LITTER. .159 



character, are directly or indirectly to be attributed to a deficient supply of air, 

 cruel exaction of work, and insufficient or bad fare. Each of these evils is to 

 be dreaded each is, in a manner, watching for its prey ; and when they are 

 combined, more than half of the inmates of the stable are often swept away. 



Every stable should possess within itself a certain degree of ventilation. The 

 cost of this would be trifling, and its saving in the preservation of valuable animals 

 may be immense. The apertures need not be large, and the whole may be so 

 contrived that no direct current of air shall fall on the horse. 



A gentleman's stable should never be without a thermometer. The tempe- 

 rature should seldom exceed 70 in the summer, or sink below 40 or 60 iu 

 the winter. 



LITTER. 



Having spoken of the vapour of hartshorn, which is so rapidly and so plenti- 

 fully given out from the urine of a horse in a heated stable, we next take into 

 consideration the subject of litter. The first caution is frequently to remove it. 

 The early extrication of gas shows the rapid putrefaction of the urine ; and the 

 consequence of which will be the rapid putrefaction of the litter that has been 

 moistened by it. Everything hastening to decomposition should be carefully 

 removed where life and health are to be preserved. The litter that has been 

 much wetted or at all softened by the urine, and is beginning to decay, should 

 be swept away every morning ; the greater part of the remainder may then be 

 piled under the manger; a little being left to prevent the painful and injurious 

 pressure of the feet on the hard pavement during the day. The soiled and 

 macerated portion of that which was left should be removed at night. In the 

 better kind of stables, however, the stalls should be completely emptied every 

 morning. 



No heap of fermenting dung should be suffered to remain during the day in 

 the corner or in any part of the stable. With regard to this the directions of 

 the master should be peremptory. 



The stable should be so contrived that the urine shall quickly run off, and 

 the offensive and injurious vapour from the decomposing fluid arid the litter 

 will thus be materially lessened : if, however, the urine is carried away by 

 means of a gutter running along the stable, the floor of the stalls must slant 

 towards that gutter, and the declivity must not be so great as to strain the back 

 sinews, and become an occasional, although unsuspected, cause of lameness. 

 Mr. R. Lawrence well observes, that, " if the reader will stand for a few minutes 

 with his toes higher than his heels, the pain he will feel in the calves of his legs 

 will soon convince him of the truth of this remark. Hence, when a horse is not 

 eating, he always endeavours to find his level, either by standing across the stall 

 or else as far back as his halter will permit, so that his hind-legs may meet the 

 ascent of the other side of the channel." 



This inclination of the stall is also a frequent cause of contraction of the heels 

 of the foot, by throwing too great a proportion of the weight upon the toe and 

 removing that pressure on the heels which tends most to keep them open. 

 Care, therefore, must be taken that the slanting of the floor of the stalls shall 

 be no more than is sufficient to drain off the urine with tolerable rapidity. 

 Stalls of this kind certainly do best for mares ; but for horses we much prefer 

 those with a grating in the centre, and a slight inclination of the floor on every 

 side towards the middle. A short branch may communicate with a larger 

 drain, by means of which the urine may be carried off to a reservoir outside the 

 stable. Traps are now contrived, and may be procured at little expense, by means 

 of which neither any offensive smell nor current of air can pass through the grating. 



