292 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



The bedding, acting as an absorbent, should always 

 be the main reliance for drainage. 



The necessity of sunlight in a stable is now so well 

 understood that it need not be dwelt upon. The 

 horse, having a peculiarly fine organization, is espe- 

 cially sensitive to the presence or absence of sunshine. 

 A good Vet will never perforin an operation on a 

 cloudy day if it be possible to postpone it ; and where 

 distemper, or any other disease, runs through a stable, 

 it will, I believe, invariably be found that the lightest 

 cases and quickest recoveries occur in the stalls that 

 receive the most sunshine, although none of them 

 may be actually dark. So also it is now commonly 

 understood that stables should be cool, — a truth 

 which English horsemen have been very slow to learn. 

 Even " iSTimrod," an advanced writer with new and 

 sensible theories about hunters, thought that horses 

 could hardly be kept in the pink of condition if the 

 temperature of their quarters fell much below seven- 

 ty-five degrees ! To their hot, ill ventilated stables 

 many English writers ascribe the former excessive 

 prevalence of roaring, now fast decreasing in Eng- 

 land, and in this country almost unknown. 



A temperature of fifty-five degrees is not far from 

 the right one in winter, and any degree of cold above 

 freezing will be borne by horses with perfect comfort, 

 provided they are well blanketed. The real enemy of 

 the horse is not cold, but dampness ; and against that 

 he is to be defended at all points. If a horse begins 

 to cough, let him be put in the sunniest, driest part 

 of the stable, and he will recover the sooner, even 

 though his new situation be much cooler than the old 

 one. Dogs in damp kennels always have rheumatism, 



