OUR FRIEND THE HORSE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 939, 5 October 1910, Page 8

OUR FRIEND THE HORSE.

SIS ORDEAL AT; DINMR-TIME;

: 'The'. careless and inefficient ,V feeding ■of .horses J was again : the,' subject' of: mark • at' the, meeting;of.; the jS.EiC.'A],' held 'yesterday. \'li, was "roundly 'de-V clared that:., in -Wellington V practices 'were followed in- connection ; with- the' street "feeding of ■; horseswhich : ; . would .scarcely ' be. toleratod/'anywhere : else. : ;_ Mr. Seed, the inspector, stated that,' instead'of .being fed-from a proper nosebag, horses .were usually, supplied/with' half a bag or so of ..dusty /chaff-imuch' of it rubbish., By' the. .time the: bottom, 6f ; .the supply, .was" ; reached,-.the-chaff '■was,'ofteni, quite musty. Moreover, the .practice of'using common sacks as feedbags made it .impossible for .horses to take their meals in anyj'comfort.. These practices. Mr. i Seed i described as : dis-' graceful.. Another, thing. to which took>'exception .was .the . .practice of leaving draught /horses,, during- the ■dinner-hour, loaded', with'a great, mass of: harness'arid A great weight 'thus / slipped;, on to;; /the animals' shoulders .as they stooped to feed, with the result that they .were .subjected to extreme and unnecessary fatigue. .Mr. J. Jamioson,'.who.presided over . the meeting, remarked upon the fact that a horse was', often .left standing at feed without the bit being removed from-its mouth.. This, ; he... claimed;: simply represented.laziness on the part of the drivers, arid involved ■', sheer cruelty to.tho animals... Sevoral members,-, however, took the view that it would be unsafe to remove the bit from the month of a horse of the-lighter class, ..while- it remained on the city streets; There, was, nevertheless, a consensus opinion, among members that j prevailing methods of feeding and treating horses ' during intervals of rest from,'work involved a lot of thoughtless cruelty,'.-' and that, public attention should bo' called to the matter with a view to securing- treat-; ment for the horses more in accord with humanitarian p_rinoiples. /