ti»0 ANNUAL. REPORT OF TIIK <>rr. Dm, 



and vigor ui the animals confined therein. It should always b» 

 borne in mind that the breathing of pure air is absolutely neces- 

 sary for the existence of both man and beast, and in proportion to 

 the purity of the air in which the animal is stabled, will be found 

 the greater or lesser vigor and health and the consequent working 

 of all the organs of the body. The effect of several horses confined 

 in a closed stable is to impoison the air, and jet, even at the present 

 day, there are too many who carefully close every aperture by which 

 a breath of fresh air can in no way gain admission. What of neces- 

 sity must be the inevitable result? The breathing of every animal 

 contaminates and vitiates the air, and when, in the course of the 

 night, this foul and impure air passes again and again through the 

 lungs, the blood cannot undergo its proper and natural change. 

 The result is impaired digestion, the brain and nervous system will 

 sutler and all the functions of the body will be more or less dis- 

 turbed, and one need not be surprised at finding sore throat, in- 

 flamed lungs, diseased eyes, mange and perhaps glanders in cases 

 where such conditions exist. 



When disease begins to appear among the inhabitants of these 

 unventilated stables, it is no wonder that it should spread. When 

 influenza breaks out in the spring or autumn it is, in very many 

 cases, easy to trace it to one of these pest stables, and, moreover, it 

 is particularly fatal in such places. Horses stabled in small num- 

 bers, that are rationally treated, have it comparatively seldom, and 

 usually in a mild form. 



The temperature of a stable is an important consideration. It 

 should not exceed 70 degrees F. in the summer season or fall be- 

 low 40 degrees F. in the winter. The temperature can be readily 

 ascertained by a thermometer which no establishment should be 

 without. In some instances a horse is kept in a poorly ventilated 

 stable, and stands in this unnatural vapor for eighteen or twenty 

 hours and is then suddenly stripped of all his clothing, led into 

 the open air aud there kept for two hours or more when the tem- 

 perature is from 15 to 20 degrees below that of the stable. Putting 

 the inhumanity of this out of the question, does it not stand to 

 reason that an animal thus unnaturally and absurdedly treated is 

 subjected to excellent opportunities for the contraction of catarrh, 

 rheumatism and various other diseases? It is not generally known, 

 but should be understood, that the return to a warm stable is as 

 dangerous as the change from a heated atmosphere to a cold and 

 biting air. It is the sudden change of temperature, whether from 

 heat to cold or the opposite that causes the mischief aud yearly 

 destroys thousands of horses. 



Th matter of light in a stable has been referred to in connection 

 with the dairy stable aud will apply with equal force to the horse 

 stable. A large majority of pur stables are foul and unhealthy, and 

 the foulness and unhealthiness is invariably caused by darkness: 

 whereas, if stables were properly lighted, dirt and foul matter would 

 be seen and their accumulation prevented. As it is, both in cities 

 and in the country, darkness covers a multitude of sins, even in 

 establishments that are well ordered otherwise. 



There can be no doubt that many a good horse has been made 

 totallv blind by being kept in a dark gloomy stall. The eye is a 

 delicate structure, and when an animal, kept in a dark place, is sud 



