ON GROOMS AND STABLES. 27 



up slip again and again, and are sometimes strained across 

 the loins and ruined for life. In a gentleman's stable, in 

 England, they would have only three box-stalls where we 

 have four common ones. Their hay-loft, instead of being 

 above the stable, where it necessarily becomes more or less 

 affected by the noxious gases from the stable, is situated on 

 one side, and there is a stout partition between. The Eng- 

 lish box-stall is of all others the most conducive to a horse's 

 comfort; he is not obliged to stand in all sorts of shapes 

 to get himself level, and the floors being of small pebble 

 stones nicely laid in clay, make a most durable floor as 

 well as a cooling one for his feet. In this stall the horse 

 has not a halter. In common stalls the halter should not 

 be over three and a half feet from the chin-strap to the 

 ring in box. 



4th. On Cleaning. The next thing to be considered is 

 where and how should the horse be cleaned ; not in his 

 stall, but out of the stable, if that is possible, yet in an 

 outside shed. In the stall, the dandruff or dust that your 

 groom is working to get out of him to some extent neces- 

 sarily settles back on him, but if cleaned outside it is 

 blown off by the air. Half an hour is ample time to clean 

 a horse for ordinary purposes. 



First apply the curry-comb all over, and this should 

 not be so sharp as to annoy the animal, but made suffi- 

 ciently rough in the teeth to reach the skin and work up 

 the dandruff to the surface ; then apply a wisp of straw all 

 over the body, head, and legs, then a good brushing, not 

 with a soft brush, but one that reaches the skin and takes 

 out with it the dust stirred up by the comb and wisp. 

 Brush out mane and tail, and he is then ready for his 

 day's work or feed, not omitting the cleaning out of his 

 feet, particularly the front ones; his hind ones seldom 

 require looking at. Any blacksmith can make you a hook 



