650 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



oftener in wider stalls. The length from the manger back to the 

 wall should not be less than fourteen feet; sixteen feet gives 

 room for stall and manger. The stalls should extend back about 

 eight feet and slope toward the manger, so the horse can turn 

 out of the stall more easily. The plan of a post four feet high 

 at end of the stall gives room, but since the writer saw a valua- 

 ble, good-feeling horse playfully kick up and land his flank on 

 the top of a post and disembowel himself, he has an abhorrence 

 of the low post at the end of the stall partition. 



The partition should be so strong as to avoid the danger of 

 breaking down, to entangle or cripple the horse. Bolts are bet- 

 ter than nails, for binding the posts and boards together, as 

 they do not loosen and project, to the injury of the horse. The 

 stall partition should not be more than five and a half feet 

 high, and from that to the ceiling rounds can be placed six 

 inches apart, so as to allow free circulation of air, and yet pre- 

 vent horses biting each other. 



The two points of strength and circulation of air must be 

 kept prominent in building a stable. The poorly, carelessly 

 built stalls are the cause of much discomfort and many a wound 

 to horseflesh. 



The Rack, or Manger. As commonly constructed, the 

 racks and mangers are wasteful of feed, and endanger the sight 

 and health of the horses. If the building is of such size and 

 shape that racks and not mangers must be used, the writer 

 asks that the comfort of the horse be considered, and the racks 

 be perpendicular in front of the horse, and not slope toward 

 him, as is common. In the latter case the hay seed is more 

 likely to fall into the eyes, and the litter fall into mane and 

 foretop, and the position assumed by the horse to pull out the 

 hay is most unnatural. 



The writer has both racks and mangers in use, and gives 

 preference to the rack, when the rungs stand perpendicular. 

 They are handy for man and horse, and the horses never can 

 get seeds into eye, mane, or foretop, and can not waste hay ; 

 and the great desideratum of all is, it acts as a perfect ventil- 

 ator, allowing the breathed air to pass upward direct to the 



