A Foolish Custom | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 9, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 38.

A Foolish Custom.

NEXT to the cruel check-rein, blinds are one of the most useless and ugly appendages of the horse-gear. They are not only useless, but injurious to the eye-sight. The London Lancet, which is acknowledged to be the leading medical journal of the world, condemns the use of blinders in the strongest terms. The argument used in favor of blinders, that horses are afraid of passing carriages, is weak and unfounded. A horse is not half as likely to be frightened if he is allowed to see what is going on as he is when half-blinded. If allowed to see everything, he becomes familiar with all objects. If half blinded, every stirring leaf and paper excites a nervous horse for the reason that he gets no clear view of the object, and therefore magnifies all half-discerned objects into spooks. Besides, the most beautiful feature of the horse is the eye; and if not hid from our gaze, would serve to denote sickness, pain, or pleasure. Many a time would a driver spare the whip on seeing the animal's imploring eye. The ugly, disagreeable, and useless blinders should be condemned by every intelligent horseman. Men never use them on saddle-horses—why should they be used on carriage-horses? Where one saddle-horse is frightened, a hundred carriage-horses run away, showing conclusively that the blinder is a nuisance.—Our Dumb Animals.