DRAG — DRAINS 



Drag". — (a) a term applied to a park coach. (See 

 Coach.) 



(b) The skid which is applied as a check to the hind 

 wheels when going down-hill. 



Drag Hunt. — When an artificial trail is laid over a 

 country for hounds to follow it is called a drag, the term 

 doubtless originating from the practice of dragging the 

 object producing the scent along the ground. 



Drains. — The draining of a stable is a far more important 

 subject than a great many horse owners appear to imagine, 

 if the condition of their premises is to be accepted as any 

 criterion of their ideas. To accomplish what is required 

 it is necessary that there should be a shallow groove behind 

 the stalls to carry away the moisture, or, what is far better, 

 there should be a small grating in the centre and back of 

 each stall communicating with an underground channel which 

 conveys the water to the outside of the building. These 

 gratings should be cemented into the flooring, or so fixed 

 that there can be no chance of their opening and injuring 

 the horse's legs, and those behind the stalls may be placed 

 opposite the pillars of the stalls, whilst in the case of boxes 

 they should be in the centre. There should be a very 

 gentle slope of the flooring towards the gratings, the old 

 practice of arranging the floors upon a principle which 

 placed the fore-legs of a horse standing in a stall upon a 

 much higher level than the hind ones being distinctly bad, 

 as it placed an unnecessary strain upon the limbs. The 

 surface grooves behind the stalls, or the channel underneath 

 the drains, should possess a slope in order that all fluids 

 should run off quickly, and should be connected by means 

 of a pipe passing through one of the walls with the sewer 

 or cesspool outside. It will add considerably to the salubrity 

 of the stable if the fluid running out of the latter falls into 

 an outside gutter connected with the sewer or cesspool, as 

 this arrangement entirely prevents any noxious exhalations 



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