CONDITION OF HUNTERS RESUMED 321 



the stable without affecting one horse more than 

 another ; and the height of the interior should be 

 only twelve feet in the clear. I would have the stalls 

 paved nearly flat, with only a trifling inclination to 

 the centre ; each of the stalls should be no more than 

 six feet wide.^ There should be at least twelve feet 

 behind the horses, and the exterior walls and doors 

 should be very thick. The wooden partition walls 

 of the loose boxes should be only nine feet high, with 

 wooden bolts to the doors ; and each box should not 

 exceed ten feet square. The saddle-room, well fitted 

 up with saddle cupboards, boiler, etc., and quite apart 

 from the stable. Of ventilation I say nothing, that 

 being a matter of course ; but I would have the sides 

 of the stalls nine feet high at the head, with small 

 iron racks, and pillar reins for each horse to be dressed 

 in. I should always be very particular about the 

 stall-posts ; for these are very frequently the cause 

 of severe injury. When I went to see the King's 

 stables at the new palace at Pimlico, I was astonished 

 to see almost every other horse in them with capped 

 hocks. On inspecting the stall-posts I perceived 

 the cause. They were of fluted stone, and with 

 angles, which proved that Mr Nash knows nothing 

 about the inside of stables. Stall-posts should be 

 made of wood, quite smooth and circular ; and they 

 should extend to the ceiling, or at least ten feet 

 high. 



Methinks I hear the question asked — Would you 



^ The drainage should be surface, and the floor composed of 

 roughened cement, etc. — Editor. 



X 



