324 



STABLES 



almost as much a desideratum as in a hospital yard. Everything should 

 be clean, bright, and pleasing to the senses. The gentleman's horse is 

 often a nervous and fidgety creature, and every part of the fittings should 

 be so constructed as to reduce to a minimum the possibility of his doing 

 himself an injury. There should be no sharp or projecting angles in the 

 stall-divisions, mangers, or other fittings with which the horse is likely 

 to come into contact. 



THE FITTINGS 



The stall-divisions are usually fitted with cast-iron posts, which 

 may be bolted to a stone block or provided with a hollow base which 



can be filled with and 

 bedded in concrete, as 

 shown in fig. 572. A 

 ball or other rounded 

 top is best for safety, 

 and a very pleasing 

 eftect may be produced 

 by having the ball of 

 polished brass. The 

 divisions should be of 

 wood, grooved and 

 tongued, and 1-j inch 

 to 2 inches thick, slid- 

 ing into a grooved iron 

 sill below and a curved or ramped iron capping above. A portion of 

 the sill should be fitted, as shown in fig. 573, with a shifting-piece to 

 allow the wood-work to slide in, for the convenience of replacing when 

 damaged; when the shifting-piece is replaced, it holds all secure. The 

 divisions may be of pitch pine or oak, but a very handsome and strong 

 division is sometimes made of teak rubbed smooth and oiled. Many divi- 

 sions have an intermediate rail, in which case the portion between this rail 

 and the ramped upper rail may be of round iron bars, or iron trellis-work, 

 which gives a much lighter appearance and facilitates the circulation of air. 

 It is better, however, that the parts immediately beside the horses' heads 

 should be filled solid, so that the horses, when feeding, cannot see, and 

 possibly disturb, each other. Another advantage of the central rail is that 

 it may be made hollow, to contain a sliding bar, which can be drawn out at 

 night and the end secured to a staple or socket in the wall. This closes 

 the passage behind, so that if a horse breaks loose during the night he will 

 be safely confined to his own stall. A typical division is shown in fig. 573, 



Fig. 572.- 



' Self-fixing " Base for Cast-iron Stall-fiillar 



