Freeland Tribune

SHORT-LIVED FIRE HORSES.

Impossible to Keep Them in Seasoned Condition for the Hard Strains.

The rush of a fire engine along the street is something that will cause even the most blase citizen to stop and look. There is something inspiring in the sight of the great horses tearing along. The horses appear to be athletes of their kind, and many stories have been written about them and the keen perception they have of their duties. It will surprise most persons to know that these horses are not athletes in the meaning that they are always in condition and hard training, and also cause surprise that their lives are comparatively short. Jacob Durrenberger, the superintendent of horses, who looks after the fire horses of the city of Buffalo, says that most of these fine-looking animals are soft as girls. The very confinement they have to undergo in being ready for a call at any moment takes them out of training, and while they are good for a short spurt they are never as hardened as the average old hack that is pegging around the streets all day in front of some sort of a delivery wagon.

The very best horses obtainable are bought for the service and many are rejected after being a few days in training. Speaking of these animals, Supt. Durrenberger said:

"It does not take long to teach the horses to discern just what is wanted of them, and many even get to know what calls directly concern them. But big and strong as they appear, and as they are, they are not the equine athletes many folks imagine. Down town they have many runs every month, and in the outlying districts the calls will not average a dozen in the same time. The animals in a suburban engine house have more chance for exercise than those in the heart of the city. The runs are always heart-breaking and it is queer that most of the animals first break down over the back. The big engines are very heavy, running into the thousands of pounds, and even with three horses pulling them it tells across the back in a very few years. That is how most of them go, and when they are unfit for the fire service they may yet be most serviceable animals for lighter work.

"They know their business, and, as far as a man can judge, take a great delight in making the runs when the gong taps. One horse will teach another, and two old timers with a raw recruit will help him along and push him into place if he appears to be letting the excitement of the occasion get away with him. While the down town runs are never very far, they are made at great speed, and the wrench, for instance, when a big engine slips from a car track is a greater strain on the horses than most people imagine. In the outlying districts the horses have longer runs, but fewer of them, and generally the apparatus is lighter. But whether in the outlying districts or downtown all of these animals are in confinement.

"When they make a run they run hard, but they do not get enough exercise to keep their muscles hard, and they are flabby. For instance, they are taken out and ridden up and down the block for half an hour at a time, but that is scarcely as much exercise as a man in prison gets daily to keep him in only average condition. These horses have the hardest kind of pulling to do when they are called on for work and a very lazy existence in between. The result is that the strain of their pulls and runs breaks them across the back after they have been but a few years in the service.

"Once in a while one hears of some old fire horse that has been years in the service, but the chances are that he has been a giant among his kind, or that, although working in the department, he has been doing some other labor than pulling a big engine. I know that the general idea is that the fire department horses are the best athletes of their kind, but a little thinking over these facts about hard runs and no exercise will convince any one that they are using up their vitality every time the gong is rung. Then, again, they often have to make long, cold waits when a big fire is actually in progress, and that is not good for them. If a horse is fairly intelligent he will learn his lesson in a very few days, and anything a horse learns he is proud to do and show off. Hence the seeming avidity of the engine horses to jump at the tap of the bell. There are horses who can tell, almost before the harness has been snapped on them, whether the call is for their district or not, and the excitement will die away on them as soon as they know they will be returned to their stalls."—Buffalo Times.