Tricks of Horse Traders
Note: Pictures are illustrative only
Words of advice from W.C. Fair, V.S. (Veterinary Scientist), early 1900's.
During my thirty years of experience, I have had occasion to buy and sell several thousand horses and have met with a great many deceptions among unscrupulous horse traders. I have assisted in sending several crooked horse deals to the state's prison and for the protection of the public, I have deemed it wise to expose s few of their tricks. Beware the Tricks of Horse Swindlers.
1. Dieting and Doping a Heaver. Broken winded horses breathe easier when empty, hence bulky food is kept from them, their food is dampened with lime water and they are doped with such drugs as arsenic, lobelia, chloral hydrate, opium, stramonium or even lard or linseed oil and sometimes bird shot is given them to palliate or hide the symptoms of heaves until the horse is unloaded on the purchaser. Caution to Buyer - Let him eat his fill of dry, bulky food or satisfy his thirst with wather, then trot him up a hill or on a muddy road or otherwise subject him to violent exercise and he will show the symptoms of heaves.
2. Plugging a Roarer or Whistler. It is common practice to insert a sponge in one or both nostrils with thread attached, making it possible to clear the nostril after the sale is made. Or, sometimes both ends are cut from a lemon, it is squeezed dry and then inserted in the nostril where it will shrink and be blown out later by the horse. Plugging the nostrils prevents roaring or whistling for the time being. Checking the head high also aids in covering up the symptoms. Caution to Buyer - Always examine high up in nostrils when buying a horse. Also give a brisk gallop to bring out the symptoms.
3. Blowing Up Old and Sweenied [wasted muscles] Horses. When a dishonest horse trader has a sweenied horse, it is a common practice for him to blow air under the skin over the shrunken parts. He does this by puncturing the skin and blowing air under it through a tube or goose quill. This gives the wasted parts the appearance of being normal. Sometimes this is done with old horses to give them a younger appearance. Caution to Buyer - By applying pressure to the parts with the hand, a crackling noise is produced which is quite unnatural, therefore by close observation this trick is easily discovered.
4. Paralyzing a Switcher. Unscrupulous dealers, to stop switching and "line grabbing" until after a sale is made, hang a four or five pound weight to the tail for several hours or tie the tail up over the back, keeping it in a fixed position until the tail is temporarily paralyzed. This prevents switching while the partial paralysis lasts. Caution to Buyer - It is always suspicious when a horse hangs the tail in a limp or pendulous way and never moves or switches it.
5. Gingering. Crooked horse traders frequently insert a piece of ginger root in the lower bowel or moisten the anus with an irritating medicine of some kind to make him carry a high tail and act more lively when in the show ring or on the road. Caution to Buyer - Be suspicious when a horse carries his tail too high.
6. Hiding Lameness. Horse swindlers have learned to handle the hypodermic syringe and inject cocaine over the nerves on each side of a lame leg. This prevents pain and makes the horse go sound until after a sale or trade is consummated. Frequently they have a section of the nerve taken out and this permanently relieves the animal of pain below the fetlock. [the tuft of hair on the back of the leg above the hoof]. Sometimes the nerve is severed or divided above the knee or hock and this relieves lameness below. Often the shoe is pulled off the foot of the lame leg to deceive the buyer into believing that the lameness was caused by casting a shoe and is only temporary.
Caution to Buyer - Watch closely for scars or needle punctures, especially above and below the fetlock. Be suspicious of a lame horse that has cast a shoe.
7. Hiding Spavins [swollen joints], Ringbones [arthritic joints] and Sidebones [hardening of cartliages on the sides of the bone in the hoof]. Unscrupulous horse dealers frequently make wounds or skin abrasions over a spavin, ringbone or sidebone, or they bruise the parts to produce local swelling. This sometimes misleads the buyer into believing that the horse has met with a recent and trivial injury from which he will soon recover.
Caution to Buyer - Hesitate to buy a horse when suffering from a wound or skin abrasion in the localities where these blemishes are found.
8. Putting Harness Galls [harness used to immobilize or keep an animal in place] on a Balky Horse. Gypsies and disreputable horse traders very often burn sores on the shoulders and disarrange the hair on top of the horse's neck as though caused by a collar. They also chafe the horse's sides as though done by the harness. This is done to make the innocent purchaser believe that the horse received these scars while doing hard work in the harness while it is possible that the hose will not pull a pound in the harness. Caution to Buyer - Insist on seeing the horse work and pull a heavy load.
9. "Doctoring" a Cribber. [compulsive chewing on fences] To conceal the fact that a horse is a cribber, horse traders sometime saw between the incisor teeth or drive small wedges between them or make the mouth sore by cutting or burning the gums. The horse is not likely to crib while his mouth is very sore. Caution to Buyer - Examine the mouth and incisor teeth very carefully before buying.
10. Winding a Horse. A common trick of horse traders when showing a broken winded horse is to gallop past the buyer, then go slow and consume as much time as possible in turning. This allows the horse to catch his wind and not show his broken wind when galloping past the buyer. Sometimes the horse is made to appear as though trying to run away and thus requiring to be held in. The head is also checked high and the nose kept poked out as much as possible. Caution to Buyer - Insist on the horse being galloped fast for a considerable distance and the nose pulled well into the breast.
11. "Bishoping". For nearly a hundred years gypsies and dishonest horse traders have been know to "Bishop" the teeth, thus making an old horse appear young to the casual observer. The operation consists in cutting cups in the table surface and staining them with nitrate of silver, thereby giving the old tooth the appearance of a much younger one. Special tools are made for this purpose and it is astonishing how expert some of the horse traders have become in this art. Caution to Buyer - An old horse seldom has the appearance of a young one, and the teeth have an entirely different appearance, The difference will readily be noticed upon comparison.
12. The "Stool-Pigeon" Swindler. In all large cities, it is common practice with many disreputable horse dealers to advertise a horse as being the property of Mrs.Blank, who is represented to the customer as a widow. She, of course, is always dressed in black and sheds tears with ease while in reality she is the "stool-pigeon"or accomplice of the swindler. Various misrepresentations are made and after the swindle is discovered by the purchaser he is either unable to find the sellers or he finds them to be irresponsible parties from who no damages can be collected. I have known operators of this kind to rent as many as six or eight barns in various parts of the city and advertise a horse fist at one and then at another. Caution to Buyer - Beware of "stool-pigeons" and widows (when buying horses) and have a doubt in your mind when answering advertisements of this kind. Don't be influenced by the horse stories of strangers but buy the horse on its merits.
13. Matching a Fractious [irritable & unruly] Horse with a Lazy One. To deceive innocent purchasers, dishonest dealers sometimes dope an unmanageable horse with drugs to make him quiet and gentle. Or, sometimes the horse is walked or driven, before shown for sale, until he is nearly exhausted. These things are also done to match a fractious horse with a quiet, lazy one and make them travel well together. Caution to Buyer - In matching horses never decide too quickly and especially if the animal impresses you as being vicious or excitable for he may have been "fixed" to deceive you.
14. The Straw and Stringhalt Trick. When horses show stringhalt [yanking up & momentarily halting of hind legs] the trader very often accounts for it by saying it is a habit contracted on account of being bedded deeply in rye straw, thus obliging the hose to life his feet high while walking about in the box stall. Caution to Buyer - Don't accept an excuse or apology for an ailment of this kind. The excuse is generally made of "straw".
15. The Dark Trick. Horse traders frequently desire to dispose of horses that are suffering from moon blindness (periodic ophthamalia [inflammation of the eye]) and this is an incurable eye defect which is much worse at some times than others. These horses are usually disposed of in the evening or at the time when they show the defect the least. Caution to Buyer - Never buy a horse in the dark. Notice that both eyes are the same size, and that the lids are normal and the eyeballs transparent and not of a bluish color.
16. Stuffing the Ears. The ears of nervous and excitable horses are often stuffed with cotton, wool or oakum [fibers from unwound rope] to render the animal deaf and thus prevent his becoming frightened by noise. Caution to Buyer - Always examine both ears closely.
17. The Meaning of Many Scars. Scars are frequently the result of runaways or falling during a fit. The animal may be unmanageable or subject to blind staggers or the scars may have been produced by injuries received while rolling and tumbling with frequent attacks of colic. Caution to Buyer - Beware of a horse with many scars unless you know what caused them.
Source: The People's Home Library