HOW TO SELECT A HORSE AND KEEP IT. 131 



reliable dealer, stating what is desired, and the amount of money to 

 be ^iven. An honest horse jockey, in some people's minds, is an 

 anomaly, but many such have been found by the writer. 



STABLING. 



Having bought the horse, the consideration of a proper place to 

 keep him is the next phase of the subject. The stable should be 

 large and light, situated on the south side of the bam, so that the 

 window, which should always be at the end of the stable — covered 

 with wire netting — may be opened in the warmer weather without 

 fear of a draft of cold air from the north or east, in order that fresh 

 air may be easily obtamed, and also that the little sunshine there is 

 during the short winter days may light up the stable. There is, in 

 the minds of good horsemen, no doubt but that small, damp, dark 

 stalls, strongly impregnated with ammonia, as such always are, fur- 

 nish the producing cause of "pinkeye," and sometimes total blind- 

 ness, and also lead to complications of throat and lung troubles, for 

 which remedies avail but little as long as these conditions remain. 

 The floor should either be double, with the upper layer of boards set 

 edgewise half an inch apart, or have the planks raised at the front 

 of the stall about two inches, and a line of holes or an open crack at 

 the back, so that the urine will at once run off, and so leave the 

 bedding and floor as dry as possible. In the winter, when the shoes 

 have long sharp calks, they may catch between the cracks in the 

 boards set edgewise, and cause a lame ankle. The writer prefers 

 good chestnut planks matched, and laid as above. The box stall is 

 extremely comfortable, especially after a long ride, when the horse 

 is warm and sweating freely, as he is likely to, on account of his 

 thick coat of hair in winter. Warmth with good ventilation is 

 conducive to health, and certainly to a good appearance, and the 

 grain given under such conditions yields large returns. In a cold 

 windy night, with the mercury at zero, such a stall with a good bed 

 assures a comfortable rest, and is not beyond the means of any 

 ordinary horse owner. 



The hay should come from above and through a closed trough, 

 and never be fed from a rack. The reaching up is very trying to 

 the muscles of the neck and shoulders, and the constant scattering 

 of the hay-seed and chaff into the horse's foretop and mane is alike 

 irritating to the horse and his owner. If fed through a small open- 

 ing in the bottom of a closed trough all this is avoided. The small 

 opening also discourages wasting the hay, a trick which many horses 

 have, and a costly one it is, for many a horse will waste more than 

 he eats. The manger for the grain and other feed should be about 



