500 The hook of the Hor.se. 



The best plan of supplying hay is by an iron rack, fixed at just the height that a 

 horse can feed without the hay-seed dropping into his eyes. Where the rack is placed level 

 with the manger, the bars should be of strong wrought-iron, close together. Instances have 

 occurred of colts and stallions injuring themselves severely by rearing and dropping their 

 feet into a low rack. 



The question of whether stalls or boxes may be here answered with, Both ! Boxes are 

 invaluable for a tired horse, a sick horse, for a young horse in course of breaking, or for a 

 horse that must stand idle occasionally for several days. A horse which can change his 

 position at will in a loose box, and thus ease his muscles, will last longer than one tied in a 

 stall. If the stable is only for two horses, there should be one box, and so on in proportion. 



A box should be, if possible, twelve feet by fourteen ; but any box where a horse can turn 

 round is better, as a change, than constant imprisonment in a stall. A box of brick should be 

 lined throughout with wood, and the wood, wherever the horse's teeth can be used, lined with zinc 

 plates. There should be no projections of any kind, as horses kick and roll in boxes more than 

 in stalls, if fresh ; and, where horses are very valuable, the feeding apparatus should be so 

 contrived that they can be fed without entering the box. This may easily be done by a 

 modification of Torr's pig troughs, manufactured by Crosskill, of Beverley, or by Professor 

 Varnell's patent apparatus, sold by the St, Pancras Iron Works Company. Where space is 

 limited, the end stall of a stable may be converted into a box by having a gate that can be 

 hung on the stall post and fastened against the wall. A box is best closed by a screen hung 

 on rollers from a top bar. No horse can open this, and it can never be out of order. 



It is a disputed point whether horses do best alone, or within hearing of each other, in 

 boxes. At the Rugby stables the horses are in solitary confinement, and can hear and smell 

 nothing ; and it is claimed for this plan that they are much quieter than on the old system. 

 Certainly it is a better plan for mares and stallions. 



The best windows for the smallest as well as the largest stables are zuc/l-ccvistritctcd sash- 

 tvindoivs, reaching to the ceiling, if not more than twelve feet high, and sliding both above 

 and below, fitted with cords and pulleys of the best description. Iron sashes, opening in 

 various ways, are often recommended, but they are inferior to wooden sash-windows for stable 

 purposes, because they do not so easily lend themselves to ventilation. Sash-windows can 

 be opened an inch at the top or the bottom, or the full width of one sash ; and the draught 

 thus created may be directed to the ceiling by a screen, or mitigated by a wire blind, or 

 by many other contrivances. Except the cords, there is no machinery to get out of order in 

 a sash-window. Any man or boy ought to be able to open or shut them. 



They should be glazed with rough plate, which subdues the light and is strong enough 

 to bear a thrust from a horse's nose. The master in a small establishment should see that 

 the windows are opened daily, and consequently in good working order. 



Where there is no ceiled loft, and the stable is open to the roof, the modes available for 

 ventilation are too numerous to mention, but they are generally useless. Grooms, \\\\o usually 

 prefer hot stables to elbow-grease for getting a silky coat on their horses, find ways of 

 stopping them up. " The troop horses of my regiment," .said the colonel of the 2nd Life 

 Guards, " live in stables where the windows are open winter and summer. My luinters my 

 stud-groom insists on keeping in a sort of hothouse. The troopers scarcely ever have colds ; 

 the hunters are constantly sick." Some persons use a deodoriser — the best deodorisers are 

 cleanliness and fresh air. If a stable is properly paved, well ventilated, and the litter removed 

 every day into the yard, the atmosphere would stand in no need of a deodoriser ; while, if 



