HORSE
SECRETS
WRITTEN, COMPILED AND NOW
DISCLOSED
BY
A. S. ALEXANDER
Professor of Veterinary Science, and in charge of the Department of
Horse Breeding, College of Agriculture, University
of Wisconsin.
ALAS! HE CANNOT TALK!
“I don’ see much use in de scientis’ folks studyingmonkey talk, but a study of hoss talk dat ’udlet de animal tell all about hisse’f befo’ a tradecomes off ’ud save a heap o’ hard feelings.”
“Uncle Ezra,” in Washington Star.
PHILADELPHIA—1909
WILMER ATKINSON COMPANY
Price, 25 Cents
Copyright, 1909
Wilmer Atkinson Co.
INTRODUCTION
Dr. A. S. Alexander, the writer and compiler of “Horse Secrets,”has had upward of 25 years’ experience in matters pertaining to agriculture,horse breeding, veterinary science, press writing and teaching.He was the author of the first stallion service legislation and inspectionregulation in America, the first law of the kind having beenwritten by him and enacted by the Wisconsin Legislature in 1905.Similar legislation now is in force in some 16 other states, and it isaccomplishing much for the improvement of horse breeding.
Horse trading offers unusual opportunities and temptations forsharp practises. Both buyer and seller equally need to be horse-wiseand alert. Dishonesty is discountenanced in the great horse markets,but it is common among scalpers, “gyps” and small traders outsideof the recognized markets and is likely to be practised by either thebuyer or the seller.
The items published in these pages disclose many sharp practiseswhich, aside from their interest as facts not generally known, arevaluable as information for the man who would engage intelligentlyin horse buying and selling.
The writer and publishers of this book desire to expose thesetricks, and to decry their practise in the markets and among outsidedealers and breeders. “Forewarned is forearmed,” and the informationhere given will doubtless save many a man from loss, andtend to make dishonesty less rife because less likely to succeed.
In mentioning the various tricks herein disclosed, the exactmethods have not been given in detail. We have no desire to instructreaders so that they may “go and do likewise”; for the samereason doses have not been given for the administration of the variousdrugs and “dopes” used by tricksters.
The matter relating to the purchase of stallions should provespecially interesting and valuable. It is a matter of general knowledgeamong the initiated that stallions are frequently sold at excessiveprices to companies of farmers, and that “peddlers” of suchstallions are unscrupulous in their methods of obtaining signers tothe notes taken for the purchase of such horses. The facts publishedwith respect to this business should serve to warn farmers that theyare apt to be cheated in purchasing a stallion on the “companyplan,” and that it is always best, safest and most profitable to purchasea stallion direct from a reputable breeder or importer, for byso doing much money will be saved and the horse bought will bemuch more likely to prove sound and suitable and to give satisfaction.
Dr. Alexander d