Harness

“ In the manufacture of harness we have arrived at a degree of perfection, to which the invention of the patent shining leather has mainly contributed. A handsome horse well harnessed is a noble sight; yet in no country, except England, is the art of [186] putting a horse into harness at all understood. ”

“ A Gentleman ordering a Set of Harness from a Saddler.
Edisbury Place, February 4th, 187—
Sir,
I send my coachman to consult with you as to the style and quality of a new set of double harness, which I shall shortly require. My own idea is that harness cannot be too light looking. I have also a great objection to a large amount of plating. My coachman will tell you the size of the horses ”

“ In this handbook it is proposed to treat the subject of harness making so fully that anyone possessing tact and sense can make a set of harness from the instructions given, or, at any rate, keep harness in good repair. A start will be made by describing the tools that will be necessary. ”

“ When there is a great slope in the border twines of a harness, it is often necessary to put heavier lingoes on it than on the centre, to keep the warp down. Of course, the less weight that has to be lifted is always a saving of power, and easier on the harness ”

“ Are you stranded? Oh, dear no, that sort of thing often happens. Promptly the syce produces from somewhere concealed about his body the little bit of string, and all is well again. The harness may break once again or even twice upon the homeward way, but that little bit of string gets you home at last. ”

“ HARNESS (from O. Fr. harneis or harnois; the ultimate origin is obscure; the Celtic origin which connects it with the Welsh haiarn, iron, has phonetic and other difficulties; the French is the origin of the Span. arnes, and Ger. Harnisch) , probably, in origin, gear, tackle, equipment in general, but early applied particularly to the body armour of a soldier, including the trappings of the horse; now the general term for the gear of an animal used for draft purposes, traces, collar, bridle, girth, breeching, &c. It is usually not applied to the saddle or bridle of a riding animal. ”

“ If we want to put the animal into single harness, right off, and if we have got the gear at hand, we may harness the horse, put the strait-jacket over the harness, buckling it up, just tight enough, to prevent him kicking when it is on ”

“ Pressure harness is when several threads of warp are drawn into each mail, and when the harness is drawn it remains stationary for several shots of ground texture, for which the sheds are sprung or pressed open by heddles. ”

“ The harness they put on is antiquated. A rough, ill-fitted collar at the best, they make its strain and friction past enduring, by placing it where the neck is most sensitive; and by mere continuous irritation this sensitiveness increases until the whole nature is quick and sore. ”

“ To make his old metaphor of double harness at all adequate to the subject which it sought to express, you must suppose many breeds of horses, and a great deal of very uneven and very unsuitable pairing of them by the grooms. ”

“ When you have learned him all this you may next put on the harness, carefully feeling him first, and give him to understand what you want him to do; as soon as he finds out you will not hurt him he will suffer the harness to be put on ”

“ In breaking horses for harness, after giving the powders, put the harness on gently, without startling him, and pat him gently, then fasten the chain to a log, which he will draw for an indefinite length of time. ”

“ Exercises of much the same kind as before are gone through, except that the strain on the muscles is now greater, seeing that almost every movement involves stretching the rubber bands to their fullest extent, and allowing them to return to their natural state slowly, not with a snap. The same principle is applied to the development of the legs and neck, ingenious devices in the shape of "harness"—forming an interesting branch of the system—being requisitioned for the purpose. ”

“ According to Parry (II, p. 517) , 532 the Iglulik harnesses consisted of three bights, one passing over the breast and shoulder and two under the fore legs.
Fig. 487. Ano or dog harness. (Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6730.)
It was mentioned at another place (p. 475) that in sealing a dog is taken out of the sledge to lead the hunter to the breathing hole. For this purpose the traces of some harnesses are made of two pieces, which are united by the sadniriaq, a clasp similar to that of the pitu (Figs. 487, 488) . ”

“ What a soothing, luxurious, drowsy way of travelling, to lie inside that slowly-moving mountain, listening to the tinkling of the horses’ bells, the occasional smacking of the carter’s whip, the smooth rolling of the great broad wheels, the rattle of the harness, the cheery good-nights of passing travellers jogging past on little short-stepped horses—all made pleasantly indistinct by the thick awning, which seemed made for lazy listening under, till one fell asleep! ”

“ Enter first the odd and then the even shafts. An 8 harness draw of this kind, of which three repeats are shown in Fig. 3, runs as follows: 1, 3, 5, 7, 2, 4, 6, 8.
Fig. 4 is a 12 harness draw of the same class.
POINT DRAWS
Fig. ”

“ I had placed her on my one knee as before, with her hands resting on the other, on which lay our chains. One arm was round her form, the other hand gripped the chains lest they should slip. She slumbered. The stars grew dim; I was awakened by a wild shriek and a jerk at my fetters. I had fallen asleep, the hand relaxed its hold, a movement of hers had thrown the chains from my knee towards the ground. The whole weight of the united mass was jerked on her slender wrists. What wonder that wild scream of anguish! She had fainted. I carried her to the fountain to bathe her bleeding arms. ”

“ Advantage might occasionally be derived if the back of the hand could tell us more than it does about the shapes of the surfaces touched. Why should the thigh near the knee be twice as perceptive as the middle of the thigh? And, last of all, why should the middle of the forearm, middle of the thigh, middle of the back of the neck, and middle of the back, all stand on the lowest level, as having but one-thirtieth of the perceptive power which the tip of the forefinger has? ”

“ For instance, when a man’s skeleton and a horse’s are set side by side, it becomes plain that the horse’s knee and hock do not answer, as is popularly supposed, to our elbow and knee, but to our wrist and ankle. ”

“ Think, too, what must have been the degree of that strength which could have thrust the body up such an aperture so forcibly that the united vigor of several persons was found barely sufficient to drag it down! Turn now to other indications of the employment of a vigor most marvellous. On the hearth were thick tresses, very thick tresses—of gray human hair. These had been torn out by the roots. You are aware of the great force necessary in tearing thus from the head even twenty or thirty hairs together. You saw the locks in question as well as myself. ”

“ For we move at will not only those members which are furnished with joints of solid bone, as the hands, feet, and fingers, but we move also at will those which are composed of slack and soft nerves: we can put them in motion, or stretch them out, or bend and twist them, or contract and stiffen them, as we do with the muscles of the mouth and face. ”

“ He sees each person directly from the front as he approaches, and his glance travels rapidly from feet to head. In this rapid glance he notes the gait, attitude, presence of flat feet, lameness, stiffness at ankle, knee, or hip, malformations of the body, observes the neck for goitre, muscular development, scars, enlarged glands, texture of skin, and finally as the immigrant comes up face to face, the examiner notes abnormalities of the features, eruptions, scars, paralysis, expression, etc. ”

“ Her chief trouble is from the returning vitality of the poor arm; the muscles knot all round it, and move on slowly by a quarter of an inch at a time, as the life advances: passing the shoulder was agony, and I dread the passing the elbow. Meantime, the rest of the arm is an independent being, acting by its independent muscular action, and is obliged to be constantly watched, as it will sometimes lay its heavy weight upon her chest, once clutched her by the throat and nearly strangled her, at others annoys her by stealing her pocket-handkerchiefs! ”

“ We emphasize this statement and insist upon it, the more from the frequency of the instances of error which have come under our notice, in which persons have insisted upon their view that the leg which is the seat of the lameness is that upon which he drops and which the animal is usually supposed to favor. ”

“ The pressure of the corset depriving, in a great measure, the muscles of the back, by which the upright position of the body is maintained, of their natural action, and the blood being prevented from circulating freely through their vessels, they become relaxed, and allow the body to bend ungracefully either to one side or forwards: in time, the curvature of the spine which results, becomes permanent, and the individual is often in this manner deformed for life. ”

“ The bones, to which a great proportion of the muscles in the body are attached, act as distinct levers. The muscles supply the power for moving the bones, and the joints act as fulcrums or points of support. The weight of the limb, the weight to be lifted, or the force to overcome, is the resistance.
74. Levers in the Body. In mechanics three classes of levers are described, according to the relative position of the power, the fulcrum, and the resistance. All the movements of the bones can be referred to one or another of these three classes. ”

“ The joints, or rather the ends of the bones which form them, display also in their configuration another use. The nerves, blood-vessels, and tendons which are necessary to the life, or for the motion of the limbs, must, it is evident in their way from the trunk of the body to the place of their destination, travel over the moveable joints; and it is no less evident that in this part of their course they will have from sudden motions, and from abrupt changes of curvature, to encounter the danger of compression, attrition, or laceration. ”

“ Strength begins to abandon the patient; he can no longer sustain himself on his hind legs; the posterior part of the trunk becomes paralyzed, the body exhales an unpleasant smell; the skin is thicker, and the cellular tissue is raised in different parts, especially about the kernals of the neck. ”

“ Next the [pg 25] arms are extended outwards in a straight line, each being bent in turn at the elbow, and the dumb-bell brought immediately above the shoulder. And here comes the student's first difficulty; for in extending the arms each time it is necessary to keep them straight and rigid in order that the muscles may be benefited by the strain. It is amusing to watch various pairs of arms gradually drooping as this exercise proceeds. ”

“ The blood lodges, as it were, in crannies and corners, and the apparatus for forcing it along, instead of being stronger, as in their case required, is weaker, in consequence of the weak state of the body. Hence we find that friction, with hair gloves, in many cases is absolutely necessary. ”

“ Let A place her left arm under the patient's head and shoulders as before, her right arm under the small of his back; let B place her right arm also under the small of his back and her left arm under his thighs, and at a signal let them lift together. In this way the weight is so evenly distributed that a heavy person can be lifted without great difficulty. ”

“ To turn to the right.—The hand, holding the reins the proper length, and having a correct appui or feeling of the horse’s mouth, must not be moved from its position, in a line with the crest; but the tightening of the rein, must be effected, by turning the wrist; the little finger, with the first joint pressing against the rein, is raised, and turned towards the right shoulder ”

“ All that can be known on the subject of lameness, is founded on a knowledge of anatomy and of the physiology of locomotion. Without such knowledge, no one can master the principles of the diagnosis of lameness. ”

“ She liked to put her fingers on the soft skin of his sides, or on the softness of his back, when he made the muscles hard underneath, the muscles developed very strong through riding; and she had a great thrill of excitement and passion, because of the unimpressible hardness of his body, that was so soft and smooth under her fingers, that came to her with such absolute service. ”

“ The bones and their ligaments, the muscles and their tendons, all the finer, and all the more flexible parts of the body, are as continually renewed, and as properly a secretion, as the saliva that flows from the mouth, or the moisture that bedews the surface. ”

“ Our first consideration should be the physiology of normal or healthy locomotion, that thence we may the more easily reach our conclusions touching lameness, or that which is abnormal, and by this process we ought to succeed in obtaining a clew to the solution of the first problem, to wit, in which leg is the seat of the lameness? ”

“ If, while holding the weight, you will grasp the elbow with the other hand, you will feel the point of attachment of the biceps, and discover that it does not seem to be, roughly speaking, more than about an inch from the joint. ”

“ Such facts, joined with every one's experience of sprains, show that during the extreme exertions to which limbs are now and then subject, there is a giving way of parts not quite up to the required level of strength. ”

“ TO NERVE A HORSE How to nerve a horse that is lame. Make a small incision about half way from the knee to the joint on the outside of the leg, and at the back part of the shin bone; you will find a small white tendon or cord ”

“ I noticed that many of those who carried heavy loads had the flesh and muscles on the shoulders thickened into a sort of pad, caused, I suppose, from the constant weight and friction of their burdens. ”