STABLE MANAGEAtEXT. S*? 



emanations, but when wet it becomes a sticky, objectionable mass. 

 A solution of copperas, at the rate of one ounce to two gallons 

 of water, sprinkled freely in the stable, is a very effective deodor- 

 izer. When tlie stable is cleaned up in the morning the partially 

 soiled bedding which is to be used again should be removed to some 

 other part of the stable to dry, and never thrown under the manger, 

 or near the horse's head, in accordance with a quite too common cus- 

 tom. How would the owner or groom enjoy having such an odor- 

 ous mass under his own table ? For handling bedding the wooden 

 stable fork, figure 41, is more convenient than the steel-tined forks, 

 and involves less risk of accidental injury to the feet and legs of the 

 horse. Every vessel used in giving food and water must be kept 



Fig. 41. — gifford's stable fork. 



scrupulously clean. Wooden feed-boxes in which dampened food 

 is given, soon become sour and musty if neglected. Iron ones are 

 better. A decent horse will nearly starve rather than take its food 

 from a sour, ill-smelling receptacle. 



Poultry should never be permitted to enter the stable, or any part 

 of the barn. If allowed to roost there, they are likely to spread ver- 

 min. They befoul the hay-mow and any carriages to which they 

 have access, rob the horse of its grain, and soil its feed-box. Rats 

 and mice are not so easily excluded, but they can be kept out of 

 grain-bins by nailing strips of tin over all angles and cracks. 



VENTILATION AND DRAINAGE. 



The family horse is likely to suffer more for lack of pure air than 

 farm horses. The former is usually kept in a small tightly built stable, 

 while the latter are housed in one comer of a roomy bam which, 

 whatever it may lack, is abundantly airy. Greater attention is there- 

 fore required to f umish judicious ventilation to the smaller and more 

 carefully built stable of the family horse. It may seem strange that 

 horses which run at large on the ranges of the West the entire year, 

 with no shelter from the bitter cold and driving storms of winter, 

 are remarkably sound in wind, while the petted favorites, kept blank- 

 eted in warm stables, are constantly liable to attacks which affect 

 their organs of respiration. Dr. Felix L. Oswald writes concerning 

 this point as follows : 



" If the genesis of pulmonary affections were more clearly under- 



