iO The Management and Treatment of the Horse, 



morning, and he was about the only man in Melton 

 Mowbray who escaped the influenza in 1837. Although 

 I contend that a cold stable, under proper management, 

 need not be an unhealthy one, yet I have a great horror 

 of a damp and draughty stable. How few gentlemen, 

 grooms, and architects, think anything about the damp- 

 ness of stables, and make no convenience for washing 

 horses, but have the horses washed in the stall or box 

 they sleep in ; then, after saturating the bricks with 

 water, the horse, after the fatigue of a hard day's work, 

 has to lie upon a damp, cold bed, while the pores of his 

 skin are relaxed by exertion. Next day he is stiff and 

 sore, and in a day or two he commences to cough ; the 

 groom is then blamed for the horse having caught cold. 

 The evil effects ot cold, damp, and ill- ventilated stables 

 are well known to veterinary surgeons, from the number 

 of horses suffering from rheumatism. I was once shown 

 a valuable animal by Mr. Broad, M.R.C.V.S., of Star- 

 street, Edgware-road, London, which was bought from a 

 gentleman three days previous for £250. It was brought 

 from his warm, dry stable, and put into a very damp 

 one, and on the following morning it was unable to 

 move ; the damp (it being of a delicate constitution) had 

 struck to the bone, producing a violent attack of rheu- 

 matism, so bad, indeed, that upon passing the finger 

 down the limbs, it produced a sound like the crackling 

 of parchment. I have now endeavoured to show a few 

 of the faults of the stable itself; in my next I will try to 

 show what a stable ought to be. I am dealing with 

 facts, and I am compelled to blame if I speak truthfully ; 

 but I hope my readers will forgive me if my doctrine is 



