60 THE POCKET AND THE STUD. 



particularly young ones not doing work, are 

 mightily inquisitive, and are apt to wish to learn 

 what the padding is made of, to ascertain which 

 they will take the liberty of tearing it off. 



It is a very common indeed the most com- 

 mon plan to build stables with the stall-posts 

 running up to the ceiling, and where that is not 

 the case (as if the people were determined not to 

 be without some inconvenience of the sort), they 

 frequently put balls on a pedestal on the ends of 

 the standing : these, made of oak and octagonally 

 cut, certainly look well, and give a handsome 

 finish ; but they are nearly as great an objection 

 in the stable as the long stall-posts. Ornament a 

 stable as much as you think proper ; but it should 

 never be done at the slightest risk of injury or 

 expense of comfort to horses. 



The first objection to the long posts is this. 

 We will suppose the stall to be the full width 

 six feet, (if narrower the objection is tenfold) 

 and the horse to be standing turned round in his 

 stall to have his head dressed; this being done, 

 he has to turn round to his place. How is he to 

 do this ? It is quite clear he is much more than 

 six feet from his head to his tail. He is aware 

 the stall will not admit his turning with his neck 

 in anything like a right line with his body ; so 

 where there is no stall-post he avails himself of it 

 to put his head over the adjoining standing, and 



