THE STABLE 13 



siderably in a stall which has a big slope to the 

 heel. And there the matter may well be left. 



Personally I am in favour of loose boxes, 

 w^hich are all the better for opening independently. 

 That is I would have no covered passage behind 

 the loose boxes as is frequently the case but let 

 each loose box be separate and entirely inde- 

 pendent of the others. A great advantage of 

 this plan is that when a horse is very tired, as 

 for instance after an exceptionally hard day's 

 hunting, he is entirely undisturbed by any of 

 the ordinary life of the stable. Another ad- 

 vantage is that the boxes are necessarily more 

 roomy. It is ad\dsable that there should be 

 communication betw^een the boxes so that when 

 necessary or convenient the horses can be visited 

 without going from under cover. This should 

 take the shape of a narrow door, in which care 

 should be taken that there are no projections. 

 An overhanging roof from the stables scarcely 

 answers the same purpose and though I have 

 occasionally seen the plan adopted I cannot 

 say that I like it as well as the one I have advo- 

 cated above. That gives all the advantages of 

 a passage behind the boxes, which are that 

 horses can be visited and fed without opening 

 the outer doors. 



Where these small doors are used care must 

 be taken that they fasten securely and that 

 there is no risk of horses getting them open by 

 any means. It may be objected that horses 

 may be apt to kick at these doors or try to get 



