STABLE FITTINGS 



233 



fixed under or over it, he can readily be relieved by striking upwards the 

 ring (a) which liberates the hook (b), and allows the bail (c) to fall to the 

 ground. A better plan is to use a plank of 

 elm instead of a pole for the bail, and the 

 difference of cost is not very great. I have 

 myself adopted this plan with advantage in a 

 two stalled stable which is too narrow for a 

 travis, the whole width for two horses being 

 barely 1 ft. Here, of course, two stalls would 

 be unsafe, for no horse can be accommodated 

 properly with less than 5 ft. 6 in. from inside 

 to inside of stall-posts, and this would require 

 11 ft. 6 in., being 18 in. more than I had to 

 do with. I find that a plank of elm, 1 h in. in 

 thickness and 1 8 in. deep, will protect a horse 

 very effectually from the kicks of his neigh- 

 bour ; and as I happen to have had an in- 

 veterate kicker in one of the stalls for six 

 months, without injury to her fellow, the 

 trial has been a pretty severe one. The 

 hangings at each end are just the same as 

 for bails, a chain, in my stable, descending 

 from the ceiling, and no tail-post being used 

 on account of the propensities of the mare 

 n question. She would have demolished any 

 fixed post behind her in a single night; but the 

 hanging plank of elm not being a fixture, gave 

 way to her blows, and she soon left it alone. 



If the horse is tied up with one rein only, he can bite his neighbour with 

 great facility over the bail, but two reins are just as efficient with hanging 

 bails as with a travis, and these should never be neglected. 



The TRAVIS may be either of wood or iron, or partly of each material. 

 If cheapness is an object, all that is necessary is to fix a head and tail-post, 

 and connect these by three strong rails ; inch elm boards are then nailed 

 perpendicularly, and cut at the top to the proper sweep, or " ramp," as it is 

 called, after which a thin fillet of elm is bent to the shape and nailed on to 

 the top. Most travises, however, have an ornamental tail-post, and a 

 framed top rail, rebated on the lower edge to receive the boards. In the 

 present day iron, however, is substituted for wood ; but as, when cast, it is 

 very liable to break, it should be wrought for the ramps and cills. An 

 improved form of ramp is that made as a grating with a straight rail about 

 4 ft. from the floor, connected with the ramp by wrought iron upright bars. 

 Foreigners like cast-iron ornamental scrolls and panels, but these are dirt- 

 catchers, weak and dangerous. This grating ramp assists ventilation and 

 the horse's social instinct. The following are the prices of these articles, 



varying with the degree of ornamentation : — 



£ s. d. £ s. d. 

 Wrougbt-iron stable posts, witb ornamental cast tops, eacb 



from 100 to 270 



Wrougbt-iron ramp, eacb froin 12 to 15 



Ventilating ramp witb patent bars 276 to 500 



Wrougbt-iron cill, eacb from 076to0126 



