96 HUNTING 



We have often been asked wliether the forage loft 

 should be between the ceiling and roof of the stable. 

 We think it should be so placed, as it is the most 

 convenient situation so far as the grooms are concerned, 

 and also serves to keep the stable warm. 



The door of the stable should be at least six feet, or, 

 if possible, seven feet in width. Passing through a 

 narrow doorway, horses are apt to knock themselves 

 against the side-posts, and to do themselves serious 

 injury. The doors should be half-doors, i.e. cut 

 horizontally in the centre. There should be no pro- 

 jections of any sort in the door. Sunken bolts and 

 ring handles obviate any necessity for these projections, 

 which are apt to, and often do, injure a horse. 



We have now to consider the flooring of a stable. 

 The substance undoubtedly should be the hard 

 corrugated or grooved blue bricks, specially manu- 

 factured for the purpose, so carefully laid that the 

 grooves fit into one another and thereby form a 

 miniature system of drainage. The gangway should be 

 as wide as space permits, but certainly not less than 

 eight feet in width, and the ground surface should be 

 perfectly level. We do not think that there can be 

 any difference of opinion between the relative merits of 

 loose-boxes and stalls. Unfortunately, space often 

 prevents 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 adopted in old- 

 fashioned stables. The economical objection to loose- 

 boxes, namely, that they take more straw with which 

 to litter them than stalls, has long been exploded, since 



