152 



which would be facihtated by the ascent, on which the stable ought 

 to stand. 



The reader will note as much of the above as he judges may 

 quadrate with modern views and occasions: in the mean time, I 

 request his attention, whilst I endeavour to describe what the modern 

 English stable is, and the improvements of which I think it still 

 susceptible. Architecture and ornament are here out of question, we 

 only treat of the component parts of the stable, its accommodations 

 and comforts, in which, to a certain degree, every stable ought to 

 partake. 



An English stable generally is a building attached to others, or 

 not, as convenience may demand, and placed without any particular 

 regard to aspect or situation. It has a single door, with a window or 

 windows, to admit light, but perhaps without the convenience of 

 opening them to admit the fresh air, the whole benefit of which enjoyed 

 within, is from the occasional opening of the door. The ground-floor 

 is now usually paved with clinkers or stones, and if intended for more 

 than one Horse, divided into standings or stalls, by bars or whole 

 partitions. Racks and mangers are the universal feeding places, and 

 a few pegs or nails, with perhaps a shelf or two and a corn chest, 

 compose the remaining conveniences. Upon a floor above, the hay 

 is deposited, and the dung is generally piled up at the stable door, 

 sometimes within-side the stable. 



• It is vain to recommend stable improvements, where want of room 

 'and other circumstances absolutely interdict them. This most parti- 

 cularly respects the close and crouded stables of large towns. The 

 business here is only to point out palliations of misery, which may be 

 in almost any situation practicable, and which every man of feeling, 

 fend indeed having the feelings of his own interest about him, will 

 attend to. Horses in the above confined situations are ever liable to 

 grease, scratches, thrushes, fevers, blindness, colds, rheumatisms, 

 contractions of the sinews, hardness and surbating of the hoofs, broken 

 "wind, and a thousand ails, for which the veterinary nomenclature has 

 not yet provided tlistinctions. 



