HORSES AND MULES. 279 



ing backwards, is the cause of the diseases of the feet and joints, 

 so common and so disastrous. It is desirable to have the floor 

 slant backward to save the urine, but the horse should never 

 be forced to sleep, or stand long, in that position ; if he has the 

 freedom of the stall, he will choose his own position. We 

 allow the horse nine feet, and there should be at least six more 

 to the stable doors. No matter how many horses there are, no 

 horse should have less than this space, and twelve feet in 

 height. It is a thousand times better to have no loft at all 

 over the horses, to give them the clear space to the roof, and 

 light and air their stables from the roof; but as it will be im- 

 possible to persuade most farmers to do this much for the 

 health and comfort of the animal that serves him so faithfullv, 

 we will say that no stable for a horse should be one inch less 

 than twelve feet high, well lighted, and well ventilated. We 

 do not mean by this that there should be cracks in the floor, and 

 doors, and sides, by which cold currents of air are let in upon 

 the poor shivering creature, but that there should be some 

 regular outlet for the impure^ and inlet for i\ie pure air. 



If you still persist in having a loft over your stable, there 

 should be left at least a space of three feet, between the loft 

 and the back of the stable, and this space opening into the back 

 of the stable and extending to a ventilator at the roof, will 

 carry off one half the diseases that now affect your horses. 

 The impure air that most horses breathe, is a most flagrant 

 violation of all the principles of health. Shut yourself up in a 

 contracted room for months, eat, drink, sleep, urinate, etc., in 

 the close quarters, and how long before you would wish an end 

 to your existence ? But the lungs of the horse are as sensitive 

 as yours, his smell is keener, his eye is as tender. This brings 

 us to the matter of light ; blindness in horses is in three cases 

 out of four the result of dark stables. 



