SITUATION AND ASPECT 217 



ventilation should be of the most unobjectionable character. In the fol- 

 lowing pages, when no specific directions are laid down, it may be con- 

 sidered that my remarks apply to the hacks and carriage-horses of private 

 gentlemen. Race-horses and hunters demand a different treatment in 

 many respects ; and as to ponies, they are so hardy, that they may be 

 lodged without difficulty. 



SITUATION AND ASPECT 



THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT POINTS to be regarded in the choice of a 

 situation, are, first, the power of excluding damp ; and, secondly, the best 

 means of keeping up a tolerably even temperature in winter and summer. 

 It is seldom that the stables are fixed without regard to the convenience 

 of the inmates of the house itself, the corner most out of sight being the 

 one usually selected as good enough for them. It should not, however, 

 be forgotten, that the horse is a native of a dry country, and cannot be 

 kept in health in a damp situation either indoors or out. Nothing, except 

 starvation, tells injuriously so soon upon the horse as damp when exposed 

 to it he loses all life and spirit ; work soon tires him ; his coat stares ; 

 he will scarcely look at his food, and he becomes rapidly emaciated, severe 

 disease, often in the shape of some prevailing epidemic, showing itself 

 after a short time, and generally soon ending in death. Grease and 

 cracked heels, swelled legs, hide-bound, inflamed eyes, and coughs and 

 colds, are the evils which attend damp, when exhibited only in a slight 

 degree ; but these are sufficient to interfere with the use of the horse, 

 and, irrespective of other reasons, as domestic comfort is greatly de- 

 pendent on the carriage being always at command, the stables should not 

 be sacrificed, as they too often are, to a fancy for keeping them out of sight. 



IN CHOOSING THE SITUATION, therefore, a spot should be looked out 

 which will be high enough to allow of perfect drainage at all seasons of 

 the year. No periodically overflowing brook should ever be allowed to 

 discharge its contents into the foundations, for even if the floor of the 

 stable itself is kept above the water, yet the soil underneath will be 

 saturated, and, acting like a sponge, will allow the damp to creep up the 

 walls incessantly. Sometimes, in order to keep the stables well out of 

 sight, a hollow is chosen, and the floor is then excavated below the level 

 of the surrounding surface. The consequence is, that even in a summer 

 storm, the rain-fall of the surrounding land finds its way either into 

 the stable, or around it ; and the effect is equally . injurious in either. 

 Concrete under the floor, and courses of slate at the bottom of the 

 walls, will do something to meet the evil ; but it is better to avoid it 

 altogether by choosing a site at least two or three feet out of the way 

 of all flood water, and with a good fall into a sewer. 



As TO THE ASPECT, there is some difference of opinion whether it 

 should be northerly or southerly, all being adverse to a direction either 

 due east or west ; the former being too cold, and the latter too hot. 

 As far as I know, all writers on the subject have preferred a southerly 

 aspect, until the appearance of Mr. Miles' General Remarks on 

 Stables, in which valuable work an opinion is expressed that "the 



