SACRIFICING TO ORNAMENT. 63 



the many thousand horses that have come tinder 

 my observation or knowledge, I never heard of 

 but these two instances. This is kicking over the 

 standing. 



The first was a mare (at a particular season of 

 the year) : she was found with her leg over the 

 standing, completely kept there by the stall-post ; 

 the groom, hearing the noise, went down, but 

 before help could be got she had broken her thigh, 

 and thus dropped back into her stall. The other 

 was a horse : he, no one knew how, had got his 

 leg over, and, being confined by the ball, could not 

 get it back again ; there he was in the morning, 

 as it were, riding the standing with a thigh each 

 side of it. However, they sawed the pedestal of 

 the ball through, and then, by main force, shoved 

 him back till he slid over the end of the standing. 

 I am willing to allow twenty men may each keep 

 twenty horses in a stable all their lives, and never 

 get a horse so situated. But why run the risk, 

 when it can be avoided ? As to the former objec- 

 tions, they occur every day. 



Supposing there to be neither stall-posts nor 

 ornamental balls, even then the ends of the stand- 

 ings should not be left square, but nicely rounded 

 off; so that, in turning, no obstruction should 

 meet the horse's head or neck. 



On mentioning these circumstances to an ac- 

 quaintance, I was asked how, without the stall- 



