STABLE FITTINGS 



237 



The halter t^-eings should be made of leather, so as to work without noise 

 through the ring on the manger, with a short piece of chain at the end to 

 prevent gnawing. The strap has a weight at the other end covered with 

 india-rubber, and working in an iron casing fixed against the wall. When 

 well made such a tycing works smoothly and noiselessly, and is much safer 

 than the old ball and rope, as the horse cannot get his leg caught in it. 



The only remaining fitting yet to be described is the covering of the 

 walls over the mangers. Wood is not good here, for the moisture from the 

 horse's breath and the food foul the joints, and it is usual to use Portland 

 cement or glazed tiles ; the latter are superior in cleanliness and appearance. 

 They should never be ^vhite, as the glare is very injurious to the eyesight of 



IRON FITTINGS FOR STALLS AND LOOSE BOX. 



the horse ; bufF, pale green, blue, or smoke colour are the best. I do not, how- 

 ever, like the liigh glaze which such tiles have, on account of the shine being 

 often startling to the horse. The St. Pancras Iron Works Company has 

 recently brought out a very beautiful tile of all colours, which, while being 

 as impervious as the old ones, is devoid of the objectionable glaze : the cost 

 of a set for a stall is £2 2s. Ocl. 



I have shown these tiles in the annexed engraving of a couple of stalls 

 and a loose box. Here all the iron fittings which I have already described 

 are introduced, and my reader may judge for himself of their appearance, 

 which is certainly, in my opinion, extremely neat and well adapted to the 

 requirements of the horse. The stalls show the iron manger, rack, and 

 trough, and the wrought-iron posts to the travis, with iron ramp, as described 

 at page 233. The floor is laid with blue paviors, cut to fit the wrought-iron 

 gutters alluded to at page 228. The partition from the stalls is of open 

 iron- work. The only objection that I know to these very complete fittings 

 is on the score of expense. 



Projections of all kinds are sometimes to be carefully avoided, either 



