52 ANIMAL MANAGEMENT. 



from whatever direction the wind blows, are useless. The pattern 

 adopted in the Service, viz., Boyle's, is very good. 



Where there is only a single row of windows, or if for any other 

 reason the inlets for fresh air are insufficient, inlet cowls may be utilised 

 for the introduction of an extra supply. The openings of the cowls are 

 so arranged that the oncoming wind strikes a surface with a downward 

 slope, and so is led to the interior of the stable. A double tube, the 

 inner an extractor and the outer an inlet, is sometimes employed, but 

 tubes of all descriptions are inferior to windows and louvre-boards 

 properly arranged, and should only be found in troop stables when the 

 latter means are lacking ; at the best they are not so efficient, and there 

 is always the chance of vermin or dust blocking the openings. Tobin's 

 tube is another means of adding to the inlets. The outer opening is low 

 down on the exterior of the stable wall, and from it the tube passes 

 through the wall and upwards, opening on the inside at a height 

 considerably above its entry ; by this the temperature of the air is 

 somewhat raised before it reaches the horse, and by a slight variation of 

 the detail, heel posts and stall partitions are sometimes converted into 

 ventilating shafts. 



Drainage. 



The requirements for efficient stable drainage are quite simple : viz. 

 a stall level from side to side, but sloping sufficiently (1-60) from front to 

 rear, to admit of urine flowing to the back of the standing ; a shallow, 

 open, surface drain behind the stalls to convey the collected fluid to the 

 outside drain or sewer. 



In order that the standing may be as level as possible, the stalls should 

 not slope more than will allow the urine to run off, and the drain at the back 

 should be quite open and as shallow as the quantity of fluid to be carried 

 will allow. If it is a very long stable this drain may be made to slope 

 from the centre towards both ends — a hog-backed drain. Closed and 

 underground drains, although very usual in good-class private stables, are 

 a mistake ; their contents cannot be seen, it is true, but they have no other 

 recommendations, and as they hide the drainage from view it is frequently 

 forgotten, with the result that they become foul and choked from neglect. 



A drain in the centre of the stall is also a mistake, as in addition to 

 the faults just enumerated, it necessitates a standing which slopes to the 

 centre, instead of a level one. Private owners, for the sake of appearance, 

 will have covered and stall drains, but they are more trouble and 

 less useful and effective than open ones. Where they are in use they 



