164 THE HORSE OWNEr's 



conveniently be placed, by wliicli means all injuvions 

 draughts will be prevented. If there is a loft above the 

 stable the ceiling should be plastered, in order to pre- 

 vent the foul air from penetrating to the hay above, and 

 injuring both its taste and its vvholesomeness ; and no open- 

 ing should be allowed above the manger through which 

 the hay may be thrown into them ; for they will permit 

 the foul air to ascend to the provender, and also in the 

 act of filling the mangers, and while the horse is eagerly 

 gazing upward for his food a grass seed may fall into the 

 eye and produce considerable inflammation. At other 

 times, when the careless groom has left open the trap -door, 

 a cold stream of air beats down on the head of the horse. 

 The stable with a loft over it should never be less than 

 twelve feet high, and proper ventilation should be secured, 

 either by tubes carried through the roof, or by gratings 

 close to the ceiHng. These gratings, or openings should 

 be enlarged or contracted by means of a covering or shut- 

 ting, 60 that spring, summer and autumn the stable may 

 possess nearly the same temperature with the open air, and 

 in winter a temperature of not more than ten degrees above 

 that of the external atmosphere. A hot stable has, in the 

 mind of the groom, been connected with a glossy coat. The 

 latter, it is thought, cannot be obtained without the for- 

 mer. To this we reply, that in winter a thin glossy coat is 

 not very desirable. Nature gives to every animal a warmer 

 clothing when the cold weather approaches. The horse, the 

 agricultural horse especially, acquires a thicker and length- 

 ened coat, in order to defend him from the surrounding 

 cold. ' Man puts on an additional aud a warmer covering, 

 and his comfort is increased and his health improved by 

 it. He who knows anything of the farmer's horse, or 



