How horses can be cured of their maladies by kind and proper treatment, is told in the following extract from the life of Sir Astley Cooper. His coachman was instructed to attend every market-morning at Smithfield, and purchase all the lame young horses which he thought might possibly be convertible into carriage or saddle horses, should they recover from their defects. He was never to give more than £7 ($35.00) for a horse, but £5 ($25.00) was the average price. In this manner thirty or forty horses were sometimes collected at Gaelis-bridge, his farm. Once a week the blacksmith came up from the village, and the horses were brought to him for inspection. Having discovered the cause of their lameness, he proceeded to perform whatever seemed to him necessary for the cure. The improvement produced in a short time by good feeding and medical attendance, appeared truly wonderful. Horses which were at first with difficulty driven to pasture, because of their lameness, were now with as much difficulty restrained from running away. Even one fortnight at Gaelisbridge would frequently produce such an alteration in some of them that it required no unskillful eye in the former owner to recognize the animal which he had sold. Fifty guineas were paid for one of these animals, which turned out a very good bargain, and Sir Astley's carriage was for years drawn by a pair of horses which, together, cost him only £12 10s.
CHAPTER IV.
Horses that need Check-Reins and Blinders—Proper Mode of applying Them—Uses of Whips and Spurs—How to Train a Horse to Follow You—A Horse in a Parlor—The Horse that Wouldn't be Called a Blackguard—Intelligence of London Bus Horses—How Horses express their Gratitude—Henry Bergli and the Society for Preventing Cruelty to Animals—A Summary of the Society's Work—What it has Accomplished—Friendships of Dogs and Horses—How the Horse lifted his Friend the Cat—Locomotive and Colt Racing—Believers in a Future Life for Animals—A Horse Saved his Master's Life—Tatters and What he Did.
When our young friends reported to their father the result of their experiments at driving their horses without check-reins he was greatly pleased to know they had followed his advice and found it so satisfactory.