34G THE HORSE. 



constanllv in motion after his gveat-coat and all his body clothes have been 

 stripped iVom him, and he has been turned out naked, when the mercury in 

 the tiiermometcr is below the freezing point? Does he not often stand, hour 

 after hour, in tiie road or the street, while his owner is warming himself 

 within, and this perhaps after every poi>e has been opened by a brushing 

 gallop; and his susceptibility to the painful and the injurious influence of 

 cold lias been excited to the utmost? 



It is not so generally known as it ought to be, that the return to a hot 

 stable is quite as dangerous as tiie change from a heated atmos]ihere to a 

 cold and biting air. Many a horse, that has travelled without harm over 

 a bleak country, has been suddenly seized with inflammation and fever 

 when he has, immediately at the end of his journey, been surrounded wi;h 

 heated and foul air. It is the sudden change of temperature, whether 

 from heat to cold, or from cold to heat, that does the mischief, and yearly 

 destroys a multitude of horses. 



The stable sliould be as large, compared with the number of horses 

 which it is destined to contain, as circumstances will allow. A stable for 

 six horses should not be less than forty feet in length, and thirteen or 

 fourteen feet wide. If there be no loft above, the inside of the roof should 

 always be plastered, to prevent direct currents of air and occasional drop- 

 pings from broken tiles ; and the heated and foul air should escape, and 

 cool and pure air be admitted, by elevation of the central tiles; or by large 

 tubes carried through the roof, with caps a little above them to prevent the 

 beating in of the rain; or by gratings placed high up in the walls. These 

 latter apertures should be as far above the horses as they can conveniently 

 be placed, by wjiich means all injurious draught w-ill be prevented. 



If there is a loft above the stable, the ceiling should be plastej-ed in order 

 to prevent the foul air from penetrating to the hay above, and injuring both 

 its taste and its wholesomeness; and no openings should be allowed above 

 the racks, through which the hay may be thrown into the rack, for they 

 also will permit the foul air to ascend to the provender, and, in the act of 

 /illing the rack, and while the horse is eagerly gazing upward for his food, 

 many a grass-seed has fallen into his eye, and produced considerable in- 

 flammation ; while at other times, when the careless groom has lelt open the 

 trap-door, a stream of cold air beats down on the head of the horse. 



The stable with a loft over it, should never be less than twelve feet high, 

 and proper ventilation should be secured 'either by tubes carried up 

 through the loft to the roof, or by gratings close to the ceiling. These 

 gratings or openings should be enlarged or contracted by means of a 

 covering or shutter, so that during spring, summer, and autumn, the stable 

 should possess nearly the same temperature with the open air, and, in 

 winter, a temperature not more than ten degrees above that of the external 

 atmosphere. A hot stable has, in the mind of the groom, been long connected 

 with a glossy coat. The latter, it is thought, cannot be attained without 

 the former. To this we should reply that, in winter, a thin, glossy coat is 

 not desirable. Nature gives to every animal a warmer clothing when the 

 cold weather approaches. The horse acquires a thicker and a lengthened 

 coat, in order to defend him from the surrounding cold. Man puts on an 

 additional and a warmer covering, and his comfort is increased, and his 

 health preserved by it. He who knows any thing of the horse, or cares 

 any thing for his enjoyment, will not object to a coat a little longer and a 

 little roughened, when the wintry wind blows bleak. The coat, however, 

 need not be so long as to be unsightly ; and warm clothing, even in a cool 

 stable, will, with plenty of honest grooming, keep the hair suHiciently 



