ON GROOMS AND STABLES. 23 



draught can strike him on the breast is very wrong. Neg- 

 ligence in this matter is such a fruitful source of disease 

 that I only wonder the practice is not discarded; as a 

 draught to a horse, coming in heated and blown, is as 

 injurious as the same to a man, and even more so, creat- 

 ing rheumatism, chills, and often a bad founder. Of the 

 cause of the latter both the owner and groom are in 

 ignorance; the former says he did not water him when 

 warm, and the latter attests that he was careful also, yet 

 the mischief is done. To prevent this the air-holes should 

 be above the horse's head some feet, I c^o not care how 

 high, so that there are a sufficient number of them on both 

 sides to create a current of air. Their height of course 

 must be regulated by the ceiling : the higher you can get 

 this the better, at least so high that in any sudden jerking 

 up of the head the horse cannot by any possibility strike 

 his pole or top of his head, as one or two such bumps 

 will very likely produce poll-evil. 



2d. The trough and hay -box should be boarded up 

 entirely, making it impossible for him to get his legs, head, 

 or neck under them ; this is to prevent a cast and save 

 him from serious injury. The finest mare I ever owned 

 had her fore leg broken by such a cast. The hay-box 

 should be free from anything like studding in front, and 

 from every other hard substance, lest, in case of the horse 

 throwing his head suddenly out of the box while feeding, 

 he should come in contact with a piece of studding, which 

 would produce, most likely, the same result as in the case 

 of striking the ceiling, viz. poll-evil. 



3d. As to the floor, generally this is all of plank. The 

 horse is more easily kept clean about the legs, standing on 

 a floor of plank, though at the expense of his feet it is 

 true. The best plan is to have two stalls, one with a clay 

 floor for day, and one with a plank floor for night. But 



