140 HORSES AND RIDING. 



We now come to the mucli vexed question of 

 ventilation. I am sorry to say that in my opinion 

 there has been a great deal of nonsense both written 

 and talked on this subject. I have been assured 

 by people that their stables were thoroughly venti- 

 lated on scientific principles, and still when you 

 went into them they made your eyes water with the 

 closeness, and if you left the door open half a minute, 

 every horse's coat was turned the wrong way owing 

 to their standing in a thorough draught. 



First, we must distinguish between temperature 

 and ventilation. A well ventilated stable, like a 

 well ventilated room, means a stable in which the 

 air is sweet and fresh, and this has nothing to do 

 with the heat or coldness of the air that is in it, but 

 the two are generally confounded together. 



Wow the fact is that if a stable is heated by 

 artificial means, such as hot air or hot water pipes, 

 it may be perfectly well ventilated and as hot as 

 ever you like to make it. 



But most stables have no warmth except that 

 derived from the body of the horse that is in them. 



In this case it will be apparent that, supposing 

 you wish to keep the box at a given temperature, 

 the bigger the box is the more closely you would 

 have to shut it up to enable the heat from the horse's 

 body to warm it up to that temperature, and the 

 smaller the box is, the more outward and therefore 

 fresh air you could afford to let in, without lowering 



