CONSTRUCTION OF STABLES. 27 



as it appears to me, without any good reason. It is said that 

 the flexor muscles and back sinews are put upon the stretch, 

 to such a degree that they are injured. It is not easy to be- 

 lieve this. As far as I have been able to ascertain, no one 

 has ever seen a horse lamed in this way. The matter might 

 be decided by experiment. By making a horse stand for a 

 week or two upon a declivity somewhat greater than that re- 

 quired for draining the stall, it would be seen whether or not 

 it is possible to make him lame in this way. My own stable 

 has a fall of four inches on the ten feet, but it has never pro- 

 duced any injury to the back sinews. That these parts are 

 put upon the stretch when the horse is standing on a de- 

 clivity, need not be denied ; but the tension is never in an 

 injurious degree. In proof of the contrary, it is urged that 

 we feel pain in the back of our limbs when standing with the 

 toes elevated ; and that the horse, feeling the same uneasi- 

 ness, endeavors to relieve himself by standing as far in the 

 gangway as his collar will permit. It need only be men- 

 tioned that pain is not produced in our limbs by standing in 

 any stall, however much it slopes. The horse stands back 

 merely to look around him, or to avoid the foul vapor rising 

 from the litter which lies under his manger. He does the 

 same when there is no declivity in his stall. 



White objects to a sloping stall, and concludes by recom 

 mending that the inclination be no greater than one inch or 

 the yard. Not one stable in ten has more, and few have 

 quite so much. 



The contrivances to avoid inclination are useless ; there is 

 no need for them. It may be safely concluded that the ordi- 

 nary declivity is not in the least pernicious. Some old and 

 tender-footed horses, indeed, would be all the better of having 

 the stall more than usually elevated in front. It would save 

 the fore feet in a slight degree, and enable the horse to rise 

 with more ease. Dealers' stables are often raised in front to 

 a greater elevation than draining requires. The horses look 

 taller and higher in the withers when viewed in these stalls. 



PRECAUTIONS AGAINST RATS. In laying the floor, some 

 measures should be adopted to prevent or check the inroads 

 of these vermin. They are very destructive about stables. 

 They undermine the pavement, eat the wood-work, choke thfe 

 drains, and rob the horse of his food. Where they abound 

 in great numbers they know the feeding hours, and they watch 

 the departure of the man after food is placed in the manger, 

 which they enter in a drove and manage to eat as much a* 



