414 BEDDING DOWN. 



BEDDING DOWN. 



In bedding down stalls, stable servants go from the ex- 

 treme of using so little straw that it is almost worse than 

 useless, to the costly, luxurious one of consuming from two 

 to three times the actual amount required. From three to 

 five pounds of straw will comfortably bed down a horse 

 in the average size stall and from four to seven in a loose box. 

 Much of the common waste results from the unwillingness 

 of grooms to take the trouble of drying out the wet, un- 

 soiled parts, or from the fact that the facilities for so doing 

 are not at their command. Each morning the top of the 

 bedding should be taken out and dried in the sun, the under 

 part which is matted and soiled should alone be thrown away. 



A wooden fork (see Fig. 205) should always be used 

 about the stall part of the stable, to the exclusion of those 

 made of steel, on account of the danger of injury to the 

 horse's eyes, etc. The two-prong steel fork (see Fig. 206) 

 may be used in the hayloft, and the five-prong fork (see 

 Fig. 207) in the manure pit. 



" To a hard working horse a good bed is almost as essential as food. 

 Many stablemen cannot make it ; it should be as level and equal as a mat- 

 tress; there should be no lumps in the litter; it should come well back, 

 and slope from each side and from the head towards the centre. Now it is 

 not difficult to make a good bed ; anybody may learn it in a few days, or 

 else his hands are not much worth. But no one thinks of learning such a 

 thing. Those who become expert at it cannot help their expertness. They 

 never tried to obtain it ; practice gave it them before they knew it was 

 of any use. But for all this it may be learned. Show the man how to use 

 the fork, and how to spread the litter ; give him a pattern bed in one stall, 

 and make him work in the next two hours every day for a week. If he 

 cannot learn it in this time the operation is really worth the trouble the 

 man will never learn anything." John Stewart, " Stable Economy" p. 136. 



