STABLE MANAGEMENT 243 



for these projections, which are apt to, and often 

 do, injure a horse. 



In regard to the flooring of a stable, we certainly 

 have the advantage of our forefathers, for we have 

 the corrugated or grooved blue bricks, which are 

 specially manufactured for the purpose. If they are 

 carefully laid, so that the grooves fit into one another, 

 they form a miniature system of drainage ; but as 

 this flooring can be and has been laid down in the 

 majority of old stables, I need not compare it with 

 its predecessors. 



Apparently, however, there is a difference of 

 opinion between the sportsmen of the beginning of 

 the century and the sportsmen of the present day 

 in regard to the relative merits of loose boxes and 

 stalls. 



The economical objection to loose boxes was 

 that they take more straw to litter them than stalls 

 do ; but that idea has long been exploded amongst 

 hunting men, since it follows that the greater the 

 space to be littered the less amount of straw will be 

 soiled and trodden upon and have to be removed. 

 It may be said that space often forbids the use of 

 loose boxes, but it is easy to improvise loose boxes 

 by placing strong bars of oak from the stall-posts 

 across the gangway to the wall — a method which is 

 now constantly practiced in old-fashioned stables. 

 But it should be easy for an architect to provide for 

 the extra space which divides a loose box from a 

 stall. The dimensions for a loose box are 12 feet by 



