the growth
not wearing off. The shoe nailed on to hold it spread
would also hold it from spreading; at the same time,
if the foot was allowed .to grow on the course it is in-
clined to grow and not spread, the sole would raise up
in degrees according to the time it was held at the bot-
tom. This would affect the coffin-jointand throw ler
off her base and affect her all over according to the
degree of change from natural. I kept this mare and
changed her shoes several times to keep the lever on
the toe as short as I could, and spread her feet many
times a little. You ought to see what I was spreading
her feet for by small degrees. I kept up rubbing her
shoulders often, and nights many hours at atime. I
drove her nights. There was no let-wp on this job for
six months. Reader, imagine, if you can, my feelings,

202 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

which I well know you cannot, after all this hard work
and no reward to perfect this work, to have a lot of
ignorant men insult you daily and hourly. I can tell
you how I feel sometimes, just like taking my flat
hand and mutilating their bugle. They are not of
much account. They will have to pass off of this
earth as many have, and not take much with them.
Knowledge is all they can take, and of that they will
be a little short. What aman knowsis all that makes
him anything. What another knowsdoes not helpall
others only such little as he can teach them: and
where there is no material to work on itis up-hill busi-
ness. ‘To make something out of nothing is a very
difficult task. When talking horse and that kind of
talk, which can be heard coming from me all days and
in all places, I have been called drunk by the ignorant.
I never had any abuse from the enlightened part of the
community. If they did not help me they did not in-
sult me. Jam about as fearless as the most of men,
and yet I do have fear. I do not drink alcoholic
drink of any kind for many reasons; one J will men-
tion is this: [am afraid I will get killed by drugs of
some kind. Jam not afraid to die, but I do not want
to fail to introduce this great science on the horse that
I have worked so many years to perfect.

The last resort of the ignorant, if they cannot keep
pace with others in this race of progression, is slan-
der. Read the history of the past, imperfect as it is,
and it will give you alittle light—enough to open your
eyes a little and put you onthe right track. You can.
never learn this science or any other by fighting, ly-
ing, and slandering others. You may go well dressed,

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 203

and yet it does not add to your knowledge. When I
work on horses my clothes do not please some, and yet
I wear them all days. These horse needed my care.
All days and nights I wore a strong pair of pants, a
heavy woolen shirt. Suspenders I never could get to
hold a horse; pants with patches on the legs, three or
four on top of each other, and if some were leather it
is all the better; then a stout leather apron over all.
It does save your knees and legs some. And yet with
all this protection I have had all stripped off clear to
the floor, and some skin with it; cordslaid bare on my
legs; suspenders broken ; buttons nearly off, and pants
too. Inashipwreck like this I usually used to use
horse nails for suspender buttons. Sometimes I used
them for weeks; they would hold better. When I
wanted some ‘stock, or five cent’s worth of tobacco, I
did not take these nails out or change my clothes, or
wash. I walked in all places of business through the
day, and night too. My business was working on the
horse all hours, and I must be harnessed for it, and it
has been so for forty-one years. I was slovenly and
smelt bad, the result of wiping manure off of others’
horses on myself and clothes daily that they should
have cleaned off themselves. I have cleaned hun-
dreds and thousands of horses in this way before I got
them shod, and when the horse left the shop he would
be cleaner than he would be again from that time un-
til he came to be shod again. Sometimes I would
clean eight or ten in one day, and have the most of
this filth and stench on myself or clothes, and be
obliged to breathe and smell it all of the time’ My
God! it is a great wonder I have not been stunk to

204 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

death and rotted down by my blood getting bad by
breathing this filth, all caused by people not keeping
their horses and stables clean. Breathing this foul air
in stables will make the blood of the horse impure
faster than anything else can; cattle the same. We
all are judges, and all constantly judging eaeh other.
Some judge one way, some other ways, and there are
all degrees of judgment on all things. Others ean
judge as they like. Ido. But I never judge a man’s
worth by the money or the wealth he has, neither by
his wearing apparel. He might sit on a throne of
solid, pure gold, with a crown on his head that out-
dazzled the brightness of the sun, and be elothed in
royal robes that were decorated with eostly diamonds
that hung in festoons, with the costliest plumage, with
a trail twenty feet long in the rear trimmed the same.
All this would not have any effeet on me in Judging
his worth. It would not add any to his worth or
knowleage or goodness. A fool can be dressed in this
way, and many have been. Such men as these can
never cure these suffering horses. They like pomp
and show too well, and what they eall ease. I would
rather be in some cold barn relieving the suffering of
one horse than see all the pomp and show on the globe.
Working men are what is required to cure and intro-
duce this work. To pomp and show I never bow and
scrape. Neither do I worship anyman. A dead man
would be of as much use to me to introduce this seience
as a sit-still, A king onathrone is about as useless
as a dead man ean be. Work and business ts the plan
of operation in this world. Live men are what make
things move, and sometimes they move things some’

THE HORSES RESCUE. 20d

do not want moved ; and this work on the horse, if I
mistake not, will remove some deep-rooted errors of
longer standing than any stiff horse living at this day.
The horse has suffered hundreds of years on this
globe, all caused by error and ignorance, and many
times dishonesty in many ways. I hear many times
when I am talking for the horse, ‘‘ He is a big blower.”
If I could not talk more sense than some of these
blowers talk on the horse I would never open my
mouth again. They know but little or nothing about
the condition the horse isin. This I well know, and
I will give my reasons for knowing. But very few
ever have worked on the horse’s feet, and those that
have did not do it right; and all of these men that
are bawling around me never worked on the horse’s
feet. Howcan they know anything about it with their
horses all stiff? How can you know so much? It
took me forty-one years almost, days and parts of
nizhts, and many nights all night. Many and many
ure the nights I have lain in bed studying on this work
until light, and not slept one wink Days and nights
I have experimented. This work cost money, and I
earned it all. It cost me forty-one years of the hard-
est mental, physical, and practical labor a man ever
endured, and lots of persecution and abuse by jealous
fools.

I will say right here that when I get stuck on this
horse business I will send for some of these great
teachers that have been trying to teach me so much.
I will let them know when I want them. With all
this hard labor I have stuff enough left in me now to
face a regiment of such bawling fools. They are of

206 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

no use to me; neither are they in the way of intro-
ducing this science, only one gets tired hearing their
bawling. I have notrouble only with this class. This
is the class all scientific men have more or less trouble
with. Ignorance is the cause of ail. There are mill-
ions of men on this globe that never invented any-
thing, and never had one original thought; if they did,
they did not have courage enough to talk or write it,
and if all men had been as big cowards as they there
would not have been any improvements or discoveries
or progression made; and yet they will talk and brag
of their knowledge, and it is all borrowed. It had its
origin in other men’s brains. They can commit to
memory some of these great principles after others
have discovered and perfected them by applying them-
selves, and that seems a hard task. This horse science
is different from many other sciences. It requires
something besides brains, and yet brains are the first
qualification. Without them there cannot be any
horses cured. It requires great strength and courage,
resolution and firmness. A man that is constautly
twirling a handkerchief around a stove-pipe hat, and
keeps one or two women constantly washing and iron-
ing to keep him starched and clean, and who finds
fault with their work, and does none himself, would
he of no use to any one in this horse science. Re-
moving the cause of these suffering horses is harder
work than it is to make them so; that is, shoeing
them, which is what makes tnem so. There are a few
exceptions. I can iron apair cf horse’s feet, and drive
them a thousand miles, and they would perform the
journey better by doing so, and they would suffer

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 207

from the effect but very little, if any, in the time I
was driving them this journey. It would not be done
in the way it usually is done and ordered to be done.
To begin this job I should want the horse’s feet all
natural as the creator made them or intended them to
be; that is, the structure of the foot internally in h:r-
mony of action. I would cut away all useless growth
of hoof and true up the feet. This dressing the bot-
tom of a horse’s feet, heel and toe, if it is nearly nat-
ural, is or should be the finest piece of mechanical
work ever done on any machine. The horse isa ma-
chine. If this dressing is not done nearly nght you
will spoil this machine, and not know how you did it.
If you cut the heel too low, and leave the toe too high,
if only one-eighth of an inch each, it will make the
heel one-quarter too low, and leave the toe a quarter
of an inch toolong. Shoe all around in this way with
bungling, heavy shoes; start on your journey with lit-
tle changed off their base, your horses will tell you of
it in this way; if you will notice them, by showing
soreness, if they are not very stiff and lame. This is
not a very botched job compared with some. This
same principle doubled will slaughter the best pair of
horses, if the shoes are allowed to remain on two
months, that ever lived, if they are driven en hard
roads. Ido not mean it would kill them; it wouid
make them stiff and sore until the cause was removed.
It. serves all the same, according to the degrees of
botehing, on all feet, singly or collectively.

Now, reader, whoever you may be that is interested
in this work on the horse enough to give your atten-
tion, I will trv, as near as I can in this work, to tell

208 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

a

you how I would shoe a pair of horses to perform a
journey of a thousand miles, and what I would do
after the journey. I cannot tell you as well as I could
if you and I were standing by and looking on this pair
of horses. They need a little dressing on all of their
feet, some in one way, some in another, and they all
vary in some way and in many degrees; and all horses
do more or less. True up; do not forget this heel and
toe business and lever on the toe; it isgrowingall the
time; it is not going to wear off much. It will take
about a month, we will say, to make this journey. I
am going to shoe these horses and drive and take care
of them myself. (I would trust them in no man’s
hands.) Then I would know they were cared for.
The colt’s foot on the horses you are shoeing in shape
is one thing to look to. Shoe thin and light. After
trueing up the feet let the shoes follow the shell clear
around the heel; shoe onlya little longer at heel than
the foot. Flat rest on shoe at the heel; dress foot to
fitand fit it. Nospring in any way. Make the toe a
little shorter than natural, for this reason, it is grow-
ing all of the time, and this will save the cords. Not
a cork on these shoes, the roads are dry and hard.
Nail with very small nails; nail in toe; no nails back
of the widest part of the foot; the heel should have
hiberty, as all of the foot should, but it cannot if it is
ironed. LEHvery night, after driving all day on hard
roads, the hcorse’s feet will have unnatural heat. Do
not forget your horses have got feet on their hind
legs. But few have noticed this. They get hot too.
They travel the same distance that his forward feet
do, and the concussion is about the same. I carry a

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 209

foot hook, and clean out all dirt and gravel under the
shoes, if there is any. I look to see, then I will know;
pack all feet with cow manure; this takes out the un-
natural heat. If I did not do this when the horses
lie down after driving all day, this heat would dry up
the foot or cause it to dry up. In this case, the weight
being off the center, the sole would rise up. If it is
only a little degree, it effects when the horses rise on
their feet. The weight will settle the sole again. It
causes irritation. If they are packed this will not
take place. In wet and muddy roads this would not
be necessary. There would not be the concussion.
The water and mud would take out the heat. This is
the way some horses get very badly stiffened mght
after feeding and watering, by not taking care of their
feet after hard drives. And if they did do all this, if
they were botched ironing their feet, no packing or
soaking would prevent until the cause was removed
and kept removed.

At the end of this journey I find my horses, with
this care, as limber as they were when I first started.
The shoes are about worn off their feet, and all nearly
worn in two at the toe; and some of the hoof at the
toe is worn off. This is all right for me and the horses
too. I wanted it to wear off; the lever has been
growing all the time, and wearing off has shortened it.
This takes the strain off the back tendons, and, with
other care I take of them, keeps my horses from get-
ting foundered.

Remember, I told you before I shod these horse
they were nearly natural. In this case the frog before
shoeing on all of their feet rested on the ground. I

219 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

put on the shoes thin for several reasons; oneisthis: I
want the frog to rest on the ground. After I get these
horses shod the same as before I nailed the shoes on.
If I raise the center of the foot up from the ground the
weight of the horse is in the center of each foot. Then
‘drive on hard, dry road. I could not drive five miles
before the coffin-joint would be badly affected on all
their feet all out of harmony of action. Put in motion
in this condition causes unnatural heat. They would
settle down through the cup at the top until the frog
comes to a rest on the ground in the center. At the
first start on this journey I would be ail out of har-
mony. I do not want these horses to change ary,
either way, if I can prevent it. This is the reason I
dress the heel of the foot flat and give the shoe flat
rest at the heel. I do not want any springing and
changing internally on any of these eight feet on this
pair of horses. The heel has some liberty as the feet
grow. Shod in this way they will spread out, if
proper care is taken of them, by small degrees, in
driving them. If the frog does rest on the ground I
am not smart enough to cure and keep cured stiff
horses, they standing in the barn week after week. I
drive horses to cure them and have them improve all
of the time, and if they are natural I do my work to
keep them natural. Another reason for not having
corks on these shoes: they are of no use on dry roads.
I do not want my horses up on stilts at any time.
Another reason for having the shoes light: the horses
will not raise their feet so high, the concussion on
their feet is not so great, and the greatest reason of all
is, it will not shipwreck me on the road and at home.

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 211

I told you I would tell you what I would do at the
end of this journey with these horses, and here she
goes. IfI did not know more than some folks do
about a horse I would pull off their shoes, if they did
take cold, and never nail or allow any one else to, an
iron on their feet. Then you would not stiffen so
many, giving them something to eat and drink, and
you would not cause your horses to suffer so much,
and you would enjoy your ride after them better.

Reader, it is impossible for me to tell all the fault I
have had found with me and my work on one thing,
that is, the toe-corks would wear off on horseshoes.
They wanted big corks, and they wanted them to stay
big. They wanted them sharp, and to always stay
sharp. With allof myskill this I could not do. IfI
could have done this it would have been a big thing. I
could give better satisfaction. I could have made horses
stiffer, and they would get stiff faster, if I could stop
_ the wear on the toe of the shoes. They tried hard to
get me to do it. I have sent lots away on this ac-
count. It is curious how hard folks will try to get you
to spoil their horses. Then after you have done it
they will tell far and near that you did it. Some they
will tell they are foundered. They ate some oats or
drank water. What do all these contradictory stories
amount to? Simply nothing. If they came from a
lunatic, or some one that had lost his reason, a little
consistency might appear, and some allowance be made.
The fact is, the condition these poor horses are thrown
in, caused by ironing their feet and other abuse, is so
complicated it is hard to convey with a pen or in any
other way, and I get very tired. Some are changed

’

212 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

very suddenly, some are years changing. These slow
changes I cannot describe, except in this way: You
cannot see them change; it is like the hill of corn. It
grows and yet you cannot see it grow. The change on
thousands of these horses is so slow you do not notice
the effect until they get very bad, and yet they have
been changing for many years. The degrees are very
small on some, and the degrees of change vary on the
same foot. ‘These variations depend on the treatment —
the foot or feet have had. They will vary on every
foot on the same horse. This is the way some change
from natura]. Some will change in a large degree in
twenty-four hours, from many causes.

This old white mare is one of these cases. The
first cause was ignorance. The driver did not know
much abouta horse; if he had he would not have
abused her by driving her off her legs on hard roads,
The concussion on her feet caused heat. The struc-
ture of the foot at the start was out of harmony in
some degree, as all are that have been shod for several
years, as she had been. The lever at the toe was
some degree of length, as all are, out of harmony;
then kept in motion up and down hills, on dry, hard
roads, for twenty-four hours, and drawing a load.
This will cause some heat internally in the foot, a
strain on the cords or back tendons. This mare was
used badly. The owner well knew this. She must
have rest. She is tied in the barn, no care taken of
her feet, for this reason: he did not know it was
necessary. ‘his mystery he had not solved. She is
sore and stiff. She must not be moved until she gets
better. The consequence is, when she lies down the

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 213

weight off the center of foot, with all this heat in her
feet, the foot dries very fast. When it starts on this
course the sole rises; the heat increases the more tke
foot contracts, and in a very short time the horse is
completely thrown off his base and balance and
equilibrium, and fastened there, and there he will stay
until the cause is removed. This is a large degree of
change, and rather sudden for the comfort of the horse
and his owner. Ihave seen hundreds of horses made
very stiff in driving twenty miles on hard roads with
a botched job on the end of the foot called the toe.
Do not get too wise. You may learn something. All
horses are in great danger of being served in this way,
and many times worse, by ironing their feet, all super-
intending and bossing this great science and none
knowing but very little or nothing about it. The
horse is the sufferer, and the owner suffers too. If he
does not suffer with pain he-suffers loss in many ways.
He pays his money to. have his horses spoiled. He
loses money in this way. It takes more feed to keep
a horse that is a constant sufferer night and day.
They cannot perform as much labor in any way, and
it shortens their lives. If you start on a journey it
will take you longer. You are liable to get ship-
wrecked at any time by not understanding this
science. If you change or trade while on the read, or
at home, this will not help you out. You will be
liable to get wrecked from the same cause in a short
time. I have helped thousands out of this trouble in
my life. For many reasons I know this is not under-
stood. The only way out of this trouble is to learn
these truths, every man for himself; then you will

214 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

know this is the only safety. You-cannot learn much
from “They Say.” He does not know much about
the horse.

I must tell you how I got the worst wrecked on the
xoad [ ever was in my life in many ways. Some was
due to listening to “ They Say,” some toa sneak thief,
some to not using reason and judgment after my
judgment told me better. I was twenty-eight years
old at that time. I carried on the wagon trade con-
nected with shoeing the horse. My market for some
of these wagons was in Tioga county, Pennsylvania.
The distance from my place, where I carried on this
business at that time, was about one hundred miles.
It was up and down heavy hills nearly all the way.
I knew the road well. I had taken wagons over this
road and driven horses. This is the way I nearly
always went for many years before and after this trip
on this business and other. I have business there
now, and have had every year since I was twenty-one
years old, sometimes twice a year, seldom driving the
same horse or horses. When I would get home I
would sail after these horses about three hundred
miles or more, and not be missed at Lome except bya
few, and sail in all right, no wreck on the horse. The
horses were fitted for this journey in many ways. The
last thing [ did was to prepare their feet, and that was
the last thing I did to them every night, to see that
they were all right, while I was making up this train
to go over this road. There were ten in all. I had
‘ ironed a heavy wagon for one of my neighbors. The
wheels were in the shop. This man came in. Hehad
a kettle in his hand and a lot of rosin. ‘They say,”

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 215

said he, “that this is good to prevent the spokes from
working. Melt it and pour it in hot, and roll the
wheel around. It will run up in the spokes and coat
the hub over on the inside. That will keep the
grease from going up into the spokes, causing the
spokes to work.”

He fixed his in this way. I, fool-lke, without even
thinking, fixed all of my wagons the same. These
wagons were made up in two trains. My team was at
that time a small pony team, a stallion anda mare. I
drove them together. They were hardy, well fed, and
had had plenty of exercise. They were good ones,
tough and young. On the rear of these trains must
be a sulky and second hand wagon to return in.
There was a man who wanted to go with his team for
the pay and to see the country. He never had been
over this road. [ told himit was a harctrip. “I
think your team,” said J, “taken up out of the pas-
ture, will give out. They are old, too, and it is hot
weather in July.”

He said they could stand it. I yielded, and told
him he must have his horses’ feet dressed up for this
trip. This I did for him. The wagons were alk
wooden axled, ard must all be greased. When I
commenced to do this I soon began to do some big
thinking. The rosin had got on the boxes, and when
I put on the wheel and turned it, it would powder up,
no matter how small the quantity. It would set the
wheel! Iscraped and dug all off that I could, but I
could not get it off ‘“Ishall have trouble from this
rosin business,’ thought I. “It will crumble off and
wreck this train, just as sure as it moves.” I greased

216 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

- up, and hung a big pail of grease on the hind end of
the wagon. The last job I did preparatory to this
sail was to shoe and dress up my horses’ feet the day
before starting, put them in their stable, and gave
them a good, soft bed. I hada young man at work
for me in the shop; the two first letters of his name
were Clark Cheeny. In the morning, while I was
harnessing my horses, this young man came to the
barn with the shoeing tools. I had not looked at my
horses’ feet. I had just shod them, and I did not
know they had been out. of the stable. What’s up?
I drove the mare a little ways last night and she tore
offashoe. This was something she had never done
before. The shoe was nailed, and the nails put in the
same holes. I stood all this and more. If ever a
man deserved damning and kicking he was one.
After I returned from this trip I tracked up this sneak
to see how far he drove the mare that night. I tracked
him thirty miles. How much farther he lamed her
that night I know not. So much fora sneak thief. I
started on this hard trip, not in the best of humor,
on account of my mare having been driven all night,
and I being oblige to drive her all day.

I had sailed only a few miles before I heard some
of the biggest bugling I ever heard from wagons;
nearly all were playing, and all playing different
tunes—all caused by listening to what “They Say,”
says without thinking. The horses had all they could
do to draw the wagons on level roads. Going on in
this way for a short time, some of the wheels refused
to turn, and slid on the ground. This will not do; it
wil! kill the horses and spoil the wagons. ‘This is a

THE HORSE'S RESCUK 217

nice shipwreck, and only three miles sail. Well, there
is no other way except rig up and remove all the
cause I can and sail on. It is no small job to take off
forty wheels and clean off all this grease and rosin on
the arms and in the hubs, and yet it is the only way
out of this trouble. I suppose I shall have to learn
by experience like all other heedless fools. I think
when I put any more rosin in wagon hubs “They
Say” will know it. This is the way I reasoned with
myself. It was too late to use judgment and sense
on this job. The wreck had already happened.

After greasing up, I set sail again. It was down
hill for a few miles, to Lake Cayuga. I crossed this
lake on a ferry-boat. It was small, and we had to
make two trips to get all over. It had rained hard all
the night before, and the roads were somewhat muddy
and slippery. ‘There was no way out of this small
town except to climb a long, steep, muddy clay hill,
but it must be done.

After the wagons had stood a while it was almost
impossible for the horses to start them. The rosin
had crumbled off and ground up with the grease, and
I must say it is the poorest axle grease I ever had on
a wagon. I took the lead with my train and suc-
ceeded in getting it about a mile up this hill. After
waiting a long time I saw the other train coming with
only one wagon.

“ Beach,” said I, “ What’s the racket now?”

“The horses could not draw all of the train. I
commenced to drop off some and this is all I could get
up with, That rosin has set the wheels on some.
They are scattered all along down the hill.”

218 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

~“Teave your team,” said I]. “TI will take mine and
we wil repair and make up that train again.”

After greasing and cleaning off rosin, I sailed them
up to the other train. We were not to the summit
yet; that was two miles farther. After rigging up we
set sail again. These wagons soon commenced to yell
again. The grease was all gone and there was no place
near to get any.

“Well, Beach, they will have to yell until we get
where we can get some grease; this darn rosin busi-
ness is the biggest eye-opener I have had in some
time.”

We doubled teams and drew them up hills, then
each would take his train. The horses could draw
them down hill unless his train had too many wheeis
get set at one time.

“Tt is hot, Beach; these horses must rest, and these
wagons must all be rosined off again and greased. I
am going to try the farmers and see if I can get some
lard and a little flour to put with it. They may not
want to spare as much as I want; it will take quite a
lot, Beach, to grease all of these wagons, and we waut
some left in case some wheels should get set again.
We must stop pulling these horses so or we will kill
them all this hot weather. I see my mare favors one
of her forward legs or feet. She must have hurt her
shoulder pulling up that first nil. I can’t tell.”

We had anchored on level ground; the mud was
about two inches deep here, sticky clay. The wheels
were all loaded. I weat to a farmer's house and
asked them to sell me some lard and flour.

“How much lard do you want?”

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 219

“T would like twenty or twenty-five pounds.”

‘Ob, we can hardly spare as much as that.”

I told the lady my story about the wreck.

“T will pay vou double price if you have got it.”

I got the lard and repaired up again. After a few
hours’ wallowing around in mud, grease, and rosin,
these wagons were getting play very fast by friction.
That helped the horses some. The wagons did not
receive much benefit. They ran better after this last
treatment, as the yelling gradually subsided.

There was another storm gradually arising. I had
been watehing that. Ifit kept on increasing it would
completely shipwreck tis train. This is the propell-
ing power. In many ways the mare was getting Jamer
by degrees. I could not see the cause in the foot;
the shoulder did not swell; that looked all right.

‘¢ Beach,” I said, ‘‘We must anchor. These poor
horses look tired.”

“Ttis not night yet.”

‘No matter, they must have rest.”

I did not rest much myself; I could see danger
ahead. It was not on account of loss or Jack of mo-
ney to see me through; I had about five hundred dol-
larsin my pocket. This article I have found, when
travelling, to be the best friend I ever had, and I never
intended to get out of it if I could possibly help it,
That would be the worst wreck Icould make. What
worried me was, I did not want to wreck this train, of
which I was conductor. After stabling the horses,
this rosin business had to be looked to on forty
wheels. The yelling had quieted down. They had
worn and cut so they would not get set; but there

220 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

was great danger of their cutting and wearing al lout
before I got them to market, caused by this rosin
crumbling off and grinding up and setting some of the
wheels to cutting. At any time and all of the time, if
I could have got that old lar “They Say” by the
nape of the neck I would have made him yell for a
while, louder than these wagons did.

Beach fed the horses. J heard a racket in the barn,
and I went to see what was up. I found Beach there,
one of his horses, the oldest, choking, reeling, and
about to fall. She was so old she could not masticate
oats. She had been trying to swallow them without
chewing, and had got choked. She succeeded in
throwing them out of her throat and recovered. Idid
not know she was so old that she could not eat oats,
until then.

‘There is another danger to be looked to, Beach;
that mare ought to be fed ground feed. This feed does
not do her any good.”

“Oh, she will go it. I have seen her in that fix
often.”

In the morning we started this train on a new plan.
This was, to move slow. Motion createsheat. Allis —
out of harmony. The propelling power is not fit to
yun. When any of these wheels get to yelling we
must stop and rosin and grease them. If this is not
done some of these wagons will be spoiled. The
skeins and boxes will be cut all out.

In making up this train the stallion came out head
up, full of life, ready for business; the mare was lame.
Beach’s team looked shrunken; heads down. We
moved on slowly, stopping often through the day.

THE HORSES RESCUE. . BF

When any of the wheels set up their yell we removed
the cause. The lameness inereased in my mare a lit-
tle through the day. I could not see the cause. I
well knew it was no nails that held the shoe on. She
was young. She had a colt’s foot on her, and a good
one.

“ Beach, here is a hotel,” said I. ‘‘The sun is two
hour’s high. We must stop here for the night. Switch
off beside the road. We will drop these trains. These
horses are all very tired, and we will not kill them, if
it takes all summer to get this train through.”

“Doan,” replied Beach, “I don’t like the looks of
things here. Why, look at the sign; it is all daubed
and smeared over with something. Look over the
door; thatis all daubed.”’

‘Never mind that,” I rejoined. “I am going to
anchor here for the night. Itisa half day’s drive to
the next port for our horses with this train. It would
be likely to kill some of the horses to make it to-night.
Unheok ; let us get the horses in the barn and have
a rest.”

All seemed very quiet around the barn and house.
The landlord was asleep on a lounge, but he roused
up and showed us where to put our horses, Alter
this was done I saw him get a heavy log chain and
pad-lock and go out to the wagons. He locked two
wagons together on one of these trains. I asked him
what he did it for. He said: ‘To keep folks from
stealing them.” ?

‘“T think there is not much danger of that,” said I.
“They can get all the wagons they wantnow. There
are some that are not locked. They can take them.

phar THE HORSE'S RESCUE

Beach, this man is a trifle too honest. I think it will
be well enough to watch him.”

We cared for the horses, making them as comforta-
ble as our surroundings and circumstances would let
us.) This landlord watched for an opportunity to
draw out Beach. He had noticed I was conductor of
this train by hearing us talk. He inquired about my
circumstances financially in a round-about way. After
conversing aghort time he asked Beach if I carried
much money with me. Beach told him: ‘“ Hnough
to defray expenses.” This was-an eye-opener for
Beach. He. did not-sleep any that night. He said to
me: “There is something rotten here, Doan.” Beach
was a man not easily discouraged and no coward, but
he did not like the surroundings.

Night came, and we went to bed; that is, we pre-
tended to. There was no sleep. Beach’s head was
eut of the window all night. The racket commenced
about eleven o'clock, by the barking of dogs, five or
six atone time. This was kept up all might, caused
by comers and goers. They seemed to be on herse-
back. The landlord was up prowling around, and the
visitors had business in and out of the barn all might.
Beach was on the watch. He was where he could see
them come and go from the barn. He yelied at some
of them during the night. This hotel, I may say here,
was not ina village. It was in a country place.

In the morning we found our traps all in their
places. Beach asked the landlord what the racket
meant that we had heard all night?

““Qh, there was a fellow who came to borrow a
saddle.”

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. | 223

Beach did not swallow that. Later on he inquired
about this house, and Jearned from some that it was a
hotel for horse-thieves. 'The horses seemed to feel
middling weil in the morning, after their long rest—
all but my lame mare. She was getting very lame.

We :noved on slowly. In the course of the day we
passed through a toll-gate on an old worn plank-road
full of broken planks and holes. I stopped, not want-
ing to get up any row on the road with any one. I
told him this train all belonged to me to pay toll on,
which I well knew he had no right to take. I handed
him a bill. He took out what he pleased. I did not
look to see how much he did take. I put te change
in my pocket and moved or, the train all following.
After going about two miles I heard a inan yelling; I
Joolwed around ; I saw it was the gate-tender. It was
hot; he was a short fat man; he had leated himself
up bad. Fis face was very red. He was wiping off
the sweat. He yelled at me, and said I did not pay
toll, only half.

“Tf you don’t pay the balance, and me for coming
after you JI will have you arrested for running the
gate,”

“T did not run the gate,” I replied. “I don’t know
how much you did take. How much do you want
how ?” |

“JT want one dollar.”

“Tam going to stop at this hotel to feed. There
we can arrange this matter. There is no hurry. It is
not necessary for you to run yourself to death. In
the first place I have not driven on these planks. My
teams could not draw these wagons over these holes.

224 THE HORSES RESCUER.

How much will it cost me for running the gate, if Ido
not pay you the dollar?”

“Twenty-five dollars.”

“T think I will not give you any more money. I
shall be back over this road ina few weeks. Then I
shall want to drive ona trot. If you do not have this
rubbish cleared out of the road I will have the stock-
holders arrested for obstructing the highway. It is
dangerous as it 1s.”

After feeding and taking a rest we moved on, the
mare growing lamer all the time. After standing, it
hurt her badly to start. We went three miles farther.
Here was a hotel kept by a fat, red-faced, burly-look-
ing fellow. We were tired. Beach says:

“Tf I lead a drink of good whisky I would like it.”

This was the first time we had called for anything
of the kind.

Said Beach: ‘Cap, have you got some good
whisky ?”

“Yes sir; I have.” He slammed a decanter down
hard enough to break a common glass bottle all to
pieces. ‘There is some that does not stink of tur-
pentine.”

We turned out a little and smelt of it. ‘Turpentine
was all it did stink of. Wesmelled light of that and
moved on. After traveling many miles, stopping
often to let the horses rest and stop the yelling caused
by rosin, we came to the foot of Addison Hill, This
is a Iong heavy hill. It is about three miles from
base to summit.

“Beach,” I remarked, “this is a settler; it is so
hot. The road winds through the woods; net a

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 225

breath of air. When we stop going up this hill we
will have to block all of the hind wheels on all of
these wagons, or the pressure above will back the light,
wagons over the blockings. The horses can’t hold
them and rest. This will be lively work after you
sing out ‘whoa.’ This is the way I have always had
todo. A prop dragging does more hurt than good. It
will turn light wagons over. The weight settling back
will raise up the light wagons and throw them all
around in many ways. We must not pull these horses
more than a rod at one titmne. In this way we must
climb this hill, if we get up it.”

After working up this hi!l about half way I saw
that one of Beach’s horses was not right. It was not
the one that gotchoked. This horse had stood it well
up to this time. It was hot; he was overdone; he had,
what is called by some, the thumps. It is the palpi-
tation of the heart.

‘Beach, we must get these wagons out of the road
and anchor here. That horse must not be drawn any
more now. He would drop dead on this hill.”

We blocked up, took off the horses, got in the
woods in the shade. and stayed there until it got
cooler. After resting a few hours the sun got lower,
and we tried it again. This horse had got over thump-
ing, or his heart had. We slowly worked up to the
summit; then it went better. After about four or
five miles we came to the river and pulled in at a
hotel. There we were within fourteen n.iles of the
port I was sailing for with one very Jame mare. We
put up for the night. In the morning I soon saw one
train wrecked. My mare’s leg was badly swelled from

226 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

hoof to top of shoulder. She stood with her weight
forward all on one foot. I moved her around. She
went on three legs,

‘‘ Beach, this looks like a shipwreck. Well, we can
sailsome yet. Youcan draw your train eight miles.
It will be level that distance along the river. Then it
will be six miles over heavy hills. Your team cannot
draw the load up them. I will make a single harness
‘out of my double harness and hitch the stallion single,
and lead the mare behind, and leave the balance of my
train. This is the best I can do.”

After rosining and greasing, we set sail again.
Beach ahead now, I in the rear, the mare with a long
rope tied to her head, so as to give her plenty of room
she hobbling along on three legs. The mud was deep
along the river. It had rained nearly every day since
we started; showers many times a day; then it would
come off hot. We moved slowly, stopping often. In
time we sailed eight miles. Then we must take leave
of theriverand climb hills. This cannot be done with
any propelling power we have got.”

“Beach, drop off here all of the wagons but one,
and we will sail on. I think we can get through with
two wagons. I wish to make the port I started for
with some of this train, if it 1s wrecked, as it will be,
and badly, too. There we can repair up. It is at my
father’s farm. We can turn out some of these horses
and they can rest up, that will help them.”

Readers, you can see us winding our way up and
down the heavy hills of the state of Pennsylvania with
a small part of this wreck. Iam going to tell you the
cause as soon as I find it. A little before night we

Uy

THE HORSES RESCUE. 227
arrived at my father’s house. This is where I always
found welcome. Welcome was always around there
to his children, of which he had not a few. There
were eleven boys and two girls, scattered all over the
country. These arrivals were no surprise to him, It
was a common thing for some of them to sail into this
port days and all tirmes of the night. Sometimes four
and five would be in this port at one time, to rest up
and repair up wrecks, and it was all free. Reader, I
assure you it took some hard knocks and some hard
work to keep this free port open. I have sailed into
this port to repair up many wrecks, sailing over these
hills with wagons and horses. ‘hey would happen in
some way with all I could do to prevent. When we
arrived this time he soon saw there was another wreck.
He was out flying around (he was no sit-still), ee
ping the harness off the horses.

“Gerarl has got his thumb in his mouth. ‘That is
a sure sign things are not going to suit him.”

“Father, this pony has come this long journey, and
drawn heavy loads. She is growing worse all the
time, and I have not been able to find the cause; it
commenced the first day. If I hadsome shoeing tools
I would take off her shoe and give her foot a thorough
examination.”

‘Those can be had.”

Frank was started for the tools on a run. Beach’s
horses were cleaned and turned out in a shady pasture.
Frank soon came with the tools. I removed the shoe,
and commenced this search by paring thin shavings
off the sole of the foot. I soon saw the cause of
all this trouble. There was a row of nearly square

228 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

spots. These formed a circle the shape of the shoe,
and the spots were the same distance apart that the
holes in the shoe were. J took my knife and cut ina
little, and the matter spurted out threefeet. Icutthe

other three open in the same way. They all dis-
eharged in about the same way. These spots, or

places where these nails went in her feet, were under
the shoe when it was on.

“Tt was a wonder she did not die with lock jaw.
Jé I had a pint of tar I could soon make her quite
easy from pain.”

Frank was started on a three-mile sail, on a run,
He soon came back with the tar. While he was gone -
I made a boot for her foct. It hada sole on it, and
laced up. I putin plenty of tar, put on this beot, laced
it up, secured well, and turned her out in the pasture.
One of my brothers took his team and we pulled in,
the first wrecked train. The other train I pulled in
two ata trip, with the stallion. These wagons all] had
to be washed. They were all one complete daub of
mud. They had worn all of the play they would
need. Rosin is the poorest axle tree grease in the
world; that I know. I have had a trial of it. I never
tried the best. I have seen it advertised. Beach spent
ten days viewing the country while waiting for his
poor old horses to rest and recover what they had lost
from many causes, preparatory to sailing this road
over again. One he hitched to the sulky, led the
oldest behind, and sailed out on Addison Hill; at the
very spot where the one he was then driving gave out
with the palpitation of the heart, the one that he
led dropped dead in the road the first day. Another

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 929

wreck. She was removed out of the highway and
we sailed on. Inashort time the other’s heart began
to thump, and he had to stop then. In this way, after
many days, he arrived home. This horse, before we
started, was quite a good farm horse. He can never
endure any more hard work. Beach went with me
on another trip a few years after, over this same road.
We got through better; we had learned by exper'-
ence. I was obliged, with my small pony stallion, to
draw all of these wagons around over heavy hills to
market them. They were a hard-looking lot tosell. I
was obliged to trade and traffic some. for cattle and
then sell them—horses the same; no rest for me.
They did not shine quite so much as they did when I
started. A. little varnish makes a vast difference, in
some folks’ judgment, in many ways and about many
things. They will bite a shiny bait very quick. It
will attract their attention. My wagons looked like
second-hand. Well, they were, and I knew it; but I
had as good a right to sell second-hand wagons ag
others for all I could get, and at it I went. After six
weeks hard work they were disposed of in many
ways.

This mare’s foot must be looked to to see whatcondi-
tion it is in. The boot is on and has been for six
weeks. She has been over her lameness for a long
time. She has run in the pasture. The first treat-
ment, when I put this boot on, is all she ever had to
her, and it has been six weeks. I am going to sail
this road over again. The last thing to be done,
always, with me, preparatory to a sail on land with
horses, is to prepare their feet all at one time; no

230 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.-

botching and hurting about this business on the
horse’s foot at any time on my horses or on any man’s
horse. This is a rule I always have adhered to. The
best I can do, it will be bad enough for the horse in a
short time. I removed the boot; the foot had grown,
that is, the hoof had. There had not been any wear
on the hoof on this foot on account of the boot, and it
had useless hoof on. That did not effect her much in
pasture. I pulled all of this mare’s shoes off when I
turned her out. ‘This is the way to do with all horses.
Examining this mare’s foot, the old sole was all loose,
or nearly so. I took it all off. Underneath there was
anew sole grown. At this time and stage of growth
it was white and soft and very tender. ‘There was no
contraction. The foot had not had iron nailed on it.
It had its liberty.

I must get back to my shop and see to business
there. This foot must be fixed and this tender sole
and growth must be protected. If this is mutilated
now and she gets fever in her hoof it wiil ruin her
She must have something to protect the sole for this
drive—a wide web, and a very thin, light shoe. It is
something of a chore to fix this foot up, to keep all
protected, and keep the mare sailing on the road and
not spoil her; and yet it can be done, and this is the
way todoit: Thedirt and sand must all be kept out
of the foot. It will be necessary to have a piece of
calf-skin large enough to cover over the bottom of the
foot and come up above the ankle, so as to form a
boot leg. For fear this might wear through on the
bottom and let in dirt and gravel, there must be
another thicker piece, the size of the foot, put over

THE HORSE'S RESCUER. rack

e

that, and the shoe nailed over all It requires some
patience and skill to nail this shoe on the foot and get
it all in good shape, and not prick the foot with nails,
with only one-quarter of an inch shell to drive nails in.
and that all covered up out of sight with leather; and
yetthis was done. I have bent over thousands of horses’
feet, fixing them in this way and many other ways,
until almost see stars. After getting this shoe on
nicely there must be some tar warmed, not hot; I do
not want to spoil the new growth on this tender foot
by burning in any way. This damned burning busi.
ness I am down on, on horses and on everything else.
That belongs back in the dark ages. I poured a little
tar in at the heel, pulled up the calf-skin around the
ankle, laid it in plaits, and sewed it. No tying to shut
off the circulation. It took me some time to fix this
foot. There are many things to look to working on
‘horses’ feet. The foot was not contracted.

This job suits me. The frog has a rest in the center
on the ground. Jam ready to sail again. This treat-
ment on the foot where nails have been driven in the
foot by accident or any other way is good. I always
made @ success in this way. Care must be taken of
the foot or it will contract. That will spoil the foot
and horse atthe same time. I have seen lots of horses
spoiled in this way by not taking proper eare of the
foot. Ifit should contract, spread it, and hold it out,
It is easy to do this.

I sailed home; no wreck on the way; nota limp on
that booted foot, and I left it on until the boot wore
through. By that time the foot had got quite hard. I
kept it protected for some time. I am going to tell

Baw THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

you the cause of nearly all this trouble and shipwreck.
Part was my fault. ‘hat rosin business was my fault.
I listened to that old lar, “They Say.” I did not use
reason until it was too late. I think Beach’s horses
would have made that trip if it had not been for rosin.
They were lugged to death. There was no let-up on
them. They had to draw up and down grade nearly
all the route, and no help for it. They were not fed
up for such a trip, and were old; and yet we could
have favored them and would, and we did all wecould.
Rosin would block the wheels, and blocked the game.
Part of this wreck was caused by a sneak thicf, taking
my mare out of my stable in the night, lambing her
around all night, tearing off or twisting around her
shoe, and causing her to drive four nails into the bot-
tom of her foot. That was the biggest eye-opener I
ever had at that time. I had had some before, one
about nine months previous to this. That caused me
to stare, but as it is on another subject I will save that
for another book, which I intend to write. These eye-
openers caused me to begin to think more and use more
reason and all the good judgment and good sense I
could command about all things. I am using more of
these articles now than I ever used in all my life, and
yet I make some mistakes. hese wrecks and mis-
takes have all been lessons tome. It has been so all
through life—wreck, repair, and sail What is the use
of getting scared ?

Let us go on with this horse sail. You cannot ex-
pect to own and drive horses without having some
lame in some wayand in many ways. The only thing

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 233:

we can do is to remove all the cause we can, and keep
it removed.

Tt hag been some time since you have heard from
the old white mare. She is doing finely. She is im-
proving all the time. Her shoulders are nearly alike.
When she trots fast she seems a little stiff. Jam not
going to move out of this town, on account of this old
mare. She is far better off now than I expected her
to become when I commenced on her. Iam well paid
for my labor if she never improves any more. [ have
worked on this mare five months. It is March now. I
shall soon want to sell her. She is of no use to me
any more. It will be a rather hard job to sell her, for
she is very old. I must let her go if I give her away.
They will not know this mare in this town. She has
not been seen ina long time. She does not look like
that old mare I had towing around the streets last fall,
and no argument can be used to convince them, and I
shall not try. I want her off my hands. Iam going
to start this science in another place, if I can. This
has been a tough town to work on the horse. It has
about killed me. I have taught all of the time, and
no one seems to be interested in my science, that is,
to learn it. I cannot get their attention except when
‘Iam bugling in the streets, and that has become a
common thing with them. They do not seem to un-
derstand what Iam trying to do. They stare a little
and go about their business, unless I set up a yell.
Then they go for me:

“Say, Doan, what do you do for a horse that has
got a sore neck?” .

“Where is your horse ?”

2384 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

“bn the barn over here a little way.”

“T cannot tell until I see the horse.”

‘“Come, go over and see him.”

“T will go with you.”

After travelling about half a mile—‘“It's that big
gray; his neck is awful sore, and has been a long
time. I have used lots of stuff on it. I can’t heal
ib up.”

‘Tt is chawed up; that is certain.”

“ Now what would you do for that?” ”

“T would remove the cause very quickly if he was
my horse, and you can do that as well as I.”

“What would you do?”

“T would take off that collar and haims, the weight
off his neck ; wash his neck clean with castile soap,
grease it with butter or lard, castor oil, or sweet oil,
any of these things will make it feel better. It would
get well without anything after the cause 1s re-
moved,”

The fact is, ignorance is the greatest drawback a
man ever had This team of horses was not very well
matched. As for size, one was a small, low pony, the
other was a tall, rangy horse. The tongue of the wagon
was heavy enough for an ox-cart; the yoke was very
heavy; the breast-straps were buckled up short on the
tall horse in such a way that he had to hold at least
two-thirds of this weight on his neck. The collar was
a small, nearly worn out thing, cut apart at the top
and let down, with uo pad. The collar lacked five
inches of reaching to the top of the neck; the hames

were drawn tight together with a hard strap, and that
was twisted at that. I told him to remove all of this

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 235

rubbish, and keep it off, and his horse's neck would
get well in a very short time; then put something on
him fit for a horse to work in, end if you must use
that cart-tongue and ox-yoke, there are plenty of
hickory saplings; cut one, run it under the forward
axle, bend it down and strap it to the tongue. That
will take two-thirds of the weight off these poor
«horses’ necks. What is the use of these horses stand-
ing tied all day to posts with this weight on their
necks? Itgetspainful. JTalways keep all the weight
off my horses’ necks that I can. It is not much
trouble, and if it is it will pay you, and save your
horses suffering more than you are aware of. They
will endure more: their necks will keep their shape,
and will not get sore if they have a good collar well
fitted, and hames to fit them. You cannot have nice
horses and have them all chawed up with rubbish for
harness. .

“Say, Doan,” says another, “my mare is getting
wind-pufis on. What do you do for them?”

“ Keep the horse natural; that is the way I do it.”

“You're a good talker.”

The fact was I was getting very tired talking, and
keeping so many horses all sailing, doing all of the
work, but very little pay. I begun to get a little sour.
I could not help it. They did not use and take care
of their horses as well as I did, and they could spoil
them faster than I could cure. I am not going to
give up this horse fight yet. JI am going to come out
with this old white mare. I will give them one good
surprise before I leave this town. These are facts I
am writing. They are no dreams or fictitious tales.

236 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

I dressed up this old mare a little for this surprise.
She was fat and clean; nota stainonher. I kept ker
so all of the time. She did not stand in the stable to
do this, she had been driven nights, not to death,
then half starved. She had the best of care all of tais
time in all ways. I had been in this barn with her
nights for nearly six months, more than half of my
time. Of course I was not always to work on her.
Looking at her I cannot tell why I did this, only I was
pleased with the result. It was a big thing. She
looked young around her head. Her eyes are large,
bright, and full now. The skin is filled out plump
with flesh. She shows no wrinkles around the nose;
she never did much, like some horses. She is full of
life ; she looks a little wild out of hereyes. I cleaned
and combed her tail. She had a long tail that almost
touched the floor. Her mane had grown, though it
looked a little ragged where the collar had chawed it
before I got her. I drove her in breast collar. I
wanted to give her neck a chance to fill up. I was
doing my best on this old mare to please myself, and
at my own expense, and it was no business of any
man. I combed and parted her foretop, braided it to
keep it out of her eyes, and braided ribbons in so as
to make tassels. ‘i'his I always do on my horses in
hot weather. I do not want my hair hanging in and
over my eyes. I cannot see as well. Besides, it will
annoy a horse, and cause him to toss his head when he
gets sweaty. I put on a new harness, hitched to a
light buggy, and sailed out. After driving a while on
the ourskirts of the town I sailed down Main street.
It so happened there was a band of musicians blowing

THE HORSES RESCUE. 237

their bugles. This mare liked music; it waked her
up some. She put on more style on that account, and
yet I did not attract much attention; neither did the
horse. After driving around this town a few hours I
did not seem to surprise any one; then I began to get
surprised myself. I talked with some; they did not
know this mare. There was only four in this town
that knew this mare, and no argument could convince
them that it was the same old mare I led around that
town six months previous, and talked in many places
and told them I was going to try to cure her without
rnedicine or mutilating her in any way. I tceld them
they would not know her, and they did not. Doctor
Woodrough’s residence and mine joined. George, his
son, was a horse-trainer by profession. His brother
was around the stables. These three men knew what
I was doing, and trying todo. Our barns joined. I
made the fourth man that knew this mare in this
town. They had seen her often, and watched the
change. While driving around this town I passed a
grocery. ‘There were several standing around. The
Woodrough boys were there. They saw me pass.
Says George: ‘There goes Doan with that old mare
he had towing around here last fall.”

T overheard them talking, but I did not stop. It
was no use. I sailed on. George and his brother
got up quite a racket about it. They told me these
men said this mare I was driving wasacolt. 1 had
let that old mare go long ago. They would bet
twenty-five dollars it was not the same old mare. The
boys were ready to bet with them, but it turned out
all wind, as it usually did. I always had money to

238 THE HOSRE’S RESCUE.

back up this great science, and have got some now.
There is no danger of losing on my side. That I well
know. After a!l this hard winter’s work only a few
have learnt anything, for this reason, they cannot see
as I havedone anything on that old mere I had last
fall. She is changed so her identity is forever lost to
them. They can see nothing but that old mare I
was towing around last fall, and they cannot see her.
I can see them both at the same time. With science
I can change young horses in a very few days so
much their owners would not know them if I did not
tell them anything about it. They dare not swear
it was their horse, for this reason. I have been called
a dangerous and bad man; some have told me they
would not dare take their horses in my shop. Suck
cowards must drive stiff horses. I have had horses so
lame and stiff they could hardly move; 1f they did it.
hurt them very bad—brought to me to cure. Before
I was allowed to commence on them I must give se-
curity three and four times the horse’s worth, for fear
I might spoil them. I would like some of these
afraid and cowardly men to tell me how it would be
possible to spoil one of these horses. They are already
spoilt, and some have been for many years. They can
be made worse by these effect doctors in many ways,
and are, and they are paid well for doing it. I never
heard of one case in my life where they were asked to
give security if they killed these horses burning and.
mutilating them. Some died with the lockjaw, caused
by seatons being put in their shoulders. Some do get
killed by these effect doctors; some stand the torture

THE HORSE’S RESCUE 239

well. {t is surprising how much they can stand of
this treatment and live and work, their feet murdered
to death at the same time. My God! they must be
tough.

Poor old gray, we must soon part,

To do this, it will almost break my heart;

We have roamed together almost night and day,

From the mill I have carried middlings and given you good hay.
This is hard for both you and me;

To help other poor horses there is no other way that I can see.
This great discovery I must introduce;

There are thousands like you suffering the same abuse.

T have changed you back as your creator intended you to be;
If there is any defect in this job they cannot see.

No mercy to you they will show,

Through deep mud and snow you will have to go;

It will not be long, this abuse you will have to endure,
You're getting uld; your timeis most out, thatis sure.

They are such poor jwwiges of species of your kind,

They cannot tell if you are old, stiff, lame, or blind.

On the road they will pound you through

Night and day, with or without a shoe;

If any shoes they do put on,

They’re often a thousand times worse than none.

Poor old mare, after you I have sold,

On you I can not have any more coutrol.

You will have to take your chances as all others do;

I may never hay you again to shoe,

Up and down hills you will have to go,

With all lengths of Jevers on your toe.

This pain and suffering your driver cannot feel;

Its effect extends from top of shoulder to the lieel.

Tf you could talk and tell tiem where the cause all laid,
Then to part with you I would not be so much afraid;

Butas this complicated matter now stands,

There is no safety in any man’s hands.

The trouble with your feet will not be all you will have to endure,
Yon will have to sleep on piles of stinking, rotten manurn.

240 THE HORSES RESCUE.

Tlow all this trouble and suffering can be overcome

Is more than I can tell, your drivers are so dumb.

Nearly all of your fellow-creatures are in the same plight,

The same as you, they are obliged to suffer day and night.

With sore cords, pains, and aches in their feet,

Some are so bad they cannot stand long enongh to eat.

I would like to relieve the suffering of all of your kind;

How to do it I cannot tell, they all seem so blind.

This is the reason why I put you away,

Is to see if I can introduce this some other way.

On al] of the centers I have equalized your weight,

Taken off the toe-lever, and made your feet mates;

And put the structure of your foot all in harmouy of actiozi,

And it would stay so if it weren’t for run-over feet, leverage, and con-
traction.

* By ironing the feet tis cannot be prevented

With any steel or iron shoe that man has ever invented.

The dangers that you are surrounded with are many;

1 do not know as I can help you to steer clear of any.

That old ditch called the canai is close by;

That is where old horses like you are taken to die.

When horses like you have been crippled and old,

To go on the canai then they are sold.

To last one trip is sometimes all they care,

In doing this they are st-ipped of flesh, hide, and hair.

I have seen them in herds plodding their way

Toward this ditch, there to end up their day.

When you were young and limber you had better homés,

Now you are stiff, you must have all the flesh chawed off your botiés.

This is the best place for that that can be found.

Search where you will, the world all round.

It serves all the same, young, limber, stiff, or blind;

A worse place for a horse or a mule you cannot find.

J. gallsand chafes them both fore and aft,

All caused by so much side draft.

Horses on this ditch can never travel and draw on a straight line.

if men had this work to do it would be tedious they would find.

his side draft can never be overcome, this is sure—

Remove the cause, no medicine is required to perform thé curé

Water to walk on by man or beast the creator never made,

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 241

In that we have to swim, drown, or wade.

In order to do away with this side draft that galls them so

In the center of this ditch and water they would have to go;

If the water was shallow so they could wade and not be drowned,
Then in this case they would always be aground;

If the water was deep enough for the craft to float,

These poor horses could not swim and draw a loaded boat.

I cannot see any argumentin favor of this ditch use;
It always has been a great place poor horses and mules to abuse.
Their suffering with pen and ink I cannot portray ;
I think this old ditch ought to be done away,
For many other reasons besides the horse’s abuse.
It’s had its day and outlived its use.
Tt always was a center for corruption and crime;
It’s outlived its day and had its time.
It always has been a slow-poke of a way to travel at best.
In my boyhood days I took it in my head to go West.
On this stinking ditch four hundred miles I traveled;
It was lock up hill, lock down, in no place level.
All this long sail my fare I paid,
And yet more than half of it on foot I made.
Sometimes I would be many miles ahead
Viewing the country, sitting on verandahs in the shade.
You may call it what you will, good or bad luck,
Every few days all these crafts in the mud are stuck.
The cause of all this shipwreck was many miles away;
No one could tell how long in this stinking mud they would have to
stay.
Of all the nuisances that ever were on the face of this earth
This old stinking ditch called the canal is the worst.
All must wait for the breach to be repaired;
These poor horses and mules, O my God! how they fared!
In mud, cold, and sleet, necks girdled clear around,
Obliged to stand up and sleep, no place fit to lie down.
In its day it might have been of use if they could have used other
power;
As it has been and now is, on them is only slaughter and devour,
To navigate this old ditch with this power or any other
It always would be crowded with wrecks and bother.

242, THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

My object in going West was the country to view;

Of course I wanted to see all that I traveled through.

I was green, of course, as all new-beginners must be,

But experience soon taught me down in this ditch I could not see.
Down in this small, stinking cabin I cannot stay,

If I do all of my money and time will be thrown away.
The next course for me, I think, to pursue

Will be to go on deck, there I can have a better view.
There in the scorching sun I seated myself on a box;

In a very short time my head received an awful knock.
After my brains were nearly knocked out,

‘A bridge ahead!” I heard four or five shout.

These arches are quite thick across this old stinking pool,
A man will soon get his eyes open unless he is a fool.
Before he has traveled on this ditch very far

He will soon learn these bridges to beware.

All was new to me, I was always gaping around,

“Lay down there, unless you want your bones ground,”
As quick as thought I ducked my head down ;

This was a narrow escape from being killed or drowned.
I do not want to be drowned in stinking water like this;
It’s unsafe, I know, but I will run a little more risk.

I have paid my fare through on this boat,

And I am going to keep track as long as there is a plank to float.
This is rather tough to sit here in the hot sun and heat,
And see sore horses whipped, pounded, and beat.

This craft, too, moves at such a very slow rate,

Tf I was in a hurry it would be tedious to wait.

While seated on the stern of the boat, looking about,
I heard another yell, ‘‘ Bridge ahead! look out!”
Nearly all of the boat under the bridge had passed,
As quick as thought, my safety was the bridge to grasp.
This I very quickly saw, to save my life, must be done.
The craft moved on; over the center of this ditch I hung.
In those days I was young, resolute, strong, and spry.
If I lose my hold it will be wade, swim, or die.
Over the bridge-rail. heels over head, I went.
By this time I had thought my money was foolishly spent.
If I do not keep my eyes open, ana a better look-out,

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 243

I shall get killed or drowned before I get to the end of this route.

On the sea of life we must all sail;

t is no kind of use to bawl, weep, or wail.

I am going to try the tow-path awhile and see how that will go;

It is hard to pay my fare on this craft and go afoot, { know.

It’s not muck fun to sit on that boat and watch bridges ahead,

And run the risk of having your brains knocked out of your head.

The poorest investment in my life that I ever made

It was when my fare on this old craft I paid.

if was on a pleasure trip when I set sal that I was bound;

Dead in this old stinking ditch I did not want to be found.

T have shipped aboard, I won’t back out,

I am going to see this craft through to the end of the route.

Tt wou’t do for me to get very far ahead:

I may lose track—their horses, too, are liable to drop dead.

Horses on the canal never get tired on their legs,

They are in such a hurry they must eat, while they work, out of
bags.

When it came night, in this craft to sleep I would go;

And that could not be done, the musketoes speared me so.

The bullfrogs would all begin their bugles io blow;

It seemed to me they all tried each other to outdo,

All seemed to be blowing their biggest blast,

And all trying each other to outlast.

This bugling was kept up during the nights;

To make matters worse, on the tow-path there would be fights.

This craft they tried night and day to run,

And that was out of the question, impossible to be done.

Every few days this old ditch out this slime would spew,

Then all would be wrecked—boat, passengers, horses, and crew.

This was so this whole route, along the whole line

There was a racket about something nearly all of the time.

At that time when all was in repair and new

There was a large amount of produce crowded through.

In the summer to this old ditch it would center ;

Not a pound could they carry through the cold long winter.

In the summer many times they would wait and tarry,

All for the want of more freight to carry.

In long summer days could be seen idle crew

In the fall they would all have more than they could do.

\

244 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

The cause of all this and ail other fluctuations

Is the want of system and better regulations.

In the fall, when the most work was to be done,

This old ditch was crowded full and overrun.

Right in the worst time you could have this work to do,

It’s froze up solid; there is no such thing as getting through.

We have got business, resolute men of this make,

This ice for many miles they will pound and break.

In order their freight to market to get

They will work night and day. in cold and wet,

In this last fluctuation in the fall.

With many it’s make or break, perhaps lose all.

After all these poor men and horses have done,

It’s full of loaded boats unable to run. .

With any power this old ditch to navigate,

It always would have to be done at this slow rate.

In its day it was the best they could do,

Tt was all well enough, it was all they knew.

Better power has now taken its place.

To lay out money on this ditch is only waste;

To keep it up in repair, I mean.

If men think and have eyes it can be seen

With railroads and steam it never can compete;

Nearly always wrecked, and that, too, in fleets.

If you try to sail it is only half the year round,

And then in fleets you're frozen in or on the ground;

Then the produce you are trying to market take,

The people would all starve before the port you could make;

And that is not all; you cannot get the work to do.

They will not wait for this old ditch-to crowd it through,

To conduct the produce of a country through such a place

Must always be attended with shipwreck, trouble, and waste.

This is the way italways has and will have to be done,

These troubles never will nor never can be overcome.

There is nothing in favor of this stinking ditch can be said;

A man might use a little argument in its favor if he was out of his
head.

You cannot carry perishable produce at any time of the year;

It will not be long, if you get any to carry it will be queer,

They cannot carry hogs, cattle, neither alive nor dead,

THE HORSE’S RESCUE 245

They would all die, s.ink, and carrion before the port was made. .

This ditch, there is no safety shipping anything on it;

It is liable to get sick itself any time, and vomit.

There can be hundreds and thousands of things said

To prove this old stinking ditch called the canal is dead.

What surprises me the most is it lived as long as it did,

Take in consideration the filth and corruption it has been fed.

The railroad now must take the lead,

On corruption and carrion it does not feed.

And furthermore, it’s got more sea to sail,

And with it carries the United States mail.

All over this repubiic its centers are made,

All systematized, and has got the balance of trade.

The producer his products to market can get this way;

It can be marketed and get return the same day.

This system causes produce more evenly to run,

This is the way fluctuation in trade away must be done.

With railroads all systematized and running on this plan,

It’s folly any longer through this ditch produce to try to cram,

For many years it has gradually been falling to decay,

It’s became a nuisance now, and should be vut of the way.

It to rise again it never can, that is plain to see,

The produce of the country from it seems to flee.

I cannot see where any longer it’s of any kind of use,

Only make slaves to pay taxes, and stiff, lame, blind horses to abuse.

We cannot help what has already been done,

But we can prevent any more suffering and crime from this source to
come,

In this way—clear away this rubbish, it’s no longer of any use,

It will do away with lots of crime, suffering, dnd abuse.

Clear away old rubbish and make room for new,

This is what all mankind on this globe have always had to do;

This is so all over this world, sail the globe around,

Through this purifying mill we all have to be ground.

This old stinking ditch has a long time been dead,

And yet with corruption, filth, and carrion of all kinds it’s fed.

With disease it is constantly inoculating along the whole route,

By puking, vomiting, and spewing this carrion out.

As it now is and always has been, empty or full,

Do all you can, and yet it’s a stinking old cesspool.

946 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

It wjll get sick, and out this slime and corruption will run,

Nearly always, when this takes place, great damage 1s done

Abandon now this old nuisance, this has got to be;

The inhabitants of course from it cannot very well flee.

Ali full of pools of dead, inanimate corruptions it hes,

This is the eause of sickness, disease; in this it has its rise.

There is only one way left now that I can see,

As the people do not want to ieave their farms and houses and flee,

Is to bury this center of filth and corruption under ground,

With other dead things of the past, so deep 't cannot be found.

Tus should many years ago been done,

Instead of squandering the people’s money trying to make a dead thing
run.

There should many years ago appropriation have been made,

And men set to work with scraper, plow, pick, shovel, and spade.

With some good live men this job to superintend,

This would not be a great task. it would soon come to an end.

This work tor our country’s sake should now begm ;

It would save a multitude of suffering, crime and sin.

Fine palaces to build, to make tyrannical laws,
To punish the effect, will not remove the cause.
If with tramps you do net want to be overrun,
Something besides making tyrannical laws must be done.
There never has been a law that the people could not break,
And they always have and always will for liberty’s sake.
That tramp law smells to hell of tyranny and oppression:
It’s a disgrace to a school district, town, country, state, or nation.
Do not be in a hurry your neighbor and brother man to pursue,
Look around; there may be some one in pursuit of you.
With such corrupt legislation as we now have got
All are liable to stink carrion and rot.
A worse law in legislative halls you could not make,
It caused all paupers and tramps a different course to take—
‘As we can no longer for help with safety to the people appeal,
It’s safer now, when our money is all gone, to steal.”
That damned tramp law 1s got up on such a wise plan
It’s bound to take our hberty away, do the best we can.
These smart and good and wise men to the center of each state we
have sent

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 247

To ruip xs legislating for themselves, they seem hell bent

If they do not change the course that they now pursue

They will financially wreck ths ship of state, passengers and crew.

They are fast sapping the people’s hard-earned money away

To build costly palaces for themselves in to stay.

We do not any longer want our money to pay

Tyrannical men our liberty to legislate away.

For many years it has been going on from bad to worse;

Many laws you have made for us are only a curse;

And the course you are steering now and want to take

Is to make yourselves mch and of us paupers make.

Heavy taxes to pay, and that used for pomp and show,

Willi soon shipwreck us all, that we well know.

We will all have to drop in line if this course you sail,

We will all be made paupers, of this there will be no fail.

Spend the people’s money in doing so, of them make paupers and
poor,

Then tax them to build reformatories, prison pens, in them to secure.

The blackest laws of these or of any other times

Is to legislate, make laws, to make paupers, then make poverty a
crime.

If we do not have wiser, honester, better men at the helm of the ship
of state

To hell and destruction we will all go in this wake.

Of all the damned, unmerciful tyrants a man can ever see

Are men that will legislate to take other’s liberty away, and themselves
go free;

And this, too, for the awful crime of not having a cent.

How do you know, if these men ever had any money, how it was
spent?

Do not be in a hurry your fellow-man’s liberty away to take,

He may have something new that cost his all to make.

To all mankind, rich or poor, to them mercy show,

You do not always know the cause that made them so.

Sit down with them; have a little chat; your time may be well spent.

He may have a new discovery that cost a large fortune to invent.

There are many ways that a pauper can be made,

And if we do not wiser men select we will all be paupers, I am afraid,

By legislation legalized robbers all uver the land are found,

In rings and monopolies they all seem to be bound.

248 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

In our legislative halls this corruption seem- to center,

Raise their own salaries, make tyrannical laws for others; in this way
they winter.

In this course you are sailing: look ahead: there are breakers, can’t
you see?

Of all the damned mean robbers is a man that will sell himself for a
fee; .

All for a few dollars for himself to try to make,

He will place tlie lives and property of a nation at stake.

Poor, blind fools, do you think you know what you are about?

The first thing you know you will be all turned inside out.

If you should make a Jaw to confine me even to a stake,

That would be the first thmg with me that law to break.

With knapsack on my baek, through mud and snow, without a cent,

Night and day I would travel io break vhat taw i would be hell
bent

This would be just the way our liberty and freedom was bought;

For seven jong years the soldiers suffered, died, and fought.

Tyrants, do you think you can our liberty legislate away ”

Hf you do, try it: you will find some of the same mettle they had m

that day.

It does seem to me the first principles of this government you have
lost;

The way you legislate, act, talk, you seem to thmk yourselves boss.

We do not intend to pay you much longer to rob us, we will have you
know :

. The first thing you know, out of our legislative halls you will go.

Legalized thieves and robbers of yourselves you have made,

And at that damned business you have earried on heavy trade,

To rob us and build up powers of your own:

These facts to us have a Jong time been known.

Steal our hard-earned money, to buy yourselves a position,

Then legislate to make ten times worse our condition ;

Enact laws to prevent us from so to do,

Then sell us and yourselves to this damned robbing crew.

This is what you have been doing for many long years;

Weep for your crimes now with sealding, bitter tears.

You have been now in the balances weighed,

No more confidence to do our business in you can be paid.

Our great ship of state you have wrecked and stranded,

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 249

Quarreling and fighting for yourselvs a position it to man,

You have scuttled this ship and deserted it, too,

This is just the way all robbers and pirates do.

There is no use of denying this, it 1s all true,

And worse, you have done, you have murdered some of the crew.

Poor Garfield you shot down without any cause;

He has been these many years battling against tyrannical Jaws.

My God! what do you think is going to become of this nation?

2ob us in many ways, fight, murder—all for a position.

All the legislation for many years for yourselves that you have done,

It has made your owu condition worse, no good to us by it can come.

All over our great republic this legalized robbing we have had:

They have. shipwrecked the whole fleet, and now they are play:ng
grab.

For little or no service big bills are poured in, just take note—

My good God! no wonder this fleet no longer could float,

With such men as we have had to steer this flect of our nation.

If they are allowed to go on they will sail us to hell and damnation.

If we follow them any longer the course they are pursuing

You will get all the hell you want; it’s already brewing.

In the case of Guitéau, look at the useless expense of his trial ;

He committed the act; that was seen; 1t will admit of no denial.

Poor, unhappy. unfortunate man he must be.

And his case could have been disposed of without so many rot:bers to
fee. .

In either case, insane or of sound mind,

A verdict against him they would have to find.

About this poor, unfortunate man I shall have no more to say ;

I do not believe in hanging or killing my fellow-man in any way.

As things look now. something will soon have to be done:

In this corruption the fleet of the United States cannot run.

The only way now that I can see to pursue

Is to clear away this damned rubbish and begin new.

For condemned they are by the overruling power:

If they are allowed to go on, themselves and all others they will de-
vour.

They seem no longer able to keep this ship afloat,

They might possibly run an old, stinking canal boat.

If that they should wreck tliere would not be so much loss,

Such a craft as that they might possibly get to boss.

250 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

Their works are enough to condemn them, no more evidence is
needed ;

Their power in thousands of ways they have exceeded.

Our servants to represent us we have sent to the center of our nation.

They have been duped—bought to make unwise legislation.

Some men have such an awful greed for the ghitter of gold,

They will sacrifice the lives and property of a nation and let it be sold.

And that is the power now with it this nation they are trying to run,

To rob us of that first that had to be done;

They all seem trying to see which can get the biggest pile.

In doing so they have got into a devil of a rile

The flag of seventeen hundred and seventy-six will not fade,

The stripes for tyrants and traitors, thieves, robbers, they were made.

Some seem trying their level best to-pull it down,

On their wise and honest, faithful heads put a crown.

This government on the epposite principle was built to run

To put crowns on our hired help; I think it will be hardly done

For many years, now we have lived under monarchical reign,

And now it has become despotic. Some are being slain.

Robberies and riots all over our country we have had,

Now it looks as though corruption and misrule had run mad.

There is no use trying to cover it up: it stares you square in the face.

The way our government for many years has been run is a disgrace.

It would be tedious for 4 man to write where this corruption all had
its rise, - ; .

If he knew, and had the time, and was ever so wise.

Just to open your eyes I will give you a little history of a few.

In the first place, we are sold to this damned robbing crew;

We are taxed and robbed iu thousands of ways;

Without representation they have made us underlings and slaves.

They are usurpers of power which to tliem does not belong;

They raised their own salaries themselves, and that was wrong.

The people never authorized them this mean busmess to do ;

Tt was all planned by that robbing, sneaking, treacherous crew,

‘That was done in the beginning of that great General Grant reign,

Right in the very time when all around was to be slain.

Our country was in danger; the rebels in destruction it had laid ;

To render us a little assistance fifty thousand dollars a year to him
must be paid

And that must be secured a term eight years long!

THE HORSE'S RESCUL 251.

Fellow-citizens, if you do not clear yourselves of these sappers you are
gone.

In this salary grab, of course, they all had to take a hand:

Like all other corruptions, it is contagious; it spread all over the land.

To double like this is easy for you, we all very well know,

But we have to work for very small pay, and that comes slow.

You doubled our taxes on that damned robbing raid,

And now you put on pomp and show, and say these taxes must be
paid,

And if you do not pay it we will séll you re of house and home, .

And as paupers and thieves over the country you shall roam.

Jt seems to me for servants you are putting on considerable style ;

The first you know, out of our legislative halls you will go ina pile ;

This damned tyrannical yoke we do not nich longer intend to wear .

We have stood now about all we can possibly bear.

For frauds, robberies, and corruptions all other nations you have out-
done,

If that is what you are trying to do, you excel, 1 will not except
one.

Even old ancient Rome you outdo in your blind race for gold—

For that their happiness, country, honor, and lives were sold.

As for you, General Grant, something more must be done;

Such services for your country and great laurels you fa won ;

A crown should be put on your head, you should have another fee,

Of this whole band of robbers you should be king-bee.

This honor you certainly lave won, it is plain to be seen.

To see this the people do not have to be very keen.

It is widespread and well known over the land,

That robber chief you have become of this eutire robbing band.

Now, sir, I do not see as we can honors any more on you bestow;

We are getting very poor; you hav squandered our money and robbed
uS SO,

Raising the salaries all over our whole entire nation.

It affected all, rich and poor, all in the same relation.

It caused men who had the poor laborers in ther employ

To close up. ‘“ We cannot run, these heavy taxes do us so annoy.”

Some would try a ttle longer to run by cutting wages down ;

This has caused thousands, what are now called tramps, to run around

To see if they could get some work, employment find ;

And now for doing so they have made laws to make it a crime.

» 252 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

Mr. Grant, do you not know to prison for begging we have to go,

All caused by you and your damned rotten, robbing crew?

You have robbed us and on us heavy taxes laid,

And criminals and slaves and paupers, too, of us you have made.

When you pilot of our nation eight years were made,

Four hundred thousand dollars to you was paid.

- And extras that all cost us money were thrown in,

Aud now you are around begging for help again.

What you did with all that money of course we do not know,

Unless you spent it sailing around, setting yourself up for a monkey
show.

Tf now a beggar and pauper you have got to be

After all we have done to help you, it 1s of no use any longer that J
can see.

You will have to take your chances as all beggars and paupers do.

Your money has been spent without doubt for pomp and show ;

Of ours we have been robbed by heavy taxes to pay you

And your damned, corrupted, thieving, robbing crew.

We do not intend any longer by you robbers and tyrants to be run;

To work and slave night and day for small pay is no fun,

And give it to you to squander and sow broadcast,

And be shipwrecked, made paupers, and in prisons at last.

Of all the damned robbers that I ever heard of, of this or of any other
time, 3

You are the biggest, the meanest of this or any other, for crimes.

You have got so you are so bold you do it in the broad daylight,

Then try to cram it down us, and make us believe it is right.

On scientific principles by honest men this government was made to
run,

And now by legalized robbers and thieves corruption it is overdone.

No matter what business you are doing, on a large or small scale,

When you are overrun with sit-stills and sappers it must fail.

The idea of taking the hard-earned money of thousands of men,

And giving it to a lot of blockheads, robbers, and thieves to spend!

These pills are a little to big now; they will not go down;

You have made them too big of late; it has eaused the people to look
around.

You have rung in taxes in all conceivable ways you can,

And down in your own pockets the most of it you cram.

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 253

You have made a great mistake; you have got the whole business
wrong end too;

It’s bad, I know, but it is so, we are the government in place of you.

Of course we understand the principles of this government and plan.

And you have as much to say about how it shall be run as any other
man.

Until you are chosen by the people them to represent,

And to all of the great centers of our great nation are sent.

Then in relation to this government you are changed clear around,

Then you are our servants, then by honor, fidelity, you are sworn and
bound.

We have trusted this great fleet of our nation in your care,

You have betrayed your official trust, embezzled, robbed, plundered
beware!

Some men seem to think and talk, as it is now it must go on,

To rescue this nation from your grasp it cannot be done.

When we look over this great fleet of our nation and take a view,

Then say this all must be eternally run by this damned robber crew,

I do not wish any man on this round glcbe any harm,

But the way we are sailing now, there is great reason for alarm.

Tf we do not tack ship and steer a different course soon ‘

To hell and destruction together we will all go in this vortex and mael-
strom,

When men come clamoring around the great center of our nation

Pleading for aid to keep them from poverty and starvation.

After we to them have hundreds of thousands of dollars paid.

To do this it has by law paupers, beggars, criminals of us made.

Sappers and leeches, do you always think, with your blind greed,

You can always grind us down to the earth and on us feed ?

The principle that you are working on now, if you could cary it out,

Will ruin you as it has us, of that there can be no doubt.

On labor the support of this nation depends and has its rise,

And if we cannot clear ourselves of these leeches she dies.

What a damned lazy, burdensome set they seem to be,

They are no earthly use to. this government, and nowhere that I can
see.

These robbers are fast sapping out the heart’s blood of our nation

And covering our land with prisons, poorhouses, and desolation.

We have for many long years these robbers and spendthrifts tried to
keep up,

254 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

But we see it’s of no kind of use, they only grow more currupt.

Before you get us all in the poorhouse and prison pens,

You will have to some of that money you stole from us spend.

When a nation gets corrupted and roiten a the core,

The people have no confidence, no safety any more.

If you steer this fleet of our nation and keep it secure,

You must keep all of the centers of this great republic pure,

Then we can battle with outside corruption and keep it at bay:

No stream ean be kept pure when the fountain is corrupt; it must be
cleared away.

You have inoculated your poisonous venom all over our land,

And now you hang around the center to be fed in bands.

I see, now, business seems to take a little different course,

But it is no better; it’s going on from bad to worse.

It has the appearance as though they were going to disband now,

As all robbers do when they get in a row.

They are going to divide up; of course they begin with tke biggest
thief,

That is General Grant; he is now their great robber chief.

Thirteen thousand dollars, five hundred a year, he wants us bound;

That won't do; that’s too much; there won't be enough to go
around.

Tf you have started out on another damned robbing raid,

Do not be such a hog; there will be thousands of others to be paid.

Mr. Grant, we will have you and your robbing band to know

On us you cannot rivet chains that gall and chafe us so.

This is just the way that damned salary grab was played,

And all over our land beggars, paupers, and thieves it made.

Tf this great nation you are going to ruin and the spoils divide,

That.is to be seen yet, you can tell better after you have tried.

Tt looks now as though that is what you are trying to do—

You and your damned selfish, thieving, robbing crew

Tf it is a division of all now that you are trying to make

A share of that we all have, and that we intend to take,

The principle of this government is equal rights to all mankind,

And in that, too, we intend to have a share, you will find,

As for being made paupers and slaves by such as you,

That you and your damned robbing crew can never do.

On scientific principles by this government‘you was educated to fight,

And you have turned robber-chief, doing it in broud daylight.

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 255

At fighting you may be good—you ought to be; it is all you know.

For the course you are taking now with this nation will show

The principles of this government you do not understand ;

If you do, so much the worse for you, you ought to be damned

If fight is all you know, and that is what you want to do,

We will give you all you want before we get through.

These sappers and leeches and robbers at the heart of our nation

Are driving the supporters of it to despair and desperation.

Nearly all of. the blood on this green earth that has been shed,

Has been caused by tyrannical laws that tyrants have made.

Poor, blind, ignorant, selfish men you must be to think

You can grind us down with taxes, and yourselves not sink.

In order with success to run this fleet of our nation

The laborers and producers must be in a prosperous condition.

When hoggish, selfish, bad-principled men get the balance of power

Through ignorance, tyrannical laws they will make, themselves to
devour.

For all crimes committed on this earth retribution must be made,

Either before you leave this earth or after you are dead.

This is the decree and law the creator has made for all;

On your own merits you must sink, rise, or fall.

No other provision the creator for us has ever made;

All sins committed by ourselves, by us they must be paid.

All nations, when they get corrupted by their blind greed for gold,

For this, sooner or later, to destruction they are sold.

Now this is just what all of this trouble in our nation is about;

We will go the way all others have gone if it is not purged out.

Like causes produce like effects; search the world around,

No argument can be used; to destruction they seem bound.

All can see plain enough after it is too late;

It will be no time then to grieve and mourn your sad fate.

This will be the sad result, and that, tov, very soon;

This is the way of all nations—when corrupted, this is their doom.

All men seem to have their sphere and bounds to fill,

And all should in harmony live and show each other good will.

But when selfish men make tyrannical laws, on us encroachments
make,

It causes all mankind then a different course to take.

To live in shanties and hovels, and at last be crowded in prison
pens,

256 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

It causes men to rise up and try themselves to defend.

Whether they can or cannot, they always have and always will try;

It seems to be their nature; for liberty they will fight until they die

Now these encroachments are talked and felt all over our nation,

And if there is not a change soon, it will be laid waste in desolation

Capital to do business we must have, that we all well know;

But it is a curse to this nation to spend it in pomp and show.

From all business of this kind no returns can be had.

It is only squandering the producers’ money; no dividends can be
made.

I suppose some think they are doing big things at the center of our
nation,

Squandering our money building palaces all over God’s creation.

Of course in this robbing raid they must all have a share.

Producers and laborers, you are the treasury ; take care, take care !

Some are trying to save all they possibly can in this way,

By converting all they have in bonds, then they will have no taxes to
pay.

This throws the whole burden on those that are the least able it to
bear.

Remember the principle of this country is equal rights; beware, be-
ware!

No laws that you have made do we recognize when your powers you
exceed,

No privileged ones in this government on us much longer can feed.

Laws that you have made, no matter when or by whom they. were
made,

The most of the burden on the laborer and producer is laid.

My God! the most pitiful sight that a man ever can behold

Is to look over this nation and see men robbing themselves for gold.

In the course you are pursuing now, you will soon have to know

You have been robbing yourselves; you had better go slow.

When the time comes, with your plunder, where you can sieer ;

That is a mystery to me that I cannot see clear.

When this robbing that you have begun all over our Jand breaks out,

Then you will see the cause when it is too late, without doubt.

It docs not seem as though people would be such selfish blind, fools,

By legislation to rob themselves and sail right nto a whirlpool.

In order for this fleet of our nation to successfully be run,

Capital and labor must be balanced as near as it can be done.

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 257

As it is now them that is the best able have no taxes to pay ;

In this way the whole fleet of our nation is balanced the wrong way.

With interest on bonds, and idle capital in vaults doubling on us,

With this, and many other robberies, will cause the boilers to burst.

This great fleet of our nation out of balance cannot sail;

Do all you can to prevent, unless you change, 1t will fail.

Jf out of balance you sail, it is easy enough to see

Tn favor of the laborer and producer it should be.

As it is now, you are killing the goose that lays the golden egg,

Filling the prisons, poorhouses, insane asylums, causing them to beg.

Now you seem to be bewildered in a fog, and failed;

You act as though your compass you had lost, rudder and sail.

You have been drifting out of your course for a long time;

You cannot sail this great fleet in corruption and crime.

Equal rights to all mankind in this government it was to be,

And in safety no other way it can be run, you will soon see.

You will have all the business you want, the best you can do,

Tf all are honest—pilot, mate, passengers, and crew.

When robbers and traitors to the helm of the fleet of our nation turn,

There will be trouble enough; these facts you will soon learn.

Unless the people all change their course, and right-about face,

We will all sink together with this fleet in everlasting disgrace,

For by trickery, bribery, and rascality the business is nearly all done;

Some damned scoundrels started it, and in this channel they run,

In order to keep pace in this blind race and keep up.

To hell and destruction we are sailing and growing more corrupt,

If in filth, earrion, crime, and corruption you try this flee’ to wallow
through,

And all out of balance the wrong way, that you can never do.

If you want again to get this fleet of our nation afloat

You must elect honest men when you come to vote.

That will balance it up on the original plan,

And that is equal rights to all, every man.

Clear away the leeches and robbers so many to fee,

Then you can get this great fleet of our nation at sea.

How can anyone do anything with so many prowling around?

It would be a blessing to this nation if some would get drowned.

The first thing to be done is our expenses to curtail;

There is no use trying to run so, if you do you will fail.

Knock the wages down more than one-half on the whole crew.

958 THE HORSE'S RESCUER.

If you ever sail this fleet this is what you will have to do,

And throw out no more such attractive bait as that salary grab,
That caused the people with corruption almost to go mad

Next to be done will be to tax all property on the equalization plan ;
Make all bear their part of the burden, both woman and man.
Next, there should be only a small appropriation made,

To set idle’ men to work with pick, shovel, and spade,

To bury this old canal; it stinks; it has a long time been dead.
There is no use of its having any more carrion to it fed.

Now I will bid you all a hearty adieu,

The whole entire, dishonest, robbing crew ;

But I intend to keep watch to see the progression
You make sailing this great fleet of our nation.

I have sailed myself out of my course;

T must tack ship and go to work on the horse,

To follow you any longer, that I cannot safely do;
It would shipwreck and ruin me, as it has you.

When a nation gets so selfish, so ignorant, and blind,
As to rob themselves, there is no safety I find.
When on themselves they make rebbing raids,

There is danger ahead, I am afraid.

There does not seem to be any way to make them see—
To be robbers of themselves they are bound to be,

In rings and monopolies all over our land,

To ruin themselves they are bound, if they can.

When on you this great destruction and calamity comes,
Do tell, what will with your plunders be done;

When al] are trying each other to devour.

Who will stay the hand, then, of this unruly power?

When at the center of our great nation it is begun,

What then, do you think, to save this great fleet can be done?
When the people have no standard or center to rally round,
When the old flag of seventy-six you have pulled down ?

When thieves and robbers are at work at our nation’s heart,
Lookout, take care, beware; that is the vital part.

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 259

You will have to stop that soon, without doubt,
Or you will cause this nation’s blood to all run out.

For the love of money, selfish, avaricious greed
Has caused other nations to suffer and to bleed ;
And some themselves to death they have bled,
And have become extinct, and now are dead.

Unless you are more honest and liberal, you will see,
The same as 1t has been with others, with you it will be.
If you are not more harmoniously united, every man,
For a house divided against itself cannot stand.

You will bring destruction down on your own heads;

In rapine, slaughter, and blood you will make your beds.
It is liable at any time now to break out,

And when it comes it will be like an avalanche, 10 doubt.

No one can foretell in advance what will take place,

It is easy to see; it now stares you in the face.

I mean just when the great crisis will come,

That will be soon if there is nothing to prevent its being done.

This avalanche, if they would, could be turned a different course.
I must quit now and go to work on the horse,

Poor old gray, a customer for you I have found;

He cannot tell that you were ever lame or unsound.

All I want for you is just what I paid last fall;

The feed and work that I have done, you are welcome to it all;
And I will take you to the shop and shoe you all around new;
This will probably be the last for you I shall have a chance to do.

For all this long winter’s work on you I am well paid;

The lesson I have learned is enough, now I am not afraid.
All stiff horses on this principle can be cured, I find ;

The older they are, and of long standing the longer the time.

Now I have got you shod all around, nice and new,

I will bid you good-bye; it may not be a final adieu.
You look fine now; good-bye, good-bye, poor old mare,
I may come around again to see how you are.

260 THE HORSE'S RESCUE

After working almost night and day through this
long, cold winter to demonstrate and satisfy myself
what could be done for old stiff horses of long stand-
ing, I found myself more than paid. I found in this
search that this science, if followed up, would perform
wonderful cures on all. This was to put the cap-sheaf
on all of my experimenting. It went beyond all my
expectation. I was surprised myself. ‘“ Now,”
thought I, ‘I can tackle almost everything in the line
of stiff and lame horses, and this I am determined to
do. This science I am going to introduce.” ‘This is
the way I reasoned with myself: I have got the big-
gest thing on this globe—and I have not changed my
mind-yet on that, neither can I. After all the
searches of others, for no one knows how long, this
complicated and difficult mystery they have not solved
and cannot. This job on this old mare has com-
pletely cleared the fog away. No matter what the
people say to the contrary, I am going to start outand
try to introduce it in some new places. I know what
I will have to contend with. It will be the same old
music that I have heard so long. The first thing to
be done will be to close up my shop and business in
this place; the next will be to have a fat pocketbook,
for nothing can be done without that toward introduc-
ing this great science; that I have demonstrated to my
satisfaction. ‘

Reader, you may wonder where I got all my money
at that time aside from what I earned in my shop. It
was instalments and interest from a farm that I sold
that 1 was using to rescue the suffering horse. After
receiving my annual instalment, the next thing to be

THE HORSES RESCUE. 261

done was to get some bills printed to advertise this
great discovery and science and announce my coming.
This bill was drawn up in this way:

“PROF. GERARD DOAN,
THE CHAMPION HORSE-SHOER OF AMERICA,

Having made horse-shoeing a business for many years, and study-
ing the natural horse and all of the changes from the
natural to the unnatural, its effect in all
of the different changes, has
made the great
dis-
covery how to cure
foundered horses of long stand-
ing—water, chest, and grain founder; perished
shoulders; remove all air-puffs, corns, coffin-joint lameness,
hoblers, shufflers, single-footers, and horses that hop behind in speed-
ing. All these cures I will perform without medicine.

I will deliver lectures free. All owners
of horses and mules will do
well to attend.

I will be at your place, etc.

I did not advertise on this bill all I could do with.
out medicine. I well knew this was more than they
could stand. I put on “ professor ” because I thought
it would help me. They like the sound of these big-
sounding titles. I have seen as big fools with “ pro-
fessor” attached to their names as I ever did without;
and my attaching it to my name did not help me any,
as experience proved. After this bill was drawn up,

262 THE HORSE’S RESCUER

I sailed for the city of Elmira to get it printed. The
printer readit over. I said tohim: “It’s a big thing;
don’t you think it is?”

“Yes; but I do not believe it.”

“You will print the bills, I suppose, if I will pay
you?”

we 8 6 ci

After arranging this bill with a cut of two fast-
sailing trotters at the head, I closed a bargain with
him to strike me off sixteen dollars’ worth. After
this job was completed I sailed for Horseheads. After
my arrival I stood with my bundle of bills under my
arm on the walk. A mandrove up. He says to me:

‘Professor, one of my horses is lame; the other is
getting wind-puffs on him.”

While I was talking with him there was a stranger
to me standing by. He heard our conversation. Af-
ter our talk was ended I turned to walk away. He
said to me, “ Are you a veterinarian ?”

“No; I am not. I work on horses’ feet. I have
done that for many years, and I have made some
quite big discoveries recently. I have been getting
some bills printed preparatory to traveling and lectur-
ing, and getting up schools to try and see if I can in-
troduce it.”

“Come to our place first. Iam a veterinarian. I
will help you. I would like to travel with you. I
can cure spavins, ringbones, pole-evil, and thistloes.
IT can work on the outside and pick up some money
that way. I will do all of the posting bills and secure
the halls to lecture in. If you will come to our place
I will take some of your bills now and put them up

THE HORSES’ RESCUE. 2638

if you will just fix the day and evening on them that
you will be there.”

‘“ Where do you live?”

“Tt is in the state of Pennsylvania.’

“ How far is it ?”

“Sixty miles.”

“Ts it a large place ?”

“Oh, yes; it is a large, thriving business town, and

lots of stiff and lame horses.”

_ “When I start this science in a placeI have to stay
some time to introduce it. I want a big field to work.
There is no use stopping ina small place. This is a
rather hard science to introduce. It isin advance of
the age to cure horses without medicine. I will come
to your place first. I will fix the time on some bills.
You put these bills up in all of the public places, and
secure a hall for the evening. I will be on the
ground.”

After arranging matters at home by dividing my
money with my wife, closing my house, she and my
boy Frank left this town to visit their relatives and
friends in Auburn city and other places, I was pre-
pared for a long campaign battling for the horse.
With my shoeing tools and bills in a heavy satchel,
when the day came I set sail. I arrived in this town
about noon. I must say I was never more disap-
pointed in my life. JI do not remember the place's
name, neither do | remember this veterinarian’s name.
It was a little huddle down in a sunken place sur-
rounded with high mountain peaks. There was no
way I could see out without looking nearly straight
up. One old run-down, dilapidated hotel. About

?

264 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

the first object I saw in the form of a human being
was one man who had another poor, drunken man by the
nape of the neck, kicking him almost todeath. There
were two or three old stores. The first thing I did
was to look and see where all of those bills were put
up. I looked this town all over, and no bills could I
find. JI walked in the hotel, and inquired for and about
my veterinary friend. They told me where he lived.
I, with satchel in hand, walked up to his house. He
sat on the verandah, tipped back in a chair, reading the
news of the day. He seemed surprised to see me. I
accosted him in this way: ‘The bills are not up, I
see. How is this?”

“Well, I showed them some. They did not be-
lieve anything in it. They said it was a damn hum-
bug.”

‘Then you hav not secured any hall to lecture in?”

No”

“Did you think they would believe it could be
done? This is just what our business is to teach
them these principles, truths, and facts.”

I soon saw this man was of no use to me. He was
entirely too weak in the knees and garret. Golly!
this is a hard battle to fight alone. Iam not going to
leave this town without giving them a brush. I am
going to lecture in this town on the horse if there is
not one man to listen. J am going to look this town
over. I will get up some kind of a racket.

I walked up to what they called a livery stable.
There sat the proprietor on some rubbish. Pieces of
old wagons, harness, and old boards were all over the
floor. He sat with both elbows on his knees, his chin

THE.. HORSE'S. RESCUE. "965:

resting on. both hands.to hold his head. up. I ap-
proached him, as cautiously as I. knew how to, on the
horse. I saw the condition of his row of. fine horses
at a glance when I first stepped in.. It would not take
a very close observer to see. they were in a very bad
condition. The whole row stood on.piles of manure
that elevated them. behind at least a. foot. too high.
Some were ankle-cocked ; some off their base badly ;
in fact, they were a hard-looking sight. In a round-
about way I commenced to talk horse. I. carefully
closed upon him at last. I told him they could be
cured. without. medicine. Then he exploded. He
railed at me:

‘Do you think we are-all damned fools here? Do
you think. you can humbug us?”

There was no use in talking with him any more.
There would be danger of getting some of that rub-
bish over my head. Next I walked into a blacksmith
shop. I glanced around. I saw things were all kept
in good order. The work all looked mechanic-like.
There was some good work finished and_ partly fin-
ished. Only one man was in thisshop. [asked him
if he was the proprietor. He said he was,and worked
alone. I saw he had quite a.head on him, though his
body was very inferior. He was deformed, small,
hump-shouldered. He did not look as though he was
able to shoe horses, But he did, I saw, and his work
looked well. JI soon saw I could talk with him on
the principles of working on the feet of horses. I
kad my pasteboard foot to: show him the principles to
work on. Hesoon saw the-whole business. I spent
aboutan hour with him. He was the most i

266 . HE HORSE’S RESCUR.

looking man I saw in that town, and the best me-
chaniec. J visited two other shops and had a chat
with the owners. They stared at me when I wld
them [ could perform these cures without medicine on
principles of science. They looked at me as though
they thought I was insane. Night came. A few col-
lected in this little huddle. To leave this town with-
out delivering a lecture on the horse I was deter-
mined not to do. I saw some boxes on the steps of a
store. I asked permission to take one. I rolled it
across the walk in the street. I quietly got myself on
this base to attract their attention. I commenced by
a few introductory preliminaries, stating my business
in their place; my disappointment on account of the
bills not being posted and no hall secured, and the
field was too small to try to introduce this great
science; but if you will listen I will give you a short
lecture here. This bugling attracted a few. I sailed
out at the same time. I kept wateh of the crowd. It
was not a large one, not more than five or six at one
time. They would come and go. This changing was
constantly going on; it was rather discouraging to try
to teach science in this way. I saw they stared at
me a little while, then moved away. Others would
do the same. There was one fine-looking man I saw

staid at his post from the first. I saw he was inter-
ested, and that induced me to go on. If it had not
been for him I might just as well have been in the
woods on a stump talking to trees. After this lecture
was over I rolled the box back, and walked back to
the hotel. I remained in this place part of the next
day. While sitting in the hotel this listener to my

THE HORSK’S RESCUE. 267

lecture came in, seated himself, and commenced to
draw me out in conversation on the horse. Snid he:
“You are all right, stranger, but I do not believe you
can introduce it. What will you take to teach me
what you know about the horse? I am in earnest.”

‘‘T do not know as I could teach you all I know on
.the horse,” I replied. “It has been a life-long study
with me. If I was going to remain in this place I
could and would teach you some very valuable les-
sons.”

The remark I made to this man when he told me
he did not think I could introduce this science was,
“Twill or burst; that is, I will sink every dollar I
have got, then earn more, and go at it again.”

After this noble-minded and gentlemanly man
passed out. I inquired who he was. They said he
was the physician of their place. At that time I com-
menced to reason with myself in this way: It took
me a long time to learn how to introduce it. J can
see now that I sailed out before I was full rigged. I
have got no bocks with these principles and rules laid
down. They cannot remember all that I say to them
if they listen. I must write a book. MWHere is the
sticker—for me to convey all this in a book, and if I
do, that will not sell as this matter now stands. They
would call that a damned humbug, as they do me.
That will not do yet. It must be introduced first by
doing the work in order to get good, reliable, substan-
tial, noted scientific men for reference to put in the
book. Jam going to leave this town and sail to Au-
burn city. I have a brother there, a horse-shoer, and
another twenty miles from there. They are both

268 THE HORSE'S’ RESCUE,

good workers on the horse's feet. I am going to en-
list them in this horse fight. That will be easy
enough to do, for they have been and are now trying
to solve this mystery. I sailed for Auburn. On my
way I stopped at my brother Oliver’s place of busi-
ness. He-was located in a small inland town at that
time surrounded with a beautiful country and well-to-
do farmers. I walked into his shop. He was seated
ona saw-horse. I shall never forget how he looked.
tired and sick, thin in flesh, cheeks sunken, eyes. the
same. ‘What's the matter, Ob?” said I.

“Well, the fact is,” said he, “Iam about used up.
I am nearly ridden to death with so many crippled
and stiff horses. They come pouring in on me from
many miles:away. They keep me nearly all of my
time holding them up. I can fix them up, and do,
some that are very bad, but it is killing business for
me, and small pay. I can hardly live out of it.”

I said: “I have got something I want to show you.
I have come on purpose to do this. It solves the
whole mystery we have so long been trying to find
out. IJ can tell you how you can cure all of these
stiff horses.”

I took out of my satchel my pasteboard hoof, and
explained the principles it was done on. He saw
it all at a glance.

“That will do it, I know,” said he.

In a few words it was all made clear to him. He
could do it as wellas I could. Huis long experience
and the progression he had made enabled him to grasp
this new discovery instantly. It was what he had
been many years reaching after.

THE HORSE'S RESCUER. 969

“Oliver,” said I, “I-am going to Auburn to see
Joseph. I want you and him to help me introduce
this science.”

“You will meet -with a power of opposition in
many ways,” said he.

“That [care nothing about,” I replied. “TI have
been pulverized through that mill. Iwant to beat
them if Ican. I am ahead here. If you will take
hold of this they never can excel you; equal is all
they can do.”

After staying over night, the time all spent talking
horse, [ sailed for Auburn city. I found Joseph in
his shop wrestling with all kind of cripples. I soon
found a way to let my business be known.

“Jo,” said I, “when you have leisure I have got a
big thing on the horse I want to show you.”

“T thought-you had got something,” he replied,
‘‘or you would not be around. If you have got any-
thing new on the horse I want to learn it. I will be
one of your scholars.”

After explaining what I could do with a lhorse’s
foot, he said:

“Tf you can do that, and not produce any inflamma-
tion, that is all I want to know; that-will do the whole
business. I want to see that done.”

“We must have a horse.”

“T will finda horse. There are stiff horses enough ;
you can hardly find one but what is stiff.”

“We want one that is bad.”

“T know of one that we can get. She is six years
old. She is so stiff that after driving her, when she

270 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

comes in the stable, ske is so sore that she will lie
down nearly all the time.”

“You will find it will bother us some to get these
horses to work on. ‘heir owners are afraid we will
spoil them.”

> “ We can buy them.”

“We do not want the horses. The best way I have
found is to hold ourselves responsible for the horse.
There is no risk to run caused by the work we will do
on them This saves their lives many times.”

“ All right; that we willdo. I will have a horse
before night.”

Business was hurried up in the shop. We got the
six-year-old mare. She was owned by Mr. Westlake.
By holding ourselves responsible for one hundred and
fiftv dollars if she-did not come out all right, we got
full control of her. She was fed and kept in Joe’s
barn. re

The next day after my arrival we were at work on
a horse. Only one bill was put up, and that was in
Joe’s shop. This work was commenced in Auburn
city over eight years previous to the date of this book.
This mare was badly off her base on all of her feet.
On her hind legs above her ankles were large air-puffs,
The work on this mare was done all at one time; that
is, her feet were all prepared and expanded at one
time. She was changed back to natural at once; that
is, the cause was removed. Mr. Westlake was to see
this work done. I well knew it would not do to let
him seeit. It would have brought the whole town
down on us.. After the feet were prepared they were
all made soft.

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. QT

“All ready,” Joseph said; “we must have West-
lake here now to see this work done.”

“No,” said I; “that will not do. We must put the
harness on her first, and have the wagon in readiness
at the door to hitch her on as quick as her feet are
spread. If we do not we will have her down. We
inust put her in motion, then she will soon recover
from ‘the change.”

The spreading was all done as quick as it could be,
with care and by measure. There is no kind of use
to write any more about how much these horses’ feet
are spread, they vary so, and on the same horse.

After this work was done we hitched her to the
wagon and sailed out of the city a few miles and back
into town. Joseph got out to go in a store on busi-
ness and left me sitting in the wagon. After a short
time this mare began to balance over back and for-
ward, and acted as though she was about to fall. She
did not have the control of herself yet enough to
keep on her equilibrium. This is the way they all
will be more or less, according to the degree of change.
While sitting in the wagon the people gathered
around. They asked me what ailed my horse. I re-
plied, ‘‘I guess she is all well enough.” “That mare
is sick ;” “she ought to be taken out of the harness;”
“she is dying now;” “she ought not to be driven any
more.” |

While this was going on around me, Joseph came,
jumped into the wagon, and we sailed out of that
crowd of bewildered people to the barn, put the mare
up for the night, and cared for her the same as I have

oR THE. HORSE'S ‘RESCUE.

done for all others. When it came time to retire, I
said to Joseph: “Iam going to bed. J am tired.”

“Are you not going to do anything to that mare's
feet to night?”

“No; she is all right.”

‘Her feet will be turned all wrong side out before
morning.”

“You can teil better in the morning. I will pay
for her if they are.” |

When I got up Joseph was in the barn caring for
his horses. :

‘“‘ Jo, how are the mare’s feet?”

“They are cold; there is no heat in them.”

“That is boss; that settles the whole thing. The
air-puffs are all gone; she begins to show her deform-
ity; it will take time to bring that back. Work and
exercise will bring that all right after the cause is re-
moved on all horses; but remember it must be kept
removed. We will let her rest awhile. We went to
the shop. Joseph had hands at work for him. When
we got there the shop was full of horses. There was
along row there waiting to have their feet ironed.
Joseph, with hat in his hand, walked upand down
this row of horses, looking them over, I suppose, to
sce what condition they were in. After he had looked -
them all over, he swung his hat around over his head
and said, “I can cure every horse in this shop without
u particle of medicine.”

There were several standing around.

“Hold on, Jo,” said I. “They will call you crazy,
as they have me; you will get in the lunatic asylum
the first you know.”

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 273

My advice did not stop his bugle. He kept it
going. That helped me. Mine could rest a little.
This is making a little start in this place, sure. Said
Jo: “I have got a six-year-old mare; her legs stock
up behind; one is ‘swollen very bad. I have used
lots of liniments. I cannot take it out. She inter-
feres badly, too. J have shod her heavy and light, in
all ways I ean think of, but it has all done no good.”

‘Put a pair of-spreaders on her, Joe ;' put the struc.
ture of her feet in harmony of action, and the swell-
ing will leave so quick the skin will be all loose on
her legs. It will stop her cutting her legs off at the
same time.”

‘She was'soon in the shop. Joe did this:work him-
self. We-spread her feet, and hitched her to the
wagon. It threw heron her base, and:ske traveled at
once about eight inches apart. The swelling did go
out, and left the skin loose. So much money thrown
away for liniments. This will ‘work the same on a
large per cent of all the horses on this‘globe. This
fever has its rise from internal heat in the foot, caused
by being out of harmony of action. It is not neces-
sary any longer to write all the particulars about how
I worked on the different horses in this city. The
principles are already laid down in this work; that is,
as faras I had got at that time. I made some new
discoveries after I left this city.

For six weeks brother Joseph and myself battled
for the horse early and late. “During this time we op-
erated on quite a number of horses. It did not seem
to get advertised, and this was the reason the people
would get their horses cured and say nothing about it

274 : THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

They thought it would injure the sale of them if the
people knew they had ever been stiff; or if they did
sell them and they ever got stiff again, no matter
what the cause was that made them so, they would be
likely to get into a lawsuit; and that is the case many
~ times, and this is caused by ignorance. If this science
was understood it would save a vast amount of trouble
from that source and many others.

“ Joseph,” said I, one day, ‘‘ I am going to leave this
place now. I will leave the unfinished jobs in your
eare to finish up.”

I made no charges; presented no bill to any man.
This is the place where I received five dollars from
Mr. Hatch for curing his horse. He insisted on my
taking it, and would willingly give me four times as
much more. He knew me, and had for many years.
He told me, ‘Take my horse, cure him, and I will
pay you your own price.” Joe did the work on this
horse. J shared equally with him. That left me two
and a half dollars, which is all the reward I have ever
received from any man for work done for them aside
from shoeing in my long life of forty-one years bat-
tling for the horse

I must tell you a little story about Mr. Hatch’s
horse, then I will leave Auburn city. Mr. Hatch,
hearing I was in the city at work on horses, looked
me-up. / Said» he: “1, have na, horse; she 18° a (eoed
seven-year-old horse; he is stiff, unable to work. He
was so when I got him. I traded for him. I want
you to go anc look at him.”

““T will do so.”

This horse was turned ont in a low, wet pasture.

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 205

We found him standing in this position: hind parts at
least eighteen inches higher than his forward parts,
with his forward feet in the mud and water. He had
placed himself in this position to save the strain on
the back tendons. He could stand more comfortable
in this way. The mud and water helped keep the
fever and heat out of his feet at the same time. In
fact, he could hardly move around. We pulled him
out of the mud, and got him on hard ground. He
was a large, noble, fine-locking young horse, with flat-
tish, good feet. I took out my foot hook to clean out
his feet. He had shoes on. While cleaning out his
feet I came to some tow or cotton packed under the
shoe at the toe. I commenced to dig it out. I knew
it was of no use, no matter what it was.

“What is this, Mr. Hatch ?”

“Well, a veterinarian that has charge of the street-
car horses toll me he could cure him by bleeding him
in the toe, then turn him out; so I had that done.”

‘How much blood did he take out 2?”

“ About ten quarts; five quarts to each foot.”

“ And here he is in this mud hole yet ?”

“Yes; and I want him to work.”

‘What do you want to do with him ?”

‘“T want to draw hay.”

“You can have him to-morrow.”

Reader, such ignorance as this ought to be exposed.
Men calling themselves veterinarians, who do not
know anything only to make bad worse and torture
horses in this way and many others.

IT told Mr. Hatch whatailed his horse. I towed him
to the shop, and now I will tell you his feet were con-

276 THE HORSE'S RESCUX.

‘tracted some, as ‘almost all horses are that have had
their feet ironed. This was not the worst trouble
with this horse. He was badly thrown off his base by’
cutting his heels too low and not cutting the toe down,
leaving the toe at least one inch and a half too long.
This was ashort job to remove the cause of all of this
poor horse’s trouble. His feet were soft; he had
soaked them himself. I did the work on this horse.
This wonderful wise veterinarian had commenced at ©
the toe of this horse’s foot ; cut back towards the point
‘of frog crossways at least two inches deeper as he
‘went back; he had cut a large hole through in this
useless hoof in order to reach the sensitive part of the
membrane, as it is ealled by some. This had been
done long enough so nature had in a measure repaired
the damage. The first thing we did for this horse was
to pare these feet well down at the toe until this hole
was all gone, cutting but little from the heel, just
enough to true and level his feet up; cupped them >
out preparatory to spreading his feet and letting the
sole down to its proper place. We-spread this horse’s
feet five-eighths of an inch, and shod him on his hind
feet. Toward night I led him home, standing on his’
toes. He balanced back and forward a little. J ex-
plained that to Mr. Hatch; told him he would be over
that in the morning. He could put him to work. It
would be better to do so. He pulled out his money to
pay me.

“You had better wait and see how you like the
job,” said I. “T will come and see how he gets along
in a few days.”

I did so. He was drawing hay. This horse was on

THE -HORSE’S -RESCUE. Ze7

his base,. head up, limber, about half a neck ahead of
his mate, and was the limberest: of the two. Mr.
Hatch pulled out his money to pay me. I charged
him five dollars. It was not the money I wanted; it
was to introduce this science. Some may eall this
bragging. I will say right here that when all such
raen as they get this great science learned, after some
one else has studied it out and perfected it, they will
have more to brag about than they have now: It is
not my intention to write the experience of my broth-
ers working on thehorse. They enlisted in this horse
fight, and have been at it ever since, and show no
signs of giving it up. I have got it started in two
places, by two practical men of long experience,
working on the horse.

-Now I wiil sail back to the old battle ground in
Horseheads. When I started out on this vampaign I
sold out all of my interest in my shop. Isoon secured
another, a good, new shop, rigged up; all stocked up
new. ‘I must have money,’ said IJ, “or I shall be
shipwrecked soon in this.way.” I did not put upany
sign. I never had a sign on my place of business, but
one, in all of the places I have done business in,
I soon found.a.way to call trade. WhenIsawalame,
crippled horse I went for him. It soon spread, and in
a short time I was overrun again with horses. This is
the way I always advertise when I commence in a new
place; but this was no new place; this was the place
where I got jerked out of a wagon head-first for talk-
ing for the horse. It is not necessary to write all the
particulars about this second atiack on this .town,
battling for the horse, only enough to lay down some

278 THE HORSES RESCUE,

principles that will be of use to the horse and his
owner. My life I never intend<d to write, and I well
know no one else can. Neither do I eare to spend my
time in that way. So I will hasten along with this
work. While battling in this town a man came to my
shop to get a horse shod. His name was W:x. He
was a teamster. His was a large, middle-aged hotse,
thin in flesh. He was badly off. It was all he could
do to stand; lie was thrown back off his base on all -
of his legs; his hind feet were thrown forward so
much by this same cause I have written of that he
appeared about to go over backwards.

“Mr. Wix,” said I, ‘that lorse is so far gone I do
not think I cam balance him by shoeing; and I do not
think he can stand on the other leg if I was strong
enough to hold him up. He will break down on one
leo. He cannot stand, that I know; but I will try
him.”

After balancing him on his forward feet first, which
helped him some, I tried him on one hind foot. After
lifting and tugging along time, with a large proportion
of this heavy horse’s weight thrown on me, Mr. Wix
on the opposite side trying to hold him up, that is,
from going over sidewise, I finally, by main strength,
raised his foot. The other leg gave out, being able to
hold but very little weight. The lever tipped him
over, and down he went flat on the floor Mr. Wix
pounded him, and after struggling a while he managed
to get on his feet again. This was in the heat of the
summer, and a very hot day.

“Mr. Wix,” said J, “this horse will not be of use
to you if we do shoe him; he cannot be balanced by

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 279

shoeing so he can workor stand long. I do not think
he can stand on one leg Jong enougi: to shoe.”

Mr. Wix said he could hold him up. He must hare
him shod, so at it he went. After struggling a Jong
time he managed to raise a foot. Down went tle
horse broadside ; then he must be pounded up again.
Wix tried it again with like result. I did not like to
give this job up, so I tried a new plan. The horse had
shoes on, and his feet were quite long. Icut the hoof
off at the toe and around; cut the nails out in this
way. We got the shoes off, then cut the hoof away
on the under side at the toe. Thathelped him some;
it let him go forward on his base alittle. Then I tried
him again. - After a hard struggle for me and. lim,
Wix holding him all he could to keep kim from fall-
ing over, I succeeded in getting his foot up without
his falling. I worked as fast as I could, cutting the
hoof away at the toe, holding his weight at the same
time; holding his foot up only a short time and
changing legs often. In this way I let lis body go
back on his base by degrees. After a long, hard strug-
ele I got him shod. In this way I shortened his toes
and pared them down at heel and toe, the toe the
most; gave him a long shoe at the heel; corking the
shoes the highest at the heel. This was the best I
could do, shoeing tais poor horse, and as well as any
inan can do for a horse in like condition without ex-
paunding the foot and putting the structure of the foot
in harmony of action, which his was fearfully out of
order.

Reader, you may ask, “ Why did not you do that?”
You ought to know by this time. How cana man do

280 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

anything when others will not let him ?—when they
will only gather around him and fight, and blart-a lot
of nonsense?

After a few days Mr. Wix came into the shop.

“Doan, that horse is dead.”

‘How is that?”

“T found him down this morning. ont doors: on the
manure pile, unable to rise. I took the axe and
knocked him in-the head, and took him to the bone- »
yard.”

“How did he get outdoors? ”

“The door of the stable was behind his stall. He
broke his halter and knocked the stable door off ‘the
hinges.” |

The fact is, he was tipped over backwards with con-
traction and leverage, as thousands are. This lever
works both ways, and there is a power in it. It has
tipped this horse over; and the discovery of this will
tip over and shove from the base some institutions, so
that no power can put them back, built as they are on
false teachings and no principles or foundations, only
tinkering at the effect.

There are two levers that tip horses over back-
wards. They both work in harmony of action; they
are both eaused by contraction ; the fulerum of both
is at the center of the foot, above the coffin-joint. One
runs up the leg; the other runs out at the toe, beyond
the point of hoof. That is not ‘seen, and yet it is
equalin length to the other. When any degree of
contraction takes place, the levers both start at the
same time. They are connected at the center; they
are not independent of each other when contraction

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 281

takes place. The useless growth of hoof on the toe,
if there isno contraction, is the end of the lever. How
can these poor horses stand, thrown in this position ?
Feet moved forward, or body back—have it either
way if you please, it is all the same—this lever run-
ning up the hind leg to the extreme point of the horse,
with two-thirds of his weight at the end of the lever,
and with his feet thrown forward, caused by contrac-
tion. Follow that lever down to the fulcrum; look
the horse over; look at that lever-purchase breaking
him down; then look at the one on the toe of equal
length working in harmony with it, one lifting, the
other pulling down. There is some power, I want you
to know and see. These principles will not lie, nor
ean they be ruled out. Contraction works the same
on all of the -feet on all horses expanding too much.
T have explained that the length of these levers vary
on the same horse. The length they can get is accord-
ing to the size of the horse and the degrees of con-
traction. When the horse gets as bad as Wix’s was,
the lever is farther away from the fulcrum, as long as
the horse’s leg is, and to the extreme point behind, I
mean as far as the horse’s body extends. Of course
there could not be any lever beyond where there is
weight. On this horse science, when a horse is
thrown in this way, there is no power that can raise
him except his foot is expanded, or it can expand
itself as his creator intended it should. Reader, I
want you to understand that these poor horses endure
some suffering before this takes place. This is called
by the ignorant, strained across the loin. About that
they are right. The horse is strained across the

282, THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

loin, and badly too; but the cause they know nothing
of. A horse thrown in this way will struggle hard to
retain his feet, and many times he is crammed with all
kinds of trash, bled and blistered, when the cause all
lies in his feet. ;

In the fore part of this work I left a horse that had
not been balanced up. He was badly off his base.
He had become spavined. He went over backwards,
and horses would go more off their bose were they not —
divided against themselves. Being on their base for-
ward saves them somewhat. Sometimes it will not
do that. When they get very bad behind they must
go down. Being on a constant strain all of the time,
and drawing loads, or traveling in any way, and rising
over that lever, all out of harmony, they are soon
ruined in a greater or less degree. ‘T'o balance them
up only adds more effects in number. By splitting it
up it only makes this entanglement more complicated.
Not a cause is removed. It prolongs their sufferings.
Sometimes, and many times, it causes their death by
suffering. Ihave seen lots of this kind.

After battling alone in this town, working on all
kinds of cripples, from far and near, ten months, not
one soldier could J enlist to take hold of this science.
My health was fast giving out, and money too. I de-
cided to sell my property and try a new field. I soon
did this. When I wanted to seli I always put on a
selling price. It always went. I collected all I could
by asking for it. Some I took in promises that have
never been fulfilled. The old gray mare Isold on one
year’s time; thatis due now. I must collect that. I
want to see her, and see how she fares, and see if she

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 283

s limber yet. She is four miles away, if the maonwns
her yet that I sold her to. I had not seen this mare
from the time I sold her, nor her owner. I went on
foot. I found allat home. Themanpaid me. I told
him I wanted to see her. Wewent to the barn. She
stood there with a row of horses, with a rack of black,
moldy hay before her, and with plenty manure enough
to lie on; very poor and dirty; no one could have
sworn for certain she was the same mare I sold to him
one year previous.

I did not let him know what I wanted to see this
mare for. There was a boy stood by. I told him I
would like to see her move off a little. She had shoes
on. This boy was soon on her back, sailing her up
and down the road. I sawat a glance she was limber,
and more so about the shoulders than she was when I
sold her. That was what I went four miles on foot
through deep mud to see if working another year
after the cause was removed would make any more
improvement. It did. She was as limber as any
horse, and kad as good knee action as she ever had.
In that all horses vary some. I asked himif she ever
had been lame in any way since he owned her. He
said she had not.

Reader, this man never knew this mare had ever
been stiff or lame before he bought her, and he does
not know what mare it is; neither does any that once
knew her, except the Woodrough brothers. I found
out what I went for, and sailed home.

Next thing was to look up a new field. I set sail.
I made up my mind to start somewhere in the lake
country. I stuck my stake at Lake Ridge, six miles

284 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

from where I commenced to learn the trade of horso-
shoeing, and four miles from the place I first started
business for myself. Lake Ridge is ‘situated on tlhe
east bank of that beautiful sheet of water Lake Oay-
uga, with as beautiful surrounding country as a man
ever looked at. in a very short time I hada new
shop erected in a cheap, rough manner. All [ wanted
was to work on the horse. ‘That was to be my busi-
ness in this place, and I wanted no other. I put up
one bill in this shop, and went for the first cripple L
could get. J wassoon overrun with all kinds. I did
not say much about spreading horses’ feet for several
months. I well knew that would scare them away;
stopping them from interfering, balancing, equalizing
their weight on their feet; straightening run-over feet,
and many other troubles the horse is suffering with,
caused by shoeing, was what I did and talked about.
I will give you a few lessons. While I was in this
place a stranger led in a pair of horses. He wanted a
shoe set. I saw one was lame and stiff on his forward
feet. While setting the shoe on the other ‘I learned
they were young and twins. They were a good pair.
I said to him:

‘Would you like to have that other horse cured?”

ete cha

“How long has he been stiff and lame ?”

“Tt is about two years.”

‘‘T will cure him fer the price of shoeing.”

“You may shoe him.”

All that ailed this horse was run-over feet. In ten
days he was nearly well, and soon recovered entirely.
This man told me after his horse got well about taking

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 28d

him to Prof. Law, of Cornell University, to have him
examined. This horse had a very small enlargement
on the inside of hisleg, The professor told him that
was the cause of his Jameness, charged him twelve
shillings, and. wrote a prescription to get filled that
cost ten shillings. The horse must not be worked
while under treatment. The man could not get along
with his work at that time without using this horse,
so: the medicine was never used. I shod that horse
over three years: He was all right:as far as the most
of people can see:. He was not. lame-. So much for
professors.

This is only one case of hundrede of this kind that
I balanced up while I staid in that place.. After get-
ting’ a good run of business and well established I
thought I would venture a little further. It would
not kill my business dead. If it did scare some away,
there had got to be more-cripples than I wanted.

Mr. Jefferson lived. near this place. He was the
owner of a stallion. I: had seen him several times.
He-was badly off his base on his forward legs; his
knees were badly tipped, weak, and shook; cords
seemed thick; legs swelled. This horse was well
along in years, and had been in this condition a long
time. I said to Mr. Jefferson:

‘Would you like to have that horse’s legs straight-
ened and all the swelling taken out so you could see
the cords and :tendons clear down to his feet?”

“Well, yes, I would if it could be done.”

‘Well, sir, it can be done. He can be made as
natural as he ever was.”

I told him all about how J would do it, and how he

286 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

would be afflicted. For a short time he would be af-
fected more on ore leg than the other. That would
cause him to imp. It would last only a short time on
_ this horse.

I did not put on spreaders. This horse I could fix
without. He was a heavy horse. His weight was
over the center of his foot. His heels were too high,
contracted some. The principlesare already laid down —
in this work that I do this work on. There are only
a very few horses that can be cured in this way. This
was one of that kind. I mean expanding by their
own weight.

To cut this story short, I gave him directions what
treatment to give the horse: Soak and wash the cords
in warm water; drive. In a short time all would
come right. Away he went for home. I well knew
J had started a racket, but there is nothing like being
prepared forit. In a day or two I saw Mr. Jefferson
drive past myshop. Hishorse waslame. He stopped
at the hotel across the way from my shop. He sat on
the verandah, looking over ‘toward my shop. I was
in my shop at work, at the same time watching his
movements. J wanted to have a talk with him. He
showed no signs of coming to the shop. I left my
work, walked over and sat down on the verandah. I
saw he looked rather sober. Said I:

“Mr. Jefferson, how is the horse?”

“We is awful lame. I wanted to go about three
miles further, but I think I had better go home. It
will not do to drive him. If I get home with him I
will do well.” |

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 287

“You know, Mr. Jefferson, I told you in advance
how this would ail be.”

“Yes; I know you did.”

‘Tf you will do as I told you, you will come out
all ght, and your horse the same. Drive your horse
where you want to go. Before you get back he will
be nearly over his lameness, and will gradually get
strong and better all of the time until he is entirely
well.”

He started out. His horse was quite lame. After
he had gone, there was a man who told me what Jef-
ferson said before I came over from the shop. He did
not tell me anything new. JI had been through the
mill. He said, “I guess I have let that old fool spoil
my horse.” This is not all the place he told it. I
knew he would before I commenced to work on his
horse. I cared nothing for that. They nearly all do
the same. I well knew he would be my friend in the
end, and he was, and is now, as far as working on the
horse is concerned.

In a snort time Jefferson drove in the place. He
said he had been where he wanted to go, and had come
out of his way to tell me that before he got three miles
his horse was entirely over his lameness.

‘Tie has got over the change now,” said IL “You
will have no more trouble.”

fis tune was changed in my favor.

Now this horse’s head had began to come up. Ina
short time he had as clean, straight, tapering legs as ~
any colt. Mr. Jefferson said it added seventy five
dollars to his value at once. Thisjob did some adver-

288 THE. HORSE’S- RESCUE.

tising, but that was not all I wanted. “ I wanted them
to learn and know how this was done.

When I first commenced in this. place, the landlord
bought agood four-year-old horse. I stood near when
they was looking this: horse over. I. saw he was off
his base. Of course it is no business.of mine. They
are nearly all so in some degree, greater or less. I did
not have anything to say. I saw he had a hard, horn-
like foot, and he would be likely to have me shoe him,
He would be kept up in the stable; he would grow
worse and get stiff, in spite of all I could do, in a short
time; and he aid gradually grow worse. The winter
before he was sick; in the spring ke would get down,
or cast, and had to be helped up, caused. by contraec-
tion throwing him off his base or balance, and fasten-
ing him there. This winter he stood in the stable
nearly all of the time. His owner did not have much
for his horses to do. He did not get out much him-
self, his health not being very. good. Time slipped
away unperceived, and this horse stood.with his shoes
on all winter, without being reset or having his feet
cut down. His feet had grown high and long. in this
condition, all out of harmony of action. They gave
him a thirty-two mile drive after a load, up and down
heavy hills, which about floored him.. He wasso sore
and stiff he could hardly move. He would not move
unless he was madeto. Of course] was alwaysaround
when these wrecks took place. I knew about. what
time they would take place. I told Mr. Ives, for that
was his name, what ailed his horse, and I thought I
could cure him: ‘I.can remove the cause of all of
his trouble. It will be a hard job; his feet are in

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 289

about the worst condition of any I ever worked on.”
After making a conditional bargain with him, I went
to work on this horse. Reader, here is a lesson. I
dread to tackle this horse again. His feet were very
high. About half-way from the top of his foot to the
bottom, they were pinched in all around. H:3 had to
be changed by degrees. This shell could not be all
cut away atonce. Icut his feet down as far as I
could, and spread them. They were as hard as they
could be; it took a long time to get them soft enough
to operate on with safety. At this timeI did not have
control of this horse. I exercised him myself. This
was a tough job. I wanted this horse used every day.
In about four weeks I took off his shoes, cut his feet
down, spread again, and so on every four weeks. I
wanted to do, but I eculd not have him in my control
to do as I liked ; sol quit and let him go. I kept
watch of him. His shoes were allowed to remain on
.three months. His tees got long; the structure of his
foot was nowhere in harmony of action when I quit
him. He was not driven on the road. At that time
of the year he was working on the farm, plowing, and
putting in crops in the spring. It did not hurt him to
rise over that lever on soft ground as bad as it did
when he was sailed on the hard road. He took one of
these sails; it wrecked him at once. Of course I was
around again. This poor horse was in a terrible suf-
fering condition. [told Mr. Ives whatailed his horse.
He thought the trouble all lay in his shoulder. He
did not have much shoulder; he was deformed so.
This time he was so stiff he a to be pulled along.
Mr. Ives I saw was getting discouraged about his horse

290 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

He was not such a horse ashe wanted. He made him
so much trouble that he began to tallk of taking him
off to have his shoulders doctored, or dispose of him
in some way. I made up my mind, while I was
around looking at this poor horse, to rescue him, let it
cost what it would. Isaid to Mr. Ives:

“ What will you take for this horse?”

“You dare not make me an offer.”

“Oh, yes, I dare. I will give you fifty dollars.”

“ He is yours.”

I pulled him across the road to my barn. Now I
have got this horse in my control. Whether I can
cure this horse or not, I can help him wonderfully in
about one hour by dressing hisfeetdown. There was
no time lost until this job was completed. I put ona
pair of spreaders, cutting his feet, and letting him go
back on his base some. I soon had both of his feet
in warm water, soaking, washing his legs and cords.
I soaked his feet the remainder of that day, and packed
them at night. The next day I drove him eight
miles and back, up and down heavy hills single, and
he drew a heavy load of stock for my shop. He
sailed very comfortably, no limping, and yet all the
cause I had removed then was what I cut off his toes;
that shortened the lever some. After making his feet
as soft as Icould, I spread them about three-eighths of
an inch. Of course it affected him badly at first.
The shell and sole of his feet were just like horn, and
did not seem to have any life in them. The shell was
completely dead and shrinking all aroand thesensitive
part of his feet. WhenI spread his foot I did not see
the shell come down. He was on his base; his weight

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 291

was nearly over the center of his feet, and yet it did
not press the sole down. This was a hard-meated,
strong, ambitious horse. This sole must be got down
according to the degree I have spread his foot, or there
will be trouble. To do this I led him out of the shop.
He was badly off his base, caused by my spreading
his feet. His feet internally were very sore; any
change either way would affect him badly. A num-
ber were standing around. I puta boy on the horse
and told him to run him a hundred rods and back,
The road was dry and hard. After he returned I
looked to see if the sole had come down. I cleaned
the dirt all out under the shoe. It was not down as
far as it ought to come by spreading his feet three-
eights of an inch. ‘Give him another sail.” I looked
to see what effect that had. The sole was nearly down
flat on the shoe. “That will do.” It made him step
short. His feet must be putin warm water a short
time. Next, pack his feet, give him a good, dry, soft
bed, so he can lie down and rest and sleep.

Of course while this running business was going on
in the streets, it called out remarks. Some said they
would not have a stiff horse used that way. -All this
bugling I cared nothing about. I knew what I was
doing and they did not. I wasthe owner of the horse
and could control him. It took this horse ten or
twelve days to recover every time I expanded his feet,
and that I did once a month fora long time. .Some-
times L would be sailing all right, or nearly so; once a
month I would be partly wrecked. Every time this
took place, I could hear this: ‘That horse is worse;
I guess you will never do much for that horse.

292 THE HORSE'S RESCUR.

After working on him many months to get rid of
that old, dead, lifeless shell, his foot was smaller than
it was when I first commenced. How is this? I had
got up to the small place in his foot. Now I can go
ahead. Now I have got where I can flatten out his
foot and it begins to show more life. Remember, this
horse did all of my work, long and short drives, and
was driven on purpose to give kim work, and [had all
the exercise I wanted in the shop at the same time,
balancing cripples ; in fact, it was getting red-hot for
me. So JI made up my mind to have a little rest after
getting up my crippled horse in good shape. To leave
for a while, I sailed out. I had business in New York,
Washington, and Chicago, tracking up a shipwreck
somebody hud made of one of my inventions. To please
myself I wanted to find the cause of it—that is, where
it was located. It had made quite a racket for many
years. I hauled in at the center of this, our great re-
public. J always had time to spend looking after the
interest of the horse.

You can see me standing in the streets of New York
city for hours looking at the condition of horses as
they passed. The flat feet seem to stand it the best
on all horses. <All cupping feet that I saw were ina
very bad condition, and the horses that had that kind
were badly out of harmony of action, off their base
and balance in many ways, which I have already de-
scribed and explained. My time was mostly spent
while in this city looking at horses. I next sailed to
Washington. While standing on the verandah of the
hotel I saw coming down a beautiful, smooth drive-
way toward. this hotel a very nice single turnout. I

THE HORSE'S RESCUE 993

saw the horse was a prompt driver. He was quiet
Jame in one forward foot. The rig pulled up ata
post. There was only one man init. He jumped out,
tied his horse, and went into the hotel. J looked his
horse over. He was a fine, beautiiul young horse,
His hair looked as though somebody had tried to take
good care of him; but he wasa cripple on all of his
legs. One of his knees was badly tipped forward ; on
this leg was a badly contracted foot and high: heel;
the mate was a little better; the hair was nearly all
burned off his legs all around his feet. They looked
as though turpentine had been burnt on them. This
gentleman did not stay long in the hotel. He soon
was sailing again after this cripple. I did not intend
to stop long, so I thought it would be of no use to get
up any racket here on the horse. While this gentle-
man is sailing around I will give you a little descrip-
tion of him. He had on his head a very shiny stove-
pipe hat; white vest; pants the same, and white
gloves; he is sailing around here again. He jumped
this time clear from his wagon on the top steps; he
has a cane under his arm about the size of a pipe-
stem, with a ribbon tied to it. Well, I suppose he
carries that because he wants to. He went in the hotel
again. When he comes out I am going to try and see
how close I can get to him talking horse, and not
shock him away from me. This kind of men are
very sensitive. I find my long experience has taught
me that one of the most skilful things a man ever
tried to do is to approach some men and begin to talk
about the defects of their horse, and not shock them
away from you; and yet these horses are all, or nearly

-

294 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

all, cripples that have been shod in some way. I am
going to try this man whenhe comesout. I canstand
as big a shock as he can. I never have been shocked
off my base yet, and I have had lots of shocks from
miuny directions at the same time. I placed myself by
his horse on the side the crooked leg wason. Theplan
was with me to be looking at his horse’s forward feet.
He came out and cornmenced untying his horse.

“T see you have a fine-looking horse here,” said I

“Yes, he is a good one.”

‘“‘T see he favors one foot a very little.”

‘Yes, he has been foundered twice. I have just
been having him fired.”

“What does that cost?”

“Five dollars each time. I Lave had him fired
twice now.”

“Don’t you know what makes your horse lame; look
at his feet ; can’t you see this foot he is lame in is not
like the other in any way? It is contracted feet that
ails your horse. That burning will do him no good;
it will make him worse.”

I shocked him in his wagon telling him the truth.
He said the horse was good enough for him, and away
he sailed. The last of him that I saw was the top of
his hat. My God! is there any hope of cases like
this? I meet thousands of such, and have for many
years, Of course it is impossible to write in detail ail
that has come under my observation, looking over
this field of cruelty to the horse. I stopped on my re-
turn trip a while in Baltimore. There seems to be a
transfer through that city by horses. All of the cars
have to be drawn through. The horse has very heavy

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 295

loads to draw. It is one continual whip and slash
during the whole time. If these poor horses were
in shape to draw, it would not be quite sobad. As it
is, itis fearful on them.

While I was in New York city on my return, I met
my old friend, Hiram McConnell. I told him I was in
the cld business yet, battling for the horse. No im-
pression on him could be made yet, I saw. Isailed for
Lake Ridge. I stopped for the night within sixteen
miles of home,at a hotel. Morning came. Whilesit-
ting in the bar-room, one of my neighbors came in.
He seemed to be surprised to see me.

“Why, here is Doan. Your family will be awful
glad tosee you. It is tallked all over the country you
-have gone off crazy, never more to return.

This was nothing new tome. This man was badly
off his base. He asked me to Jend himadollar. I
refused to let him have it, and told him his family
would be glad to see him at home. I left him and
sailed home. Of course I was crazy. I had got to
running around, and the meanest of all was I did not
tell everybody when I was going, and what my busi-
ness was. In a few days I sailed west, to Chicago,
looking horses over in different states and in Canada.
These fields I have looked over many times in my
life. Canada is the worst for botch-work on the
horse’s foot of all the country I have sailed over. I
soon sailed in home again.

Previous to this sail I closed my shop, packed my
shoeing tools, and went to Philadelpaia to try to intro-
duce the science. It was in the hight of the Centen-
nial, and but little attention could beattracted. I had

296 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

a long talk with Howell Gerard in that city, the cele-
brated horse-shoer. I think he eould have been
enlisted. He had a stable of horses of sixty, with
shoeing-shop connected. It was all rush headlong.
At that time their attention could not be attracted.
My time was mostly spent looking over this great field
of slaughtering horses, and here they were, in the
wholesale business at that. ‘They were killing them
so fast they had to have men employed to clear them
away as fast as they killed them. It isa sickening
sight to see two deformed horses suffering every step
they take, before a long, heavy car, full, inside and
out, of people, the whip playing on them nearly all the
time. Some, perhaps, are only going sixty rods; and
what all this hurry and rush is for—what they are in -
pursuit of that causes them to hurry so—I cannot
understand, unless they see a cent ahead. I suppose
they are afraid somebody will havea bigger pile when
they come to die than they. I can see no other excuse
they can give. Itisa want of feeling, I suppose, for
the poor, suffering horse, or they could not do it.

I returned to Lake Ridge again and opened my shop.
I have not quit in this place yet. While working in
my shop a man from Ithaca drove up. He said he
had two valuable horses; they were both stiff: one he
had with him. They were valued by him at about
seven hundred dollars. I think his name was How-
Jand. No matter. Heasked me if I could cure them.
“Yes, I can if I can have them; this one I can, L
know.” He told me if I would come up to his place
and look at his horse he would pay my fare and give
me my dinner. “TI think that would hardly pay,” said

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 297

I; “TI can make a few dollars here at home.” Then
he made another offer. “If you will come to Ithaca
I will build you a shop.”

‘“T have a shop and house of my own here.”

“You could get more work up there.”

“T have enough to kill four men here. I do not do
half the work that comes here. I can’t stand so much
hard work. Iam getting old and stiff myself.”

“Well, [am going to bring my horses here for you
to shoe.”

“That you had not better do. It is a long way to
come. Jam full nearly all of the time. It might not
be so I could shoe them. I cannot cure your horses
by shoeing them.”

Another offer: “If you will eure this horse I will
make you a present.”

“T do not work for presents.”

“ Well, I will give you ten dollars.”

“JT would not do it for ten dollars. It is worth
more than that to cure any stiff horse.”

Will you shoe her?”

ey es

She interferes behind badly; heels low, toes long,
contracted badly, and off her base on her forward feet
She had flat shoes on her forward feet. I commenced
to work; he commenced to give orders how it should
be done. Those shoes were all right to go on again;
no new shoes must be used. I soon saw there was no
use trying to teach him anything. When a man has
got that far advanced he knows all there is—about as
far as a man can get—it is dangerous to try to get any
farther. [ie might supersede the great Jehovah. I

298 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

saw I could do nothing for him. I shod his horse the
best I could. Then he began to talk cure horses
again. I told him, “If you will bring your horses
here, pay the keeping, and let me have full control of
them, I will take care of them, and cure the two for
fifty aollars.”” Tle drove off. That was the last I saw
of that generous, noble-minded man.

While I was operating in this place, brother Oliver
stuck his stake in a new place about twelve miles
from me, at Groton, there to try and start curing stiff
horses without medicine. I saw and talked with him
many times to learn how the battle was going. He
said it was red-hot. He got horses and cured them
for all that. Some came from many miles away.
While I was operating at Lake Ridge something took
place that caused quite a racket. It was this: The
boys, I call them, but they were as big as they ever
would be, asked me to lecture. ‘‘ Whatsubject do you
want me to lecture on?’ ‘Oh, choose your own.”

Whether they were in fun or not I did not know. I
rather thought they were. They said they would
furnish house, light it, and put up bills. I should be at
ho expense or trouble. |

Notice was given out before the bills were up. I
saw they were not going to get the bills up, so I saw
to getting them printed, paid for them, and sent some
to different places, putting them up myself over the
country. The time came. I had quite a full house,
I lectured in an old deserted Baptist church. I told
them I was going to try and see how biga field I could
work and experiment on, talking or lecturing on scien-
tific principles, taking the whole Bible for the text or

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 299

center, then sail around and work up the outside. I
to'd them before I started it was only an experiment.
I made it go so well it shocked them, and it was felt
for many miles away. I told them I would try it
again the next Saturday night. When the time came
I was there at my post. The house was closed; no
getting in. ‘l'here was no one around only the neigh-
bors, with one exception, and that man was John Cor-
win. J had shocked them all away but him. He told
me the people thought I was crazy. I told him that
was nothing. They would soon recover from that.
They were only shocked a little. On this experiment
I came near sailing into the lunatic asylum. Some
thought I ought to be taken care of, and yet I had
harmed no man. Well, it was only a lotof bigots and
peaked heads. I think there is not much danger yet.
It spread over quite a large field that I was crazy.
There was one that took great pains to tell this all
over. He had kept it up for more than a year, so I
thought I would try another experiment.. This is
where I experimented on lying, to see how fast it
would multiply, and how far they would sail. This
man’s name was Mr. Vorhees. I had done his shoe-
ing for many years. I liked him, and do now, and he
liked my work. I went to my shop. There were
several there sitting around. I told them I had bad
news to tell them. ‘“ What's up now ?”

‘Mr. Vorhees is crazy !”

Some made one remark, some another. All told
what the cause must be of his losing his reason. Ina
few hoursit was many miles away, multiplying, spread-
ing. It had started, and there was no stopping it, It

300 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

was news for three months tosome, and [ do not know
but it is going yet. It is about me

Since I have commenced to write this book [
have had letters from parties threatening to put me
in the asylum, there to remain the remainder of
my days, and during the same time I have been
obliged to write twenty-six pages answering letters. 1
commenced and numbered the pages so they could
make a book to sell. It would save them the trouble |
of writing one. One of these men was a purple-nosed
jawyer. How much it cost to color his nose I do not
know. It did not cost him much. He was one of the
kind that sells us out. I think I amin myright mind
“yet, allowing me to be the judge. I have stood it re-
markably well considering the surroundings. I will
have you know it takes quite a good head, and he
needs to be a good financier, to sail clear of the asylum
and not get crazy ; to work on horses, cure them with-
out medicine with so much opposition. But I am
going to try a little longer. This horse that Iam at
work on now, his name is Prince. The soreness has
nearly all gone out of his feet, and yet his shoulders
seem somewhat stiff. I tracked this horse back to a
colt. I found he had been kept up in the stable
nearly all of his life on account of his being unruly
and shod very young; before he had got his growth.
He had grown up a deformed horse; he could not
bear to have a toe cork on his shoes. It would sore
him on his cords on hard roads. If his feet were
allowed to get half an inch long it would affect him
thesame. I kept this horse nearly two years. He
gradually grew better. I never put any corks on his

THE HORSE’S KESCUE. 301

shoes, In the winter I put in what are called frost
nails. The heads stuck up along the shoe on the
sides; noneinthetoe. When they wore off I drew them
and put in more; beveled the toe of shoe off to save
the leverage. In this way I could sail him sixty miles
in ten hours, and le would be no worse for doing it.
I mean after I had spread his feet, got the structure of
his feet all in harmony and kept them so. He was a
good horse and a hard one to follow. He was a nice-
coated dapple-brown, in fine condition when I let him
go to rescue arother that was about dead, caused by
abuse, night and day drives, and poor care. I must
give you a description of this animal as she stood tied
toa post. LIlooked her over, that is, her bones, for I
could see some of them in many places. As for flesh
she had none on, and the hide was off and worn
through to the bones with the harness. Her hair was
faded and dead; the hide on her ribs was set; no stir-
ring that; blood, seabs, and sores on every ankle. She
stood with her head down. She was sick. She rattled
badly in her throat at every breath. I saw she hada
fine, clean, cordy deer leg, and points about her, if she
had good eare, that would make a good sailer. I made
up my mind to rescue her. She was only six years
- old. While I was looking this mare over the owner
came out of the hotel. J asked him if he ever traded
horses.

“F es;”

‘T have a horse that I will trade for that mare.”

After looking mine over he said he would trade
even. I told him all right. We changed horses in
front of the hotel. There were quite a nuinber stand-

302 JHE HORSES RESCUK

ing around. JI took my frame over near my shop and
let her pick some grass.) When she put her head
down to eat she. discharged badly at the nose and
rattled in her throat. Ske was very cross. If I
rubbed her on the ribs she would try to bite and kick
me at the same time She appeared savage, and was
when I first got her and put feed into her. If ]
attempted to go toward her she would jump at me,
mouth open, and kicking with both feet at the same _
time. Poor horse! she was so near starved to death
she was afraid she would lose some of her feed. She
ate ravenously, and as fast as she could, and kept
watch at the same time.

Now fora man to make a horse trade like this is
evidence enough that reason is dethroned.. No mat-
ter; Iam going to loosen the hide on this mare and
use no medicine; cure that rattling in her throat aud
heal every sore on her by removing the cause. The
place to begin is at the feet. There is the place I
always begin, after giving the horse water and a good
square meal. She is rather dangerous to handle, she
isso sore. The danger will disappear gradually as the
sores do, and she will quit kicking and biting at me
after she gets over being afraid of starving to death.
Her feet were badly out of orderin many ways. After
straightening them up, I washed her sore ankles off
clean with soft, warm water, and took her to the barn. ~
Thad a smal! piece of corn just beginning to harden
up. I cut it, corn and stalks, and threw it in to her.
She would stamp her feet, kick, eat, bite, and jump at
me if I came near her when she was eating. She was
in constant motion all of the time. I think I never

“THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 803

saw a horse in my life so nervous as this one, all
caused by suffering, starvation, and abuse. She
looked wild out of her eyes. She had a large, wild-
looking eye. Some told ine I would get killed with
some of these horses yet. .

At this time I had rented out my shop. I did not
work for others on horses, for this reason, I had been
badly injured in the shop working on a horse. From
that injury I have never recovered. I was hardly
able to take care of my own horses for two years. I
had to change my course then. In order to live and
provide for my family I went to trafficking, that is,
buying at wholesale what I thought I could market
and make a little on. This business I followed. That
was the business I was doing when I rescued this
mare. It was sailing on the road, sometimes long
drives. I put this mare the next day after I got her
on the road; fed her well. She was soon all clear of
her cold, no rattling in her throat. Her hide, as she
put on flesh, began to loosen ; holes in her skin where
the bones had worn it through, slowly filled out. My
little boy, twelve years of age, took care of these
horses As she gained in flesh she became less nervy-
ous by degrees. Stamping, kicking, and biting nearly
all disappearec. A truer and kinder horse and better
seiler on the road or on a load [ never wish to sit behind.
I have given you only a little sketch of the hard wres-
tles I had in this place. I stopped five years here,
My health gave out. I could not stand sailing on the
road nor wrestle with hores any more as I was then;
thet I could not do. I thought perhaps I might go
West, keep cattle, and make a living that way. I

304 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

soon found a customer for my place, and made a sale.
This mare brought ninety-six dollars. She had a very
bad name as being ugly and cross cr she would have
brought one hundred and fifty dollars. When she
was led out tu sell I think I never saw a finer picture
of the horse kind. This mare never hala particle of
medicine, either internal or external, while I owned
her, although some said I doctored her up. It was all
done by kind treatment, good care, and feed, and
worked nearly all of the time; nicely haired over in a
little over a year. Look at her sores and scabs! I
did not cure this mare, I only removed the cause, and
TI did that when I rescued her.

In three montks after I let Prince go I saw him.
He was so sore he could hardly go. They had shod
him and slaughtered him the first time. He had the
damnedest botch job done on him I ever saw; toggled
up on corks at least an. inch Jong, and nothing right
about the whole job. He soon changed hands. Next
he was ten miles away in a team drawing heavy loads,
going good ; and I saw him since I have been writing
this book pass drawing a heavy express, going well.
I saw him only afew days ago standing before a buggy
in this place. I looked him all over. He looked
well; his feet looked well; he stood well on his
Jegs; did not appear to be sore; it is about six years
since I first spread his feet. There are only a few as
hard cases as Prince was to get on his base. I never
had as hard a case in all of my work on the horse.

T am going to sail out of this place west of the Mis-
souri River on the plains. I stopped in Lincoln, Ne-
braska, awhile. Of course my time was all spent

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 30D

looking over the sale stables, There were lots of
horses changing hands in this place, some very good
horses. The most of them were in some degree stiff.
They poured in from nearly all the states and from
Canada, but I saw that very few sound ones had shoes
on. Isaw avery fine looking pair. They weresome
along in years. I saw their feet were badly con-
tracted. I took up their feet tolook atthem. Their
frogs were all gone; their feet had some trash in them
that looked like verdigris. Horses in this country, if
they iron their feet, get stiff very quick for this reason :
they do not have much rain; the feet contract very
fast. I selected me a farm on the winding trail called
the old Santa Fe route. This was a great thorough-
fare. Horses and mules were constantly passing in
droves. !

I had a good chance to look them over as they
passed, all more or less stiff or off their base. T built
what is called a house. While I was at that there
were almost daily horses driven up around my shanty.
Some days several teams, all stiff; some so sore they
would be covered with sweat; some lame. They
were all horses brought in from other states. They
all wanted to sell mea team. I was not ready to buy
yet. It was rather laughable to hear them brag of
their poor cripples, and warrant them sound ; and some
old horses had got to be quite youngagain. I did not
stay long on the plains. I found it wanted a tougher
man than I was then to care for a herd of cattle; and
that was not all. There was more wind than I wanted
to sailin at the time. I sailed east this time. Brother
Oliver was moving to Auburn city to try and see

306 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

‘ what luck he would have in that place introducing

.

curing horses there without medicine in brother
Joseph’s shop; back in the rear of Joseph’s hack,
livery, and boarding stable he commenced this busi-
ness, Joseph doing all he could to help him. . It went
slow; no money to fall back on. He was soon
starved out, and was obliged to go to work by the
day for others in order to live, and that was what I
found him doing when J sailed into this city from the
west. This is the third time I have lived in Auburr,
After getting settled I went to his place of business to
have a talk with him. He was at work for another
man, and at the same time curing stiff horses. He
had some on his hands all of the time caring for. He
continued on in this way. I was sick and unable to
do work of that kind. I did but very little work for
six months. After resting up for six months I began
to feel better. I decided to tackle the horse again. I
well knew I could not hold out long, for this is hard
business and poor pay, not enough to live. The first
thing to be done is to curtail expenses. I started out
to find a place. I found a small, new shop, with
rooms over the shop. It was deserted, empty, five
miles south of Auburn. I found this was for sale. I
bought it for four hundred dollars, and I rigged up
new again to try and introduce this great science.
This is where this work is written, over my shop with
a checker-board for my writing-desk, with a Sczentzfic
American spread overit. The first thing when I came
in this place was to commence to tall this science,
How could I introduce it unless Idid? No one knew
auything about it but me, and they never would un-

THE HORSES RESCUE. 3807

less I talked and tried to teach it. The first thing was
to tackle the first cripple I could get. This was the
second time I had been in this place. Through the
influence of some of my friends, after a long time, |
gota cripple to work on. In a short time I found
myself obliged, in my old age, to work for less pay
than I evér had in my life, and nothing but cripples
to work on. Of these I had more than I wanted
The price of shoeing was dropped down as soon as I
opened my shop. Of course I must do it the same,
or have no work, and my work was all stiff, lame
cripples, four times as much work to do it. My
health was not good enough to do this; it wasn’t what
I opened this shop for. J had made up my mind to
cure no more horses by expanding their feet for no
pay and make others rich and grow poor myself, and
they not learn or even try to learn this great science,
I will bury. As for killing myself, and all for no pur-
pose, only being in hell red-hot all the time, that busi.
ness is about played out.

Reader, this is the way I began to reason with my-
self. I found my brothers began to feel the same.
They had done thousands of dollars’ worth of work
to try to. introduce this work, and yet no help came
That is what we wanted. We wanted the people tv
give their attention and see and Jearn this science. |
have had men in my shop getting their horses shod,
who, when I tried to tell them what made their horses
stiff, would say: “I don’t want to hear anything
about it, I amin a hurry; I never had a stiff horse
_in my life.” These same men’s horses were so stiff
they could not back without dragging every foot., The

«

308 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

eause of their talking so was they had become so
accustomed to driving and using stiff horses they did
not knew when they were stiff. While I was in this
place battling for the horse, brother Oliver got back in
his old place in the rear of Joseph’s hack stable, there
to try it again. We met often and talked the matter
over, and to compare notes, so as to see how the battle
was going. We thought we were gaining slowly. Of
ecurse all of the shoers were on our backs, and veteri-
narians the same. The last time I saw Oliver we were
riding after a horse that had been laid up for six
months unable to work. He had had this horse only
afew days. He was now able to sail and keep doing
it, and grow better for it. He told me he was able to
cure these horses yet, and carry twelve men on his
back, if they did not drag their feet on the ground too
much. After I had been at Fleming Hill six months
I saw a very fine young dapple gray stallion pass my
place of business. JI saw he was badly off on his for-
ward feet.

I soon learned he was owned by a man in Auburn,
He was kept near me during the summer. I saw him
many times. I saw he was getting worse all the time.
I did not mention this to any one. It wasno use. I
would not be allowed to touch him; besides, I did not
want to get my old wounds torn open anew; but I
watched the horse. In the fall he was so crippled he
could hardly get along. I learned he was formerly
owned by D. M. Osborn & Co, and had become almost
useless. They must get rid of this horse in some
way. He is of no kind of use to us. Orin H. Bur-
dick, of the firm, bought him. What he paid for him

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. * 809

I know not. In the fall Mr. Burdick brought this
horse to J. J. Doan’s stable to have him kept fora
while. Joseph saw the condition this poor horse was
in ata glance. He told Mr. Burdick his horse could
be cured for fifteen dollars, no medicine used, and a
cure warranted or no pay. I have no time to doit. I
ean bring a man that will do it. Oliver soon came
around. They told him all about the operation. Mr.
Burdick soon saw the principle was all right. He left
the horse in their care completely, and never got weak
in the knees or head since he first enlisted in this army
battling for the horse, which I shall show before I get
through this work. Oliver had made quite a start
previous to this; he had cured several horses for dif-
ferent parties, and Dr. Quigly was one. He proved to
be a good soldier. He is a scientific man. He soon
saw the principle was all right. J saw that with such
men as these to help we could make it go now. They
were not afraid to talk and tell the truth. We have
got in the hands of men of science, men that can see
the change in their horses at once and how it is done.

I was soon in Auburn. I found Oliver in a box
stall with this gray stallion. ‘‘ Now,” said he, “ we
have got a good horse anda good man. This horse
is well known to be a cripple; le is a fine one, and a
horse that will attract attention, and I am going to
care him, I have got this business in the firm where
I have been trying a long time, and on this horse
hangs the whole business. If this job does not wake
up the people I am going to bury the whole science,”
While we were talking Mr. Burdick came in. I told
him what we had been trying to do for ten years, and

310 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

we wanted him to help by talking, if this job pleased
him. He told Oliver he should have all the horses he
wanted, and at it he went. He was quite a horse lec-:
turer in that town. When such mechanics as Burdick
indorse this great science small heads have to stand
back, and they did. It has been quite calm since, as
far as fighting against us has been concerned. It had
effect five miles away at least in this direction; it
calmed the racket around me and infused new life in
me. I told Oliver: ‘“Now is the time to write this
work. It will sell now. I will go home and com-
mence. You keep at work. I went to Auburn quite
often. J walked in the stable to find Oliver; there I
always went first to find him. He had a fine saddle
horse to work on that belonged to D. M. Osborn,
straightening his legs, taking air-puffs off, balancing
at. the same time. There were seven or eight of the
most scientific men in Auburn city taking lessons on
the horse. One was Cyrenus Wheeler, the patentee
of the Cayuga Chief harvesting machine. Burdick had

rakea thein up. He was there, and Dr. Quigly and
several others. I saw it was a go this time. After
they left Tswung my hat over my head. I could not
help it. I told the boys:

“Tt’s a go this time!”

So much for a good, honest, live man to help.
When we can get such men as these enlisted it will
go. “They are known all over the word, nearly, and
it has gone ever since, and it cannot be stopped now.
It has taken a beavy load off three men’s shoulders
that was hard to carry. We had carried it for many

years. Mr. Wheeler has had a horse fixed, John Os-

THE HORSES RESCUE ay

born two, Mr. Burdick three, all of this firm and many
others of this city. There is no discount on this
science. Oliver was up here a few days ago. While
he was here the man that keeps Mr. Burdick’s stallion
drove into town, The stallion is kept nearme. We
looked him over. He is as limber and sound as any
colt, and stands his forward legs back of straight,
head up, and needs no gagging to make him do it;
he is one of the best stallions now in the country that
I know of for raising stock for many reasons: heis
the best dispositioned stallion I ever saw; he is pow-
erfully built, well proportioned, good at both ends,
just the right size, a beautiful dapple gray. Six months
ago this poor horse was a worthless, suffering cripple.
He has been out of his suffering many long months.
That was done by this science of spreading feet. This
horse’s feet were spread an inch and a half in a very
short time. With all this staring you in the face
what is the use fighting any longer? Why not look
into this and see for yourselves? Blowing and blart-
ing will do you no good.

With a few more such men as Dr. Quigly and Bur-
dick to work it will not be long before the poor suffer-
ing horses’ condition will be bettered in many ways.
All it wants is some live and honest, fearless men of
brains to do this). When it gets started it will spread
fast. It is only one process that does the whole busi.
ness. It isnot such a wonderful thing, after all, when
it is understood.

The next day after Oliver was up looking at Mr.
Burdick’s stallion I went to Auburn. [have traveled
over tais road on foot many times on this horse busi-

31% THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

ness in one yearanda half. I wanted tosee Mr. Bur-
dick to get the privilege of using his name in this
scientific work on the horse. He was gone away. I
waited for him to return home; he said he had been
up to look at his stallions. “ Mr. Burdick,” said I, “I
have got along with my book now where it comes to
you. Can I use your name in this science?”

“You can use my name in any way you please and
I will add a little myself; you can say the work done
on my stallion has added to his worth five hundred
dollars. I would not have him put back where he
was last fall for that; and that is not all; my brown
horse that I have just had fixed can out-trot his mate,
which he could not do before I had him fixed; he
sailed out at once; it let him loose, untied lim. The
mist is clearing away.”

This was the last Le said to me. I walked away.
This is encouraging, and this work is still going
on and spreading, and it will continue to do so for this
reason: it is riglit, based on principles that will stand,
and all trash and rubbish it will clear away and shove
from their base, just as these poor norses are.

There is one musre mare I want to mention. It is
the Westlake mare of Auburn city. It is nearly nine
years since I changed her back to natural and put her
in harmony of action. She never changed hands;
he owns her yet. I have seen her nearly every year
since and looked her over as she was passing and re
passing. She was on her base and limber, looking
fine. She wasa good animal and is vet.. When I
ebanged her back she was badly deformed and showed
it Working on this mare I learned a lesson. I did

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 313

not spread her forward. feet quite enough to let her
down between the cup at the top. She was badly
contracted ; she was completely raised out of the cup
and shutout by the wall closing up below. By driving.
it drove the sole down, not being room at the top of
the wall for the bone to godown. She got pinched or
wedged in the cup. After driving awhile I saw she
was not going well. I soon saw the cause. Her feet
began to bulge out at the top and both sides It was
too late then to help that; it made her sore only a few
days, then all was right; if the feet had been spread
one quarter or over an eighth of an inch more she
would have sailed all right. This was the first and
last time I ever got pinched in that way. I explained
the whole thing to Mr. Westlake and have talked with
him since; his mare was cured for al] that; it onky set
her back a little. All horses that I worked on were in
Auburn city at that time, but that mare I have lost
track of. I offer fifty thousand dollars to any man
that will bring mea man that never made a mistake
in life. I want tosee him; it would be a big sight to
me.

{ will pass on now. I could write about thousands
of horses that J have worked on. It’s of no kind of
use. All are cured by the principles that are laid
down in this work. That is what I claim; and more,
it will almost raise a horse that is r.early dead, and this
is a fact, as strange as it may avpear tosome. This
great science is classed with the highest; itis one of the
great sciences of the sciences. It cannot be grasped
at once by men of small caliber of brain, but they can

814 THE HORSES RESCUE.

learn it by degrees, as all other great things are
learned, if they will apply themselves, which they
will have to do or suffer loss. And Mr. Kirby, the
well-known inventor of the Kirby harvester, has been
taking lessons. He saw this work done and measured
the feet before spreading, and stood and saw the feet
spread, then measured them after this was done and
watched the result. He wanted to know for himself,
and that is the way. I never had any trouble from
such men as these, and this kind of men will be the
men to help introduce this science or it never can be
done. My long experience working at mechanical
work has taught me this—the higher must teach the
lower; the lower cannot rise all at once. How can
they? And all men that fight this work with all
this evidence before them, coming as it doeg from men
well advanced and developed in science, men of char-
acter, of good standing, and they have earned it and
they are not going to indorse a science unless it is all
right and then have to fight against such men and evi-
dence as this, any longer will only expose your
ignorance. Here will be the great center of action to
set it sailing, for sail it will, and no power on earth can
stop it. Now, what is the use trying to throw blocks
under the wheels of progression? They always have
had to move out of the way and always will. There
are lots more of things to learn yet. I have got
another bigger thing than this horse science, which I
have been working on about twenty-five years to per-
fect. Ishallif I live bring that forward when I get
it so I can handle it as well asI can this horse busi-
ness. On that I challenge all the wisdom, knowledge,

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 315

and brains concentrated on the globe to excel. Mill-
ions may equal; excel they cannot. It makes the
horse as the Creator made him, and that is as far as
man can go on that case. The created, I think, will
hardly excel the Creator. In experimenting and
studying this horse business I have undermined some
foundations that have been reared on false teachings,
and they will tip over, and they ought to, and it will
be a godsend to the suffering mule and horse when
they are scattered to the four winds or buried with all
other false teachings of the dead past. This is what
I have been trying to do formany years. In place of
this entanglement of nonsense I will leave you some
principles that will take you safe through all of this
trash and rubbish and let the light of day in on you.
This foundation that I have built in this work, and
the superstructure reared thereon, will stand. Ages
and ages can roll on eternally, and it will be there. It
is founded on truth and principlesof science, and after
Iam dead I want no man to worship me or erect a
monument tomy memory. All I ask is: Take care
of your horse! All the headstone I want is a natu-
ra! horse and carved on his side ‘ Gerard Doan, author
of ‘ Tur Horst’s RESCUE.’”

516 THE HORSES RESCUE,

THE HORSE’S APPEAL FOR MERCY.

Do on me some feeling, judgment, and mercy show,

I cannot travel with these long levers on my toes.
Just look at my feet, you can see very plain,

Every step I take on my cords there is an awful fees,
To rise over these long and peaked toes,

It me all out of action and balance throws.

And that is not all, I have no use of my feet.

All contracted, sore, full of unnatural heat,

The structure of my feet are all out of condition to run;
To travel in this way, and not hurt, it cannot be done.
Look at my heels, all pinched up, you can easily see;
They are not as my creator intended them to be.

I am worse off than you think I am. I know

They ache and hurt me so I can hardly go.

I wish you would take me and have my feet spread;

I cannot stand this long, I shall soon be dead.

Iti s cruel to pound me around in this way,

When all of my trouble can be 1emoved in a day.
Unless this is done, I never can any better be;

I am growing worse every day, you can plainly see. *
T shall soon be of no kind of use to you;

You will only have me to feed; no work can I do.
When I am completely thrown back off my base,

What condition am I to put in a race?

I will only be laughed at; they will of me make fun;
The condition I am now in, I cannot trot or run.

To whip and jerk me, it will only make matters worse;
To get there in, this condition I cannot first.

With all lengths of levers on the ends of my toes,

If you hurry me in this condition, out of balance all goes.

THE HORSE'S RERSUE. oT

When this takes place, I have all I can do to stand on my feet;
And contracted feet is the cause of my losing the heat.
To pound me around on this hard track in this way,

Tam alweys ten times worse for it tlhe next day.

If you could only see the inside of my poor feet,

You could soon see the canse of my losing the heat.

They may look to you all right on the outside,

And yet for all that good horses as [ have suffered and died
From this cause that I am now telling you about;

And if you keep on, I will go the same way, no doubt.

I cannot hast long pounded around this track every day,

To have my feet contracted and bound up in this way,

My suffering is very great; the cause is all in my feet;

They pain me so day and night I cannot rest or sleep.

Sore, and stiff, and sick, and lame you pound me through;

1 assure you it is worse than death; it may be fun for you.

If you would cut my throat, let the blood out of my ‘eiins,

I would to you thankful be ; it would end all my pains.

O my God! is there never any relief or help to come?

Have I always got to suffer in this way—every day be run?
Creator of me and all that is great, wise, and good,

Is there no way that my suffering can be understood ?

O my God! in some way do to me send relief!

I appeal to you now; to my groans my driver seems deaf;
For there must be a great first cause of all that is created,
And to that, like all others, I must be related.

I well know on me in creating you have made ho such mistake ;
That I cannot eat or drink, and from that cause no comfort take.
I know myself where all of the cause is well enough,

But I cannot talk and tell, and I assure you it is tough. 7
It is not caused by anything that I have drank or eat;

Jt is nearly all caused by botch-work done on my fect.

It is caused sometimes by leaving my heels too low.

That throws me back off my base so T cannot go. ~

If you leave my heels too high, it is no better, you can see,
That will throw me off my base, cock ankle, and tip my knee.
If you dress my hoof, and get it all right to a fraction,

To luok at may yet be out of harmony of action.

Internally the structure may badly changed be;

318 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

Put me in motion; if you have got eyes you can see

I will have to step short and have a crippled, hobbling gait;

When my feet are in this condition, my God! how they ache.

That causes great internal, unnatural fever and heat ;

That causes my ankles to swell; it has its rise from my feet.

Tinker and toggle me up the very best way you can,

No relief to me can come until you my feet expand,

For the sole is raised up; all is out of harmony of action.

I cannot move well; this is nearly all caused by contraction ;

There is other causes connected with this complicated matter,

But. with all, 1t relieves the most to make my feet flatter ;

That lets my weight go back on my base a great degree,

And liberates the coffin-joint, and lets all go free.

Then if you will just look at the tops of my double heels behind,

And you find them even, you are all right so far you find.

Do not forget I have four feet that are of use to me;

They are, or can be, all affected the same, you can see.

If the heels are not even at the top, they are not right you will find,

That turns the toe in or out, I cannot travel in a straight line.

If my ankles are thrown in from this cause, to travel it would be
queer,

And not sore my cord badly, and not cause me to interfere.

You must look my feet all over singly in order to see,

They may all be nearly right but one, and that badly be;

And they may all be steering in opposite directions, so

T cannot trot, run, walk, it sores and hurts me, you ought to know.

Do, for my sake, look at my feet, crooked, many ways overrun,

All caused by shoeing and the awful botch work on me done.

There is a right way and wrong to do this, you ought to know ;

It must be done so all will work in harmony, or I cannot go.

To have my feet in pairs, traveling on opposite lines,

My weight all thrown off of balance, it is hard, I find.

My good God, creator of all that we can see and of me;

T never can tell all of my suffering and how to get free.

You have power to all I see and behold to create ;

And now is there not some way better care of me to take?

This contraction throws two-thirds of my weight on my legs behind ;

And this is not all, it spavins me and strains me across the loin,

And that throws all internally out of order, too.

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 319

When this takes place no one seems to know what to do;

Then there will always be a lot of quacks gather around,

To kiil me with blisters, and cramming me with trash they seem
bound ;

To balance me up by allowing my heels to grow and not my toes:

That, too, is no better; in a short time over the other way I will go.

It is plain enough, all might see, it’s as plain as a be;

Then, with all this, have my shoulders blistered, it's hard for me.

Then to be all out of harmony in many degrees and ways;

With all this, have to draw loads, great mischief with me it plays.

O my God! I wish I never had created been.

To live a long life of suffering in this condition I am in.

I cannot hardly get my head down to drink or eat;

I am thrown in such shape caused by ironing my feet;

Neither can I get up my head any better than down;

In fact, it throws me in such shape I can’t turn around.

Clear past the center two-thirds of my weight is thrown back;

Sometimes this is done slow; it is according as my feet contract;

Tt all depends on the care and treatment my feet has had.

I am in all stages und degrees of suffering; sometimes very bad;

I wish you could see the fearful condition it throws me and holds me

» 80;

You would have the cause removed, and more mercy on me show.

Oh, dear! with shoes on me, and on me two sets of contracted feet,

Can’t you see where I have gnawed them? On this manure heap,

All paralyzed, unable to rise or stand for the want of care,

There I am obliged to lie month after month and breathe foul air,

Although I am down now, and unable to rise, walk, or stand.

With all this, if you would cut my feet down and them expand,

I would soon recover, and grow strong, healthy, and spry;

And if that is not done, for there is no other way, I must die.

This is the last stages, and there are thousands like me all over the
land.

This is the final result, paralyzed, unable longer to stand,

When I get this way, O my God! look inside of my feet,

They have become inflamed; now something more than a little heat;

All life and action completely destroyed for want of circulation;

And this, too, is all located in my feet—my foundation.

When my base or foundation you destroy and undermine me,

320 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

Tam not of much use; I will have to come down you will find.

To be down in this way, sick, fearful pains to endure,

Ané breathe this stench; no bed, only stinking manure.

O my creator, God! this stench and carrion are enough to kill me;

If there was no other cause, this heat is taking my hair off, don’t you
see ?

O my creator and father God! this I do not comprehend,

That we have such a life of pain and suffering to spend.

Sure you could not, ereating us, made such a mistake

That we cannot eat, drink, walk, stand; mo comfort take.

We can neither go up hill without hurting; the same down.

Tt hurts us very bad to rise on our feet; the same to turn around.

it hurts me so it causes me to raise my hind legs high,

And I cannot help it, my forward legs I ean’t bend if I try.

J am all pinched, bound, and murdered with contraction,

And I have no control of myself, and I suffer; I have no aetion;

} eannot baek without almost kilhng me dead,

And it hurts me the same, from the same cause to go ahead.

Sometimes I am divided against myself, you can easy see;

If Iam all right on my forward feet, divided I shal} be

Unless my hind feet are all in harmony at the same time.

All true should be toes, of equal length, and all travel on a straight
line.

How can I travel divided against myself, all out of harmony, too?

You ean see, reverse it, it is all the same, no good can it do;

To fix me ali right, my feet at the same time must be in harmony of

action,
And to do this you must remove all leverage, run-over feet, and con-~
traetion.

That will let my weight all go back on its base you will find;

That will equalize my weight, balance me at the same time:

Poise me on my equilibrium in the center; I mean to be understood,

Unless you understand this, to work on me you are no good;

You will be throwing me off my base in many different ways,

And in this suffering eondition I shall have to be all of my days.

No more blisters, seatons, rowels, burning, liniment do I waut arcund
me,

The whole trouble is removed by working on my feet; you can see

My suffering is great, and T am deformed enough already now,

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 321

Without burning and mutilating, to cure me you know not how.

Jf you can find a place around me that is the least bit sore,

The first thing will be to go at that, and sometimes make more.
Almost any fool the effect can nearly always find,

Unless he is a perfect blockhead and nearly blind.

If you can find all of the effects; you have only half, you can see,
Burning, blistering, mutilating them will never cure me.

The suffering from this treatment has been hard to endure;

Added to all others, the cause you must remove in order to cure.

O my creator God! how I have had to be tortured and suffer;

It has been a good thing for us all that we were not tougher.

How is such treatment as that going to put me on my base?

If you will and do it, I will take the back seat and give you the race;
You never have cured or helped ono horse treating them in this way
Hither in ancient or modern times, or 1n ‘any other day.

And if that is all you can do is to mutilate the effect,

I am better off without you, if my feet do contract.

I can get around a little if I am stiff, lame, and sore;

When you get at me I am always a wreck six months or more.

To work on you have no theory, principle, plan, or foundation;

It is doctor the effect, when you can’t find it, and all is mutilation.
You have been all over me, mutilating in many different ways,

And allis wrong; not once have you seen where the cause all lies
All you have done has been very great damage to me;

Spreading my feet at the top 1s all wrong, you can see.

I have been worked on on the great Dunbar plan,
‘That was recommended by that great joining of fallible being—man.
A great fulcrum of principles and science must then be made.
When to him for nothing twenty-five thousand dollars was paid,
For there is not one thing laid down in that work to me of use;
Tt is all torture to me; no help; only mutilation and abuse.
Spreading my feet at the toc, that is wrong, you ought to know.
That will throw my heels together; in doing so

That will cause the sole to raise; that throws me back still more
Off of my base again. My cords, O my God! how sore,

And this is done so as to give the coffin-joint a little more play.
Then it must be contracted again for fexr it should get too much

and run away.
And the toe must be kept as short ay it can possibly be.

322 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

To keep and prevent the coffin-joint from separation, you see,

There is no. use saying any more; it is like this all the way through.

To spend my time with this baby trash I can’t, I have other work’
to do.

Poor, de‘ormed, and suffering, tortured horse of hundreds of years,

For many long years [ have heard your cries and shed tears;

And now I have got this work nearly completed and done,

And when it 1s finished, to your rescue I shall come.

No man on this green earth can intimidate me so,

That for your relief T dare not the same old bugle blow;

For I shall be in the center and in the hottest of the fight,

No matter where or when nor what time, day or night.

No quarters will I give until I do away with some of the poor
horses’ abuse.

There never was an effect without cause, of that you may be sure.

And the cause is removed with this science and that in the cure.

And now I am going to tell you what this science will do:

t will cure nearly all cripples, I will except only a few.

Of course there are cripples that the cause is not in their feet;

They can be crippled in many ways; I will assure you it is not
what they eat.

You may ask, What is the reason this has not been done. years -
ago?

I cannot tell you, sir, for the reason I do not know.

But there is one thing that I do know. of that I am very sure,

It cost me money and forty-one years’ labor that was hard to en-
dure.

Of that I have only given you a sketch, a glance, a bird’s-eye view

Just enough to lay down principles to tell you this work how to do,

For in that way I do not want my time to spend.

I am getting old now, of course my time here must soon end.

To perfect a great work experience has taught me it takes along
time,

And after it is done, to introduce it, it is the same I find.

This is the reason I do not want my time to fool away,

For I well know this great science caunot be introduced in a day. .

This science is far in advance of the age, that I well. know.

Of course I understand that it must spread very slow;

Tgnorance is the great power; against that it will have to contend;

THE HORSE’S RESCUE. 823

Nobody knows how long or when it will end.

It may be hundreds of years before it is well understood,

Or it may go very fast; if it does it will do a power of good.

I do not want any man to think, after they have read this work
through,

To make money out of this work is all I want to do.

Of course for this work I shall have to charge now a little fee,

Or I never can introduce this science, you can easy see.

The last dollar is going now in this work that I have got,

Excepting a few blacksmith tools and my little red shop.

Before I quit there is a little more to you I want to say,

The principles in this work are right; there is no other way;

And if they are not adhered to, you had better beware,

Your horses will all be better off with their feet bare.

Now I will in this work bid you all adieu;

I do not want you to think I have given up and got through;

I have not, I am going to follow this work around,

And teach and introduce this science I am bound.

Adieu, your humble servant,
GERARD DOAN.

324 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

Cut No. 1 represents the natural horse before he has been changed
from natural by having his feet ironed. There are other causes,
which are often the case. The causes that change tle horse from
natural are very slight compared with the many and great changes
and many degrees of change about which I have written, caused by
ironing their feet. I have told you in this work that the horse is a
machine, and must be in harmony of action or he will run badly.
These cuts are to show you scientifieally, to give youan idea, or to try
to, of the suffering condition your horses are thrown in. Cut No. 1
shows the horse natural, inside of his circle, all in harmony of action
—no leverage, no runover feet, no contraction. The center perpen-
dicular line, A, horizontal center line, B; it crosses at A in the center
of the horse. If the horse is not Grawn out of shape or off his base,
he is balanced in the center. Me can place his feet at fulcrum, K,
where the two circles, F F, cross lines; place the hind foot to D line

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 3825

forming fulcrum with E; place the forward footto Dline. When this
is done, you can see there is another center and fulcrum of levers
formed if the horse is as he should be. When his feet are all placed
in the center at fulcrum, E, he can rotate both ways from points B B
to K, or he can rear up until point B of horizontal line in front comes
to A, perpendicular line. If he is natural, he ean kick up in the same
way. He can rotate both ways, horizontal line B B to A and K, with-
out hurting him in any way, if he is natural and inside of his circle.
When the horse is going through this exercise, changing ends, every
time he changes he will place both his hind feet when he comes down
at fulcrum, K; his forward feet the same. If you will watch him,
you can see this. The horse has four drive-wheels. These cuts only
show one side. The drive-wheels are all of one size if the horse is
natural; I mean he rolls four of a size, and the sizeis according to his
own length and size; and the size of wheel lhe rolls is governed by
the harmony of action he is in or out. This cut shows him all in
harmony of action. See how accurate all works out. The two per-
pendicular, C C, lines crossing horizontal, B B, line to T T, forming two
fulcrum of levers, or centers. Here is where the horse gets his pro-
pelling power and balance of Jeverage that enable him to draw heavy
loads up heavy hils. Throw him off his base, er out of his circle,
and he loses his power according to the degree. The great circle, G:
will show you the lever power the horse has if he is in his circle and
natural. From B to B and from A to K he has that length of lever
power, turn him any way you may on this globe. The line H H, I
drew tc show you a rest for the drive-wheels. It is made on a circle
to represent the globe or earth—to convey principles that are not seen
and yet exist. The lower line, I J, is the real line to show the earth
and the leverage power the horse has, and lines L L are placed there
to show another center or fulerum of levers. No matter wi-at part of
the globe the horse is on, he is always on the summit. If he stands
up, his feet and legs point to the center of the earth; the -1me with
man. The horse is quite a machiné; he has a gearing rinning hori-
zontal; his feet are a circle of leverages, all acting from : center at
every step the horse takes, if they are not fixed so they cannot. He
has 4 very complicated perpendicular circular gearing, which I have
not put all on in full, it not being necessary to convey what ! wish to.
I thought it would complicate it too much. It will be easier to under-
stand and explain all the better as itis. He has too, withal, a folding
erank motion, which I will explain. That crank can be affected

326 THE HORSE’S RESCUE.

badly and be made to vary in length by botch-work done on the feet
In order to show the principles the horse moves on I have lined the
drive-wheels something like spokes in a wagon wheel; put the horse
in motion, each spoke as the wheel rolls will take its place at the point
TT; all become in their turn perpendicular lines, CC; the horse
changes when in motion, feet at the point T T at the same time, if he
is all in harmony both forward and behind. When he is trotting fast
if you see when he changes if he is all right, you will have to see
quick or you will not see when he does change. Ido nct pretend he
spaces off as he rolls along his strides, or steps regular as they are
spaced in this cut. I have marked some degrees on the forward drive-
wheel to show something of the action of the horse; these degrees I
did not put on the hind drive-wheel. The principle is the same on al!
and on all horses, both before and behind; and after you have experi-
mented on horses forty-one years, I am right, you will find. The
horse when natural can place his forward foot to No. 12, and even
higher, the other foot remaining on the ground; he can do the same
with his hind feet; he can place his hind feet where F F circles cross
lines and form fulcrum at the top. I have marked off degrees, and
numbered them from 1 up to12. They are not regularly spaced off.
These lines are to show the irregular change and degrees of change on
the same horse. Do not forget it is the same on the horse’s hind feet.
This will be more fully explained in other cuts. You can see I have
struck circles from the two centers of drive-wheels at the gambrel and
at the knee, M M. Look, then you can see at the fetlock there are
circles from the gambrel and knee, N N. Look; these two you can
see. From the fetlock there is another circle from O O; and if you
destroy the structure in my foot, or feet, you will find I cannot go.
When the horse is put in motion he changes at point T T, and leg
folds toward the center of drive-wheel at the knee and fetlock and
heel. They fold the same on the hind drive-wheel, and these folding
cranks all fold toward the great center, A, and he gets the balance of
lever power in this way. When he reaches out his feet to put himself
in motion one half of his legs folds toward three centers, the other
half unfolds; he gets the balance of power. In this way the cranks
fold and unfold, striking half circles rotatory motion. The principles
are there just as much as they would be if this machine was made
with cog-gearing. He has got a power on those drive-wheels.
When he is even with himself and in his circle, all natura] as his crea-
tor made him, he can straighten out his legs from <A to K, and whirl

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 397

*

around and around very easy. You can see all working in harmony
from the great center.

Cut No. 2 shows the horse off his base, both forward and behind;
it shows him out of his circle; it shows two sets of circles and per-
pendicular lines. This cut will show you something of the first
stages of the horse’s change from natural. Do not forget there are all
degrees of this change, and his suffering commences at the first
change. As this horse now is, he is in a bad fix. Now I will ask
some wise man to tell me how this horse can be got out of his trouble,
burning, blistering, rowels, and all kinds of mutilating. You may
fasten his feet where they now are, hitch tackles to his neck, and
draw him in his circle, or roll him in, or pry him in, or blister him, or
burn him in, he will not stay ; and you cannot get him in his circle
and put him in harmony in any such way. I put him in his circle with
a lever, and it 1s all lever principle I work on to do it. It is all done
working on the feet. There is the cause. I have explained that

328 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

about as well asIcan. The light perpendicular lines, A and C C, are
the natural lines; the space between A and C, center perpendicular
lines. The horse is out of his circle and off his base that much. You
will find that throws all out of harmony of action; ‘the same degree
the horse is all out of his balance. Look; there are two sets of cir-
cles and lines, you can see. This only shows in this small cut a small
degree. The horse is off his base or behind himself. Take a full-
sized horse and line him as this cutislined; you can find lots of horses
off their base eighteen inches, and some more. I have marked and
figured a few degrees. The horse in this condition cannot step far, he
has not got much action. He has lost his lever power, caused by con-
traction; he is sick; all is out of mash. The machine will not run
much, and heats badly when put in motion. He cannot rotate from
BB to A; he cannot rear up or kick up either way; neither can he
any better turn around. It all works the same when he gets up or
lies down. Roll him back until A line comes to P, then there will be
only one set of circles and lines, you can see. If it is done right a
will in harmoy of action be. I have left this cut as little complicated
as I could and convey what I wanted to. If I had laid out two sets
of gearing, and put all in these cuts which I could, it would about
spoilt them to convey the principles that I well understand to others.
Look where fulcrum E is; it should be where the forward circles cross
lines on heavy perpendicular, P, line, then A would take the place of
S and in the center be; and T T would move forward with CC.
There are six centers now. If that was done there would be only
three. Take hold of circle at the top at point and line A, move it for-
ward; the circle woukd at that point travel a large degree, while it
would hardly move st Rand A. That you could see all would come
in one line, then all in harmony would be. This poor horse’s body
must all move forward and his feet remain where theyare. This may
look like a hard job to do without medicine of any kiad, and yet it can
be done, and it is a very simple job todo when once understood. As the
horse’s body moves forward, no matier what degree, if it is done
right, his back will straighten across the loin, and his head will rise as
his body moves forward, no matter what degree, until all is in
harmony.

THE HORSE’S RERCUE. 829

No. 3.

This cut No. 3, shows the horse in his circle and balanced in the
center, and yet he is badly out of harmony of action, caused by im-
proper care of his feet and contraction. This is what I call balancing
the horse between runover feet, contraction, and leverage. This is
what I calla bad job. It has balanced him over forward, tipped his
ankles forward, and his knee; that is caused by leaving the heel too
high, or toe too low, or both. Sometimes the fault is all in the shoe
by dressing the foot; it can be done in that way, and often is, and in
many and many degrees of this and on the same horse. This horse
is not so liable to fall over backwards as the horse shown in cut No. 2,
but he is liable to lose the use of his feet and legs, and has, nearly.
He has but very little action, and is liable to fall at every step if he 13
hurried, His feet are bad, both internally and externally. He is a
great sufferer, and the cause is located in his feet. Reader, you may
think this picture overdrawn, some of you, but I assure you it is not,

330 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

J can produce thousands of horses that are worse off than this horse
is shown to be. This horse has more ailments than are shown in cut
No. 2. He has been kept in his circle, or, other words, tried to be
kept on his base and balance and failed, as all do that try to do it in
this way. Cut No. 2 shows the horse thrown off his base by the soles
of his feet rising up. Do not forget it can be done many other ways,
about which I have written. If the sole had been lowered on the
principles laid down in this work, he or his body would have gone
back on his base. This horse (cut No. 3) has had his feet dressed in
such a way it has added more to his trouble, and the first cause still
remains, and has grown worse. Itis of longer standing. The coffin-
joints are badly affected, and all is bad internally. He is sick all over,
and not fit to work. Now, I want some man to tell me, if he can, how
he is going to get his poor horse out of this trouble with medicine of
any kind, or any treatment excepting the principles laid down in this
work. I mean the ailments the horse has at the present day that I
treat and write about. I well know this is the right and only way out
of this trouble, and the horse should never be init. But this is the
way it is; how long it will be so I know not.

The horse shown in cut No. 2 thrown off his base I left in the fore-
part of this work; at that time I could do no better. Such as he go
over backwards often. And this horse (cut No. 3) I left in this work
after balancing him as well as I could. Him I came around tosee. I
found him cocked on his ankles and tipped on his knees. I have no
recollection of ever serving a horse in this way in my life; but I have
straightened thousands of them, and shod them to prevent them from
balancing over in the way this is shown in this cut. Some horses can
stand and work many years in this condition. They suffer greatly;
they are weak; they cannot draw but a small load compared with a
horse that is all sound and natural. I have marked a few lines or de-
grees pointing toward the center of the forward drive-wheel. His
steps are short; he does not get much balance of power on leverages;
the folding cranks do not work; he is stiff; no knee action; no action
in any way; he stubbs and pegs; blunders along; swaying right
and left. He has all he can do to stand on his feet. He can stand
hitched to a load or by the side of another sound horse better than in
any other way. This horse is harder to cure than the one shown in
cut No. 2, and yet it can be done. In the condition this horse is now
in he has but very little action; you place his forward feet to line D,
forming fulcrum at E. How long do you think he could stand cocked

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 331

on his ankles and tipped on his knees? Place his hind feet at the

same fulcrum E. In the condition he is now in he would fall very

quickly, you would see. If he was putin his circle by working on

the right principle on his feet he could rotate both ways until H H
No. 4.

line and B B would meet, and he could rotate from A to K just in
the same way, and that would be, of course, to line I. The condition
he now isin he cannot do it if he should try, although A in the
center seems to be, and so is the perpendicular lines C C, and the feet
seem to be in about their proper place at TT: but itis aJl done
wrong; he cannot move well botched in this way, for this reason,

S382 THE HORSE’S RESCUE

it is not done in the right way. Compare this horse with the one in
cut No. 1, and you can easy see why his machinery he cannot rua.
And after working on the horse forty-one years I found out how all
this mischief was done after I got control and master of the horse’s
feet. If I do say it, balancivg up horses I was and now am hard to
beat. The opposition I meet with I do no& mind. I ean balance
these horses and put them in harmony of action very nicely both
before and behind.

Cut No. 4, or plate of cuts, is to show the base, or foundation, of
the horse. This is to be looked at as though the horse had walked
off and left the bottom of his feet with shoes on, the sole and frog |
all there. The object of this is to more clearly show and convey the
condition—the foundation—of the most of horses are in, caused by
unequal weight on the double heel, and showing what shape they
will assume, causcd by that and not being properly dressed and cared
for. You can see there is not a true foot there; they are all imper-
fect and untrue in some way, and in many and different, no two
alike. The two feet that the lines start from at the toe are to repre-
sent the hind feet. The drive-wheels on the horse’s hind feet are
intended to run on the outside of the forward wheels if he is natural,
and nature has made him so. If nature hasa chance they will run
in that way. If his feet are run over it will change these lines from
a straight line in degrees according to how much his feet are run over.
The top of heel is the place to look. There will be all degrees on the
same horse from the same cause; the weight will turn the toe in or
out#the same on all the feet. And this is a very important point to
look to if you want your horse to move well. Equalizing the weight
on the feet is one of the most important things to be looked to in
dressing and ironing a horse’s feet. J£ it is not done properly it will
turn the toe one way or the other. In driving twenty miles, and some
feet in less, 1t throws the ankle in or out. If it should throw the
ankles out, the toe would go in. If both feet should go in that way
(I mean a pair), they would cross lines, as shown in this plate, and
there are all degrees of that. Sometimes, when not very bad in that
way, these lines would cross some rods ahead of the horse. When
the horse is in this way he will grab his shoes and heels and con-
stantly be running over himself. Sometimes he is run over in pairs,
both forward feet one way and both hind feet the opposite. When he
is in that way there is danger of his falling if he is hurried, and liable
to if not. The fact is his feet are all turned one way or the other.

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 333

If he is run in on his feet he will knoca his ankles until he is straight-
ened. This is not seen by many. It racks the horse’s ankles bad.

There is another point to be looked to where this run-over-feet busi-
ness exists. Stand behind your horse and see if his legs are on &
perpendicular line; that is, see if the hind drive-wheels do not stand
under too much; that is, his feet huddled together In case they
should by being runover, or from want of proper work done on his
feet, the effect would be bad in many ways. Look up to the center of
the drive-wheel; there isa fulcrum of levers up there. If his leg
stood under from a perpendicular line his weight would act at that
center or fulcrum of levers. These levers act both ways. They are
all right when they all act together, as nature intended they should.
When thrown out of harmony they work against the horse and his
owner badly. These principles work the same on the forward part of
the horse. Sometimes one wheel is badly out of order, sometimes
all; sometimes two; sometimes three. Go and look your horse all
over, put him in motion, and if you have got an eye for a horse you
can see.

Cut No. 5 shows the foot natural; that is, the covering of the
sensitive part. It shows the surface of the sole and frog internally ;
the heels are low and wide apart; the foot nearly round in shape;
the sole nearly flut down; the double heels and frog all rest on the
ground, or floor equal, and this is the way it always should be.

No. 6,

334 THE HORSE'S RESCUER.

Cut No. 6 shows the foot badly changed from natural, it is badly
contracted. You can see the heels are closed together. In doing
this it raises the sole up. The mischief it does I have written about.
To cure these horses my work treats on. I expand thie foot, let the
sole down, and make cut No. 6 have the appearance of cut No. 5. It
does not tear the foot apart, as many would suppose; it simply lets ©
the sole down to its natural and proper place, as it originally was. In
doing this every degree, no matter how small you change or expand
the foot, the circle of the foot grows larger. There are three ways to
do this: The first is to pull the shoes off, dress the feet, so as to let |
the horse’s body go back on the base if he is off, so the weight will be
in center of feet; dress the feet, all slanting toward the point of frog;
keep the frog cut away, so it will not touch the ground; drive with
no shoes. The second is in expanding with shoes, and the principles
are all laid down. The third is in expanding with shoe. The last
does the werk ina few days. The other two processes are slow.
They cannot all be cured in that way. The second process is in
expanding the foot by the horse’s weight with shoes; and the last 1s
by spreading, as shown in cuts No. 7 and 8.

No. 7.

Dees ak PS Oe

Cut No, 7 shows the arch-shape the bottom of the foot will assume
when contraction takes place. This little simple skeleton-cut is to
show you the whole business of expansion and contraction. The
straight line, B B, is to represent the ground. Arched line, A, and
CC, shows the sole of, or bottom of, the foot raised up. A is sup-
posed to be in the center of the foot at point of frog, but it is not, and
there are few that are perfectly true. F is to show the frog under A.
Now I want to expand the -foot and settle the frog down to straight
line, BB. Suppose I put weight (no matter what kind) on this
arched line, A, and the arched line above was not made fast at
points, B B, where arch-line, A, forms fulerum, arch-line, A, would
be likely to settle; and if it did it would spread the foot and con-
tinue to do so until the frog came to a rest on the ground. In

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 385

case the foot had shoes on that raised the frog up it would be
likely to dish the wrong way.

In shoeing to expand the foot or to expand it in any other way.
it should be prepared in the same way as shown in this ecut—work
from the center. At point, C C, an arched line, A, is to show how
the foot should be dressed when shoeing to let the sole come down
to flat rest on shoe. When the frog came to rest on the ground
all would be right. Putting on a spreading shoe, the foot must be

prepared the same.
No. 8.

Tt,

snie

—
Ti
SSF

Cut No. 8 shows a very good shoe for expanding a foot and
holding it. This is the best way to work on contracted feet. I
can put them where I want them and hold them until they settle
and grow. This shoe is concave, clear out to the edge, so as to
let the sole down, except a little flat rest at the heels. This shoe
is only for a temporary use. The lips raised at the heels are to

No, 9,

336 THE HORSE'S RESCUE.

fit inside of heel, so as to spread right at the heels. After the
horse has worn these shoes a few months, and had his feet spread,
other shoes can be used. There are many kinds of shoes to expand
horse’s feet. This shoe I like the best.

Cut No. 9 shows the runover-foot, caused by unequal weight on
the double heel, One is higher than the other, and, rolled under,
that turns the toe in and out. The best place to see how that is is
to look at the horses; there you can see it ten times better. And
if you want to see how this expansion and contraction works, take
a piece of stiff paper, strike circle the size of the horse’s foot, cut
out a goring-piece running to point in the center, about the size of
the frog, then close up the space, you will see it will raise in the
center in the form of a cone; let it down a small degree, mark
around the circle; do that way several times until it comes down
to a flat rest; you can see the circle is growing larger every time
you let it down. This is the way this works on all feet. It is all
summed up in leverage. To illustrate this a little more, in order to
make all as clear as I can, I will take one leg and foot of the
horse.- The foot is the base, or foundation, figuratively. We will
say the leg isa column. If you want it to stand perpendicular you
must make the bottom of the base true and work from the center.
There must be a center perpendicular line pointing to the center of
this earth, and you must do your work so your column will balance, if
you want it to stand, and it must balance all around the. center.
This is the way the dressing on the bottom ef a horse’s foot must be
done. Remember, you are working around a center; when you are
paring the bottom of the foot of the horse you can throw him off of
balance all around the center of his foot by cutting away the bot-
tom of the base, and itis all leverage-balancing in all ways over a
center or fulcrum of leverages.

Now I will try to convey to you how these fulcrums of levers
work, and what shape they throw the horse in has already been
told many times. There is a horizontal fulcrum at the center of
the foot raising and lowering in the center. There are three ful-
crums of levers at the “toe of the foot, caused by contraction and
improper work done on the feet, throwing the horse off of balance
in many ways, and there should be none to hold him there. If allis
in harmony he will be balanced in the centers all over; then he can
take the advantage of this lever-power at will and balance and throw
his weight back and forward, and in all ways, around the great

THE HORSES RESCUE ool

fulcrum of levers shown in cut No. 10. At point C he can throw his
weight forward and back of fulcrum, A; and if he is balanced in
the center he can turn on the great center and fulcrum and roll
. himseli in all ways; and, doing this, he rolls a great drive-wheel
and a circle of them; and in his turnings and changing he rolls a
ball of circles around him. If he wants to hold a load that is
crowding him, and stop it going down a hill, he throws his weight
back of the center, A, by bracing forward all of his legs. The more
the load crowds the more he will get the balance of leverage by
throwing his weight back of center, A, as is shown in cut No. 2.
If he is all right he must be so he can throw his weight always
around the great fulcrum, ©, and perpendicular center-line, B. The
levers must be equal, as shown in cut No. 10 from center, A, to

No, 10,

i)

t
is

DD. Jf they are he can rotate (D D line) bot way: and all
ways to line, E EB, arouid the great center, ©. This whole busi-

338 THE HORSES RESCUE.

_ ness igs summed up in leverage, the balance around a center of lever-
power. ;

We will go to work on the foot, or base, again. The heel is
double. If you cut those heels one lower than the other, or
cork or make your shoe of unequal thickness in any way, you
will throw the weight of the horse unequal on the double heel by
throwing weight. past the center. Throw it either way, you set a
fulcrum of levers to work at the toe of the foot. That ought not to
be there. By constantly throwing and changing the weight from
one heel to the other past the center, that causes the double heel
-to work up and down. Those levers form fulcrum at the toe of the
foot, constantly expanding or contracting at the heel, and these
levers form fulcrum at the toe. They act horizontal, the end of
lever growing on the toe of foot, the sole raising in the center.
There is another fulerum of levers, all working together, with the
one on the end of toe forming fulcrum with another at the center
of foot, right over the coffin-joint, one lifting, one pulling down,
throwing the horse off his base, as shown in cut No, 2. This tip-
back and pull-down lever has a double action: it works both ways
from its fulerums; it tips the horse over on his nose sometimes.
I can prepare and iron any horse's feet and throw him over back-
ward, and no power can make him stand, and I will do it with a
lever. Ican doit in this way: Cup out the feet, iron them, take a
pair of tongs, and close the shoes together. That is done with
lever-power. _ It will raise the sole of the foot in the center,
throw the horse off of balance, and hold him. JI can throw him
over back, and down. The Creator of him cannot raise him. I
will not put anything on him only the shoes. He musc lie there
until I use the Jever again. This tme I expand the foot (that is
done with a lever), let him go back on the base, and the shoes are
levers” forming fulernms at the toe. These principles all work the
same on all feet and ali horses and mules.

To close up this long story, I will tell you how many centers and
fulerums of leverages there are in the horse to be thrown out of
center and in center, caused by expansion and contraction, leverage,
runover-feet,.imuproper dressing of the four bases or foundation of
the horse, throwing the horse off his four bases, throwing him off
of balance, in many degrees and ways. There are thirty-five, one
at whirlbone, stifle, gambrel, ankle, pastern, and coffin-joint. These
are the hind-centers on one leg. There is the same number for-

THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 839

ward. And there are four legs, six ou each, twenty-four in all,
one in the center at A, one at fulcrum, E, one at R. These are
perpendicular-centers. There are eight horizontal-centers to be
kept in harmony—the center of the sole of the foot at point of
frog, one at the toe of foot; four feet, eight in all. In nearly all of
these centers there is a double action of levers both ways, thrown
out of center by contraction and other causes, which I have ex-
plained enough. And I will close this long story, and the result of
my forty-one, and most forty-two, years’ labor has simmered this
whole business down to a very simple process, curing all the ail-
ments I treat on in this work; and that little process on the bases
of the horse throws the whole entire machinery out of center and
harmony of action; and all are, by working on the feet on the prin-
ciple laid down in this work, thrown in harmony of action, and no
medicin is required to do this wonderful work. The difficulty these
poor horses has been in (I know not how long) has puzzled the
brains of millions of men for hundreds of years, and yet the process
is very simple. All that is required to do this work is warm
water, a little cow manure (ox manure will do as well), a reasonable
amount of good brains and good judgment, physical force, courage,
and patience. If there is any man, or men, teaching curing horses
(that are troubled with the ailments that I have mentioned in this
work) on any other principles than are laid down in this book, they
are not right, and I know it, and I will be qualified before any
magistrate and before a multitude of people that the principles to
work on the horses to eure them of the ailments that I treat on,
laid down in this book, are all right if they are done right and
earried out. Now just think a little and you will see you have
got the prevention, and that is worth more than the cure.
Your humble servant,
GERARD DOAN,

APPENDIX.

I thought my book was finished, yet there are a few more truths
I would like to publish in this work. To begin, I will say I leave
you the key with which I unlocked this great mystery, and which
cost me so many years of hard labor to find. This mystery has
deformed the suffering horse and held him so. The key is expanding
and mastering the base of the horse, his feet. Reader, you must
begin there if you ever unlock this great science, which ought to
be easy for you, now that you have the key.

This appendix is to show my powers of endurance and to put
the cap-sheaf on the last of this work. While in New York super-
intending the getting up of this work I put up at what I supposed
to be a respectable house. It had on the front and both sides
“Hotel.” Jt turned out to be one of the lowest sinks of debauch-
ery a man ever stepped in. I was so engaged in my work that I
did not take much notice of what was taking place around me. I
made contracts with parties, advanced money, and set men at work
on my book, and they were to draw on me as the work pro:
gressed. “After my work was nicely begun, some parties in this
hotel tried to rob me by using chloroform. I went to the keeper of
this den for redress, but could get no satisfaction. JI told him I
would expose his ranch, and went for a policeman. He told me
he would take care of me. I went with him. He took me to the
station. After getting me inside, two at one time went in my
pockets and robbed me of my money, pocketbook, and contents,
and not one word would they hear from me. [I offered to take

them to D. M. Bennett’s printing-office and to Prof. Rawson's, where

APPENDIX. 841

I was getting work done. No use talking. I was locked in a
cell. I wus taken out of there bound, jammed into a wagon on
my back; dragged out of that and put in a hand-wagon, and from
thence dragged into the Bellevue Hospital, where for many days
I was tortured on a stretcher, kicked in the face when bound, and
treated in the most cruel manner possible; pronounced insane;
ehalked for the asvlum. I escaped, and reason 1s on its throne
yet, and I have had more powers of endurance than any horse
that ever lived, and have published this work, fulfilled my contracts
with men in New York, and still I sail and the world moves for
all that. I am going to publish a book and give the true account
of the brutality I experienced. . GERARD DOANE.

~

Peer

AGENTS WANTED

To introduce and sell this work,

“The Horse s Rescue,

Throughout this (or should be), our

GREAT REPUBLIG.

I will set off territory, towns, counties, and sup-
ply agents with books, and give them an

EQUAL CHANCE WITH MYSELF,

This will be a rare chance to make some money.
That is the only inducement that I can hold out. The
retail price of this work will be $1.50, For further

particulars address
GERARD DOAN,
Fleming, Cayuga Co., N. Y.

Alani tases eee ampli daa ode mew i oily rid beanie

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