256 RIDING lOR LADIES. 



tomed to live in hot-houses call every breath of air a 

 draught, and because it is the fashion (a most pernicious 

 and objectionable one) to darken up dwelling-houses until 

 every ray of God's beautiful sunshine and sweet glad light 

 is entirely excluded, they think that to enter a room where 

 all the blinds are up, and where sunshafts are darting in 

 through pleasantly opened windows, is something too awful 

 to be endured. In like manner, grooms will, when allowed, 

 shut out every ray of light from the houses in which 

 their charges spend the long hours of their captivity, and 

 will tell you — if you have the patience to listen to such 

 nonsense — that " horses thrive better in the dark." Do 

 not believe a word of it. Just watch a horse brought sud- 

 denly out of a dark stable, in daylight, into the yard ; look 

 closely at his eyes, how the pupils instantly contract, and 

 the lids rise and fall, with a rapid pained movement, not to 

 be mistaken. The animal cannot see a single yard before 

 him, and when he stumbles, or halts, or steps gingerly, the 

 groom has harsh names and cruel punishments ready for him 

 at command, provided always that the master or mistress 

 does not happen to be by. You should insist upon having 

 a plentiful supply of light and air for your horses, for by 

 so doing, although " death cannot ultimately be defeated, 

 life may be prolonged." 



I do not disapprove, as some do, of having the hay loft 

 directly over the stable, but I greatly object to the common 

 method of dispensing the contents of it through a trap-door in 

 the roof It is a most pernicious practice, allowing draughts 

 to penetrate right down upon the horses' heads, and filling 



