Among the most interesting institutions in this city are the Fire Department’s big hospital and training stables in West Ninety-Ninth Street. Here the world-famous New York fire horse passes his examination and is accepted and get his first lessons in the art of fire fighting. Here he is brought when scorched or bruised. Or cut or sprained. To be doctored and nursed back to strength and usefulness. And from here he is borne away dead. Or is condemned and sold to the highest bidder to end his days in front of a truck or a coal cart-the reward of a big city for gallantry displayed in action.
Anywhere from seventy to eighty horses a year are trained to take the places of those killed or crippled in service or to join newly organized companies scattered throughout the outlying districts of our continually growing town. Yearly more than a hundred horses are brought to the hospital to be sewed up and bandaged and operated on by the official veterinary and his assistants. And yearly some sixty horses are stricken from the training stables’ rolls either as “died in the discharge of duty “or “condemned because of unfitness”.
Of all the firemen in the department, probably none knows as much and can talk so interestingly about the fire horses of New York as Chief Joseph Shea, The official veterinary in charge of the hospital and training stables, and the man who examines and passes upon and trains every beast bought by the city for fire purposes.
“You may be surprised but all we pay for fire horses is $250 each “the Chief said in answer to a question. “We contract with the lowest bidder. And throughout the year he is obliged to supply us with horses whenever called upon. I often wondered at the absurd rate asked for a horse that is physically and mentally perfect and without blemish, but we never had trouble getting all the horses we wanted at this low figure. And our specifications are pretty stiff at that.
“Most of our horse comes from the upper part of New York State, from the big farms around Rochester. Some come to us from the West. But the New York State horse is about as fine a beast as we can find for our purposes, and that’s where most of the animals in the department hail from.
“The contractor notifies us that he has one or two or a dozen horses which he thinks will fill our purpose, and he is ordered to send them on trial. Height. Weight, &c., being satisfactory, the first step is to examine the candidate for soundness. I always look first at the eyes. An animal with what we call ‘pig’s eyes’ is apt to be near-sighted. His eyes are sunk deep in his head. He’s the sort of horse that will stumble and fall all over himself and that ought to wear spectacles. A horse set with eyes too far out of his head is likewise apt to suffer in sight. Look at the eyes of any fire horse and see what is meant by properly set eyes, and if you see a brute wide between the eyes, put him down as knowing next most to yourself. A horse with eyes set close together doesn’t seem to have enough room for much brain, and ,sure as fate, you couldn’t teach him anything if you pumped at him for a month of Sundays.
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I’ve been researching fire horses for a novel and was glad to find your blog entries. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Melinda in Australia