HOVEL AND PADDOCK. , 121 



smooth, a hay-trusser's knife is used ; but the natural ends, though 

 not so level, are a much better defence, and last longer than the 

 cut gorse. In the interior the stalks sometimes project, and if so 

 they must be smoothly trimmed off. The roof should be covered 

 in with some material, which is cool in summer and warm in win- 

 ter, and for this purpose, therefore, nothing is so bad as slate, or 

 so good as thatch. Objections are sometimes made to the latter 

 material that it harbors vermin, but if the mares are well fed, I 

 must doubt their ever becoming lousy, unless these parasites are 

 introduced by some animal from without. In any case, tiles are 

 preferable to slates, and on the average they are also cheaper. 

 Pantiles are not easily made proof against the wind, but plane- 

 tiles, when properly pointed, are quite air-tight, and are far warmer 

 in cold weather than slates, while they are also cooler in summer. 

 The door should be at least four feet or four feet six inches wide, 

 and seven feet to seven feet six inches high, with all the angles to 

 the sides and top of the frame rounded off to prevent accident 

 from striking the hip or head. The door, of oak or elm, should 

 be cut in half across the middle, so as to allow the lower half to 

 be shut, while the upper, being open, admits a free supply of air. 

 A small window should be inserted in the wall, for light and ven- 

 tilation when the door is closed. When straw is abundant it is 

 usual to leave the floor in its natural state, the litter absorbing all 

 that falls from the mare and foal, and being changed often enough 

 to keep the place dry. In case, however, this cannot be done, the 

 flooring should be similar to that for ordinary stables, that is to 

 say, laid with bricks or pebbles, clinkers being much too expen- 

 sive for such a purpose. Where chalk is abundant, it forms an 

 excellent floor, if a drain is cut all round the building, and the soil 

 being taken out to the depth of nearly a foot, the chalk is filled 

 in to a little above the level of the natural surface, and is then 

 well rammed down, a drain and trap being inserted in the middle. 

 The last point which requires consideration is the kind of manger 

 which is best adapted to the use of the mare and her foal, if the 

 latter is to be fed in the way proper to thorough-bred stock. In 

 any case, a wooden manger of the ordinary kind should be fixed, 

 with a staple for the rack-chain to fasten her up. A hay rack 

 should be so arranged that it can be filled from the outside without 

 difficulty; which is easily managed by building a little wooden 

 excrescence on to one of the outer walls, leaving a hole in the latter 

 for the mare to feed herself through. A wooden lid, covered with 

 zinc, lifts up and permits the introduction of the fodder without 

 the necessity for carrying a fork into the hovel, which will some- 

 times injure the mare or her foal. Well-bred young animals of 

 this species are so mischievous that when shut up they will jump 

 into any place which can possibly hold them, and many a broken 



