HALTERED HORSES IN THE BUSH.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 160, 17 May 1873, Page 3

HALTERED HORSES IN THE BUSH.

Ir appears to bo a not uncommon — but, at the same time, a j'ory thoughtless and improper practice — to turn out horses N^i a halter mude IHst on tlieir houil-* ; for the convenience, as wo suppose, of catching tho animal at such times as it may bo wanted However careful lj |fn.-toned, tho ropo 80 left on is almost sure to bo productive of danger to the animal, and may perhaps even eamo its deatl 1 . A caso of this kind is reported to have occurred, which it may be well to chronicle as a warning. Sometime- since, as we are informed, a young horse was "turned out" (or got nw.iy) into the bush with n new halter on ; and, after the lapse of a considerable interval, the poor brute was discovered dead in the wilderness, literally starved to death. On dissecting the head the rope was found to have caused a deep hollow on the surface of the outer bone of the lower jaw — a groove large enough fur a man to lay his forefinger therein. The «tout rope (probably a new one) must have caton right through tin 1 llesh, and even have strongly modified the growing bones of the animal, thereby causing, of course, the most intense suffering. As long as the wenther was wet the ropo would be likely to remain tolerably slack, but when the hot dry w either set in, tho firmly tied ropo would contract, and thus would so efTertually prevent the horse from opening his jaws as to x/arce him. The halter was found, we arc told, in a good state of prcser\ ation. The horse was dissected by Mr J. W. Hill, a veterinary-sur-geon, lately resident in Sydney. Messrs Lamnrtiniere and Company, of 320, George street, have executed three excellont photographs of tho skull of this luckless horse, who^p death was very clearly due to being injudiciously left at large with a halter on.