4 THE TRAIxNING STABLES. 



demand our first attention, for unless they are properly built, 

 and their internal arrangements perfect, their inmates will 

 fall into a state of chronic disease, rather than enjoy robust 

 health, and will be more in need of the veterinary surgeon 

 than the trainer. 



The stables I intend describing (which though not a model 

 of perfection, have probably fewer faults than most others) 

 are those I built here some twenty-eight years ago. They 

 have met the approbation of competent judges, and in a 

 sanitary point of view have stood the test of time. 



They are built of brick and faced flint in the proportion of 

 two of the former to four of the latter without the least 

 attempt at ornamentation, square shaped with lofts above ; 

 the roof being composed of tile, which is better than slate, 

 being cooler in summer and warmer in winter — both desirable 

 objects of attainment. The nineteen boxes and thirty-one 

 stalls are intermixed for the more equal diffusion of heat ; for 

 a uniform temperature throughout is very desirable. Each 

 set of four stalls is divided from the others by sliding par- 

 titions of deal, fastened with iron latches. The boxes are 

 opened and shut by a screen running on rollers at the top. 

 This plan is safer than to have the rollers at the bottom, 

 for in the latter case, horses may, by kicking or other violence, 

 force the partitions open and get together. With the rollers 

 at the top, this is simply impossible, unless something should 

 break, a thing I never knew to occur. 



In size they are elevcn-and-a-half feet by twelve, which 

 leaves a clear space of six feet behind the horses, giving 

 sufficient room to pass from stable to stable, and to keep the 

 animals from the draught of tlie windows and air-holes; for 

 without this safeguard a sudden fall in the temperature during 

 the night may be the cause of colds, if of nothing worse. 



