10 THE COMPLETE HORSEMAN 



It is essential that the flooring should be non- 

 absorbent, water-tight, easily cleaned and not 

 slippery and it is desirable that it should be 

 durable. I have had experience of several kinds 

 of flooring. The square cut whinstone sets, such 

 as stable yards are frequently paved with are 

 very good, but when they are used a little cement 

 should be run between them to prevent dirt 

 lodging. Whinstone sets are very expensive but 

 they last a lifetime. Their fault is that they 

 are apt to get slippery with wear and then, if 

 they are not attended to at once they are danger- 

 ous. They can however easily be roughed up 

 with a chisel but it is necessary that the master 

 should see to this himself for my experience is 

 that it is one of those jobs in the stable which 

 are invariably put off '' till to-morrow.'' I have 

 also used hard burnt bricks, of which there are 

 several kinds. The Tees Scoria Bricks were what 

 I used, and they make an excellent stable floor at 

 first. The difficulty is that it is impossible to 

 bake any brick of equal hardness throughout 

 and for this reason there is a tendency for bricks 

 to wear into holes when the outer surface gets 

 chipped and broken with long use. I am bound 

 to say that the bricks I used wore well and if I 

 were making a stable floor again I should use 

 something of the same kind. They have the 

 advantage of looking, as well as being, clean. 



Cement concrete makes an excellent flooring, 

 especially if the cement concrete is made into 

 slabs. It wears well and has the advantage of 



