July 2, 1920.] Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. 515 



Stables. 

 In this country, where so few horses apart from those in the cities are stablfed, 

 this question is not of such importance as in Europe or America, but the main 

 principles which should govern the construction of a stable may be touched 

 upon. Firstly, if the horses are to live in the stables and are not merely pu.t 

 in for an hour or so when feeding or at odd times, a floor impervious to 

 moisture is necessary. In good stables these floors are made of tiles (non- 

 slipping) especially manufactured for the purpose. Concrete makes a good 

 impervious floor, but is slipper}^, and is apt to bi-eak up under the weight of 

 the horse. Bricks sec in mortar are good for a time, but wear into holes. 

 Wood is often used, and if solid beams such as railway sleepers are used, and 

 the space between each is well rammed, a very fair floor can be made, but 

 moisture will eventually soak in. Another type of wooden floor is composed 

 of strong battens with spaces left between so tbat the urine runs through 

 into drains cut under the stable, but sooner or later the earth there will 

 become a cesspool. In many cases the earth is simply rammed hard, but 

 such floors are easily bi'oken up and the part immediately around the animals' 

 hind legs is apt to become a quagmire. No flooring can be considered satis- 

 factory which can become permeated with urine. The effect of such a 

 state of aff"airs is bad in two ways — the ammonia given off from the 

 urine and dung renders the atmosphere unhealthy, and the constant 

 standing in a mixture of urine-soaked dung and earth is one of the 

 commonest contributing causes of thrush, canker and other diseases of 

 the horse's foot. 



In cases where horses are only brought into the stable for feeding, the 

 earthen floor is quite satisfactory, providing it is kept clean and free from 

 dung, and prevented from working into holes. 



Ample light is necessary in all stables — in fact, ip any building in which 

 stock are to live ; darkness and dirt and disease have always gone together. 

 It is difliicult to understand the reason which prompted the builders of old 

 stables to exclude so much light, Ijut they certainly did so. The confinement 

 of animals in semi-darkiiess during the daytime must to some extent act 

 deleteiiously on the eyesight, and has been by some associated with periodic 

 ophthalmia. Ventilation must be provided, but in such a way that it does 

 not create continuous draughts through the building. For this reason over- 

 head ventilation is of very great value, allowing as it does free escape for the 

 heated air rising from the stable. No living rooms or feed stores should be 

 placed over a stable. This is another matter in which most old stables are 

 faulty, the idea apparently having been to create as stuffy and unhealthy an 

 atmosphere as possible. The stable walls may be of brick, wood, or other 

 material, and if the inside is smooth so that it can be washed down and 

 disinfected so much the better. ■ All doors and passages in stables should be 

 wide and high, for many a horse has been sei-iously injured when passing 

 through narrow and low doorways. The height of doors should be 8 feet 

 and the width not less than 3 feet 8 inches. Stable doors are usually 

 divided into two parts, lower and upper, so that the smaller upper portion 



