Spectacles for Horses.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 165, 14 August 1886, Page 4

Spectacles for Horses.

Bays the " Philadelphia New* " t— sw,many years it was a disputed question' whether 6r ; not horses andjmules'were eub(ec\to myopia, or near-sightedness. * Authorities on matters pertaining to the different dieeasea of horses' eyes differ on the question; but Within late years it has become /a, 'settled veterinary surgeons that horses, lilcie humans, •re liable to be short-sighted. The peculiar Actions of numerous' animals led vita an investigation of this affliction, 'ana it was found to exist principally "in ,'griy horses and grey mules. ' - . rV- ' Drirers have frequently found that their torses will jog along the street;] apparently nnalarmed by the objects that usually produce terror in timid horses, until within a few yards, when they will manifest the greatest alarm and immediately. rear or balk.. Investigation of the cause of such conduct has . led to the conclusion that they were afflicted . with short-sightedness, and that their {right was caused by the sudden appearance cf the atrange thing within *theif line ' of limited vision. Valuable horees have been so afflicted, and no remedy has as yet been discovered. A Philadelphia gentleman, 'who owns and drives a valuable roadster, was very _ much annoyed to discover, 'that hieanunal was afflicted "with this w rather . unusual malady. He had plenty of leisure, and he determined that he would, more for "amusement than for practical use, investigate the subject, and endeavour to find some way of making his horse see as well as any' other. He very quickly found that a medical remedy was out of the question/ so he obtained'several tense's and had a 'halter like arrangement made for the head, with a ''regular spectacle frame for over the eyes. ' He then went into a series of measurements, such as oculists make to find the lens which wduld remedy the defect. l( When I found the right pair of lenses," 1 he said, "I had the greatest x trouble to keep the horse from smashing things. He Baw too much. His sight was so much improved that he saw objects in the stable which he had never seen before, and when I first kept the spectacles on him regularly, • he used to spend most of- his time kicking at blankets, stable coats,- and harness that were near him. ' Then he seemed to discover that the spectacles were responsible for the unusual sights. -He Used to break them off by rubbing his head against the manger or sides of the stall. * I then changed the frame for a lighter one, and fixed it on in such a manner that he hardly felt it, and be soon grew accustomed to the new order of things. Now he calls for his spectacles as regularly every morning as he does for hia breakfast, and he will not allow anything to be done for him until his * specs ' are put on. He has grown rather proud oi them, and I have had a pair of regular nose glasses made for him, with a light chain dangling over one ear, and when he has them on he acts like a regular dandy." " "So, I never put the glasses on him when I drive out," continued the gentleman, in response to an inquiry ; *' 1 don't care about being laughed at by the people I meet on the road, and a horse wearing glasses would certainly cauee ridicule.' I think, though, that eventually horYe's^wearing glasses will be as common Wsfght as spectacled men, for I am Bure that 3 the first man who had the temerity to appear on the streets wearing a pair of glasses was as much laughed at as a horse would be now. " 1 had considerable fun when 1 started my experiments with one of the mules that Is used at my works He proved that he was near-sighted by his actions on many different occasions. I thought I would try to benefit him by putting the glasses on him. When I first put them on he came near of making a total wreck of the stable. While I was adjusting the harness which held them on his head he stood quiet enough. As soon as I let go my hold of his head he just took a look round to gauge things. He evidently concluded to experiment with them, and, taking sight on a coach dog that was an interested] spectator in the proceedings, he swung around and fixed himself in what he thought was a good kicking distance, and then he let go both heels. He had with the glasses misjudged his distance and missed, a most unusual thing with a mule. Such a look of disgust as that mule threw on me I never saw. His ears hung limp, and the drooping upper lip gave him the most woebegone look I ever saw, and he simply sat down on the heels that he thought were useless evermore, and I could almost swear I saw tears ready to flow from his eyes " Then he got mad and began a promiscuous kicking, and before long there was a good supply of firewood lying in the stable. He smashed the glasses and a halfdozen other pairs that I afterward put on him, and I could not get him ueed to them. I gave him up after a while, and concluded that a mule is ( an onery cu9S ' and doesn't want to be benefited by science."