96 THE ORANGE COUNTY 



country stables we find the door made of two portions; the 

 upper one opening while the lower one is made fast. This 13 

 very well for farm stables, but this construction is not adapt- 

 ed for those where horses of the higher class are kept. With 

 a door of this description, open at the top, and a lofty win- 

 dow at the other end, open at the top, also a draught takes 

 place which is above the horse's back, and will ventilate the 

 stable thoroughly, especially if the stable be lofty, as it al- 

 ways should be, though it is in general constructed so as 

 to have a hay-loft over it a great convenience, no doubt 

 but one which should not be permitted to reduce the height 

 of the stable itself to some seven or eight feet: in which 

 circumscribed space a team of horses is often confined for 

 the night, under the necessity of breathing the same air as 

 they have expired. To expect horses to be healthy or sound 

 under such a condition is to expect an impossibility. 



A little consideration will show the importance of per- 

 fect ventilation. The air which the horse expires is as to- 

 tally different a susbstance to that which he inhales as wood 

 is from iron. He inhales atmospheric air, and the consti- 

 tuents of this pass through, his lungs and into his blood; 

 he expires carbonic acid gas, one of the gases most inim- 

 ical to animal life, as any man may convince himself who 

 will go down into an old unused well. If this deadly gas be 

 not carried off by proper ventilation, it becomes mixed with 

 the atmospheric air of the stable, and is again inhaled, to the 

 great injury of the animal':: health. The greatest care is 

 also requisite that ii should bo thoroughly carried off, and 

 this can only be done as it comes out from the animal's 

 body; when cold, it is heavier than atmospheric air, and 

 sinks to the floor of the stable, in which case it is not so 

 easily got rid of, but may lay the foundation of diseases in- 

 numerable, and will certainly shorten the usefulness, if not 

 the life, of the animal. From this, as much as from any 

 other cause, horses may truly bo said not to live out half 

 their days. 



A thorough ventilation is as necessary in the winter as the 

 summer, and there is infinitely less risk of injuring the horse 

 by cold, than by allowing him to breathe expired air over 

 again. If accustomed to proper ventilation he will never 

 take cold from any judicious means adapted to promote his 

 health and comfort. Pure air in winter is as necessary as in 

 summer, whilst in the summer the more that can be admitted 

 to cool the stable the better. The building should, then, be 

 so constructed as in summer to admit the greatest possible 



