HOVEL AND PADDOCK 185 



natural ends, though not so level, are a much better defence, and last 

 longer than the cut gorse. In the interior the stalks sometimes project, 

 and if so they must be smoothly trimmed off. The roof should be covered 

 in with some material, which is cool in summer and warm in winter, and 

 for this purpose, therefore, nothing is so bad as iron, or so good as thatch. 

 Objections are sometimes made to the latter material that it hai-bours 

 vermin, but if the mares are well fed, I must doubt their ever becoming 

 lousy, unless these parasites are introduced by some animal from without. 

 Tiles are preferable to slates, and on the average they are also cheaper. 

 Pantiles are not easily made proof against the wind, but plane-tiles, when 

 properly pointed, are quite air-tight, and are far warmer in cold weather 

 than slates, while they are also cooler in summer. The door should be at 

 least four feet or four feet six inches wide, and seven feet to seven feet six 

 inches high, with all the angles to the sides and top of the frame rounded 

 off to prevent accident from striking the hip or head. The door, of oak 

 or elm, should be cut in half across the middle, so as to allow the lower 

 half to be shut, while the upper, being open, admits a free supply of air. 

 A small window should be inserted in the wall, for light and ventilation 

 when the door is closed. When straw is abundant it is usual to leave the 

 floor in its natural state, the litter absorbing all that falls from the mare 

 and foal, and being changed often enough to keep the place dry. In case, 

 however, this cannot be done, the flooring should be similar to that for 

 ordinary stables, that is to say, laid with bricks or pebbles, clinkers being 

 much too expensive for such a purpose. Where chalk is abundant, it forms 

 an excellent floor, if a drain is cut all round the building, and the soil 

 being taken out to the depth of nearly a foot, the chalk is filled in to a 

 little above the level of the natural surface, and is then well rammed down, 

 a drain and trap being inserted in the middle. The last point which requires 

 consideration is the kind of manger which is best adapted to the use of the 

 mare and her foal, if the latter is to be fed in the way proper to thorough- 

 bred stock. In any case, a wooden manger of the ordinary kind should 

 be fixed, with a staple for the rack-chain to fasten her up. A hay rack 

 should be so arranged that it can be filled from the outside without diffi- 

 culty; which is easily managed by building a little wooden excrescence on 

 to one of the outer walls, leaving a hole in the latter for the mare to feed 

 herself through. A wooden lid, covered with zinc, lifts up and permits 

 the introduction of the fodder without the necessity for carrying a fork 

 into the hovel, which will sometimes injure the mare or her foal. Well- 

 bred young animals of this species are so mischievous that when shut up 

 they will jump into any place which can possibly hold them, and many a 

 broken leg or back has ensued from an open hay-rack, placed near the 

 ground, attracting the gambols of a foal. A few wooden bars nailed across 

 the opening effectually prevents this, while the addition of a low manger 

 in another corner provides for the feeding of the foal with kibbled oats, 

 if such should be the plan adopted, and the fourth is occupied by a water- 

 tank. External to the hovel the only provision necessary is a yard, which 

 may be omitted if the paddock is always dry from the land being well 

 drained. Unless this is the case, however, the yard should always be 

 provided, as there are many days throughout the year when the weather 

 is fine enough overhead to allow of the foal bein^ turned out of doors with 



