TIIF. IIOKSE. 37 



any rate, be at issue \Yith us, though the total or partial blindness of 

 their horses should have taught them better; for from this cause in 

 general springs the blindness of the animal, which, by nature, is no 

 more predisposed to blindness than is his owner. x\nd not only does a 

 dark stable affect the sight of a horse, but his general health also, 

 especially, as is often the case, if he be immured in his stable for days 

 together. Light is just as essential to a healthy condition as food itself, 

 and an animal can no more thrive without the one than the other. 

 The man who invented dark stables was no doubt the progenitor of 

 him who invented the barbarous practice of docking and nicking horses' 

 tails. 



The next thing to be considered is ventilation ; and this — as stables 

 are commonly ventilated, or rather not ventilated — is believed to be of 

 no moment whatever. In many old country stables we find the door 

 made of two portions, the upper one opening whilst the lower one is 

 made fast. This is very well for farm stables ; but this construction is 

 not adapted for those where horses of the higher class are kept. AVith 

 a door of this description, open at the top, and a lofty window at the 

 other end, open at the top also, a draught takes place which is above 

 the horse's back, and will ventilate the stable thoroughly, especially if 

 the stable be lofty, as it always should be, though it is in general con- 

 structed so as to have a hay-loft over it — a great convenience, no doubt 

 — but one which should not be permitted to reduce the height of the 

 stable itself to some seven or eight feet ; in which circumscribed space 

 a team of horses are often confined for the night, under the necessity of 

 breathing the same air as they have expired. To expect horses to be 

 healthv or sound under such a condition is to expect an impossibility. 



Venlihltioil. — A little consideration will show the importance of per- 

 fect ventilation. The air which the horse expires is as totally different 

 a substance from that which he inhales as wood is from iron. He in- 

 hales atmospheric air, and the constituents of this pass through his 

 lunti^s, and into his blood ; he expires carbonic acid gas, one of the gases 

 most inimical to animal life, as any man may convince himself who will 

 go down into an old unused well. If this deadly gas be not carried off 

 by proper ventilation, it becomes mixed with the atmospheric air of the 

 stable, and is again inhaled, to the great injury of the animal's health. 

 The greatest care is also requisite that it should be thoroughly carried 

 off, and this can only be done as it comes out from the animal's body ; 

 when cold, it is heavier than atmospheric air, and sinks to the floor of 

 the stable, in which case it is not so easily got rid of, but may lay the 

 foundation of diseases innumerable, and will certainly shorten the use- 

 fulness, if not the life, of the animal. From this, as much as from any 

 other cause, horses may truly be said not to live out half their days. 



A thorough ventilat'on is as necessary in the winter as the summer, 

 and there is infinitely less risk of injuring the horse by cold than by 

 allowing him to breathe ex])ired air over again. If accustomed to proper 

 ventilation, he will never take cold from any judicious means adopted 

 to promote his health and comfort. Pure air in winter is as necessary 

 as in summer; whilst in the summer the more that can be admitted 

 to cool the stable the better. The building should, then, be so con- 



35 



