REMEDIES FOR STABLE VICES. 257 
he has to do, that is to say, whether he is much exposed to the cold or 
not, that no rule can be laid down which is applicable to all stables, 
but I believe it may be asserted that none should be above 60°, or below 
50°, if it can be avoided. There are days in the summer season, when 
the air out of doors in the shade stands at 90° or 95°, and, of course, in 
such weather, it is impossible, even with the doors and windows wide 
open, to keep the stable at a lower degree, or even within several 
points of those above stated. So also, with a thermometer scarcely above 
zero, it will be difficult to keep the air wholesome, and yet to prevent its 
temperature falling lower than 45°, which, at such seasons, feels very 
warm to those who come in from the externalair. But, with these excep- 
tions, I think the rule which I have laid down is a good one. The 
warmer the stable, the better the coat looks, till it is exposed to the 
weather, and even if it is so, it will take no injury if the horse is kept 
moving, but if not, it soon becomes chilled, and not only does the general 
health suffer, but the appearance also. There is, however, another, and 
very serious objection to hot stables, consisting in their ill-effect upon 
the legs and feet, which inflame much more readily in a warm atmos- 
phere than in a cool one. I have often known horses stand severe rat- 
tling for months together, while standing in a stable which was so cold 
as to make their coats as rough as badgers, but when removed to warmer 
quarters, they have at once gone “all to pieces,” their legs or feet 
becoming inflamed from missing the refrigerating effect of cool air after 
their daily work. The body may easily be kept warm enough by extra 
clothing, and, if necessary, a hood and breastplate may be worn all day 
and all night, but not even wet bandages will cool the legs if they are 
surrounded by hot air. On the whole, therefore, for the private gentle- 
man’s stable, including those for hunters, hacks, and carriage horses, I 
should advise a regular temperature to be preserved as near 55° of Fahren- 
heit as possible. In coming in from the external air this will appear very 
warm to the sensations, but it is far below the high state of heat at 
which many of our stables were kept, until within the last few years. I 
have often known 70° to 75° of Fahrenheit insisted on as the lowest which 
would suffice to get a hunter into condition, but practice proves the reverse, 
and that with plenty of clothing he will do in a cool stable of the tem- 
verature I have recommended, far better than in one possessing 4 
higher range. The celebrated “Nimrod” (Mr. Apperley) was a great 
advocate for a hot stable, which he thought ought never to be reduced 
much below 70° or 75°; but his opinions, valuable as they undoubtedly 
are in the main, cannot be looked upon as in all points to be relied on. 
REMEDIES FOR STABLE VICES AND BAD HABITS. 
CRIB-BITING is a diseased condition of the stomach, for which there has 
never yet been a cure discovered, except on the principle of restraint. It 
inay, therefore, be considered under the present head. In crib-biting the 
teeth are applied to some fixed object—generally the manger, so as to 
afford a fulcrum for the muscles of the neck to act from, and by pre- 
venting this, or by contriving so that the contraction of the muscles of 
the neck shall give pain, the vicious habit is got rid of for the time. The 
inmost common method is to buckle a leather strap so tightly round the neck, 
just behind the jaw, that when the horse attempts to crib, he tightens the 
muscles of that part, and these being pressed against the strap, occasion 
such pain that the act is not completely carried out, and even if it ison the 
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