148 Among Men and Horses. 



far as warmth is concerned, between sleeping on the wooden 

 deck of a ship, and on the ground. Even with straw on 

 stone or earth, we cannot always insure the certainty of the 

 horse's bedding remaining unshifted and dry. It is instructive 

 to note that navicular disease is particularly rife among horses 

 which stand for the most part on cold stones. It is notorious 

 that cavalry horses which have only paving-stones under them 

 during the day, are often affected by this complaint ; although 

 their work is of a comparatively light description. I need 

 hardly say that as the custom of the horse, when in a state of 

 nature, is to keep moving about while grazing, the circulation 

 of blood in his feet quickly becomes impeded during con- 

 finement, and that this tendency to stagnation of blood in the 

 extremities will be favoured by the contact of the feet with 

 a good conductor of heat, like stone or earth. The effect of 

 cold being to drive the blood away from the chilled part, it will, 

 if unduly prolonged, be apt to give rise to inflammation on 

 the return of the blood to the blood-vessels, especially, 

 if the renewed circulation be strongly stimulated. The 

 fact that blood vessels which have been deprived of their 

 contents for a considerable time, become inflamed by the 

 return of this fluid, is well demonstrated by cases of frost- 

 bite. 



A good way to make a wood flooring for a stall or loose 

 box, is, first of all, to put down a layer of smooth concrete, 

 which of course should be waterproof, and to have it slope 

 two or three inches outwards, and also towards its centre, 

 so as to ensure drainage. A slightly-raised ledge, about 

 four inches wide, upon which the planks could rest, might run 

 down each side. The boards might be nine inches wide 

 by three or four inches thick, and should be placed close to 

 each other. It would be well to slightly bevel off the sharp 

 edges of the planks, which, if required, might be saturated with 

 some appropriate preservative application, such as creosote. 

 Drainage between the boards might be provided for by 

 notches on their sides, if necessary. When the animal leaves 



