108 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 



and when all these things are attended to 

 properly the drugs and nostrums that stable 

 lore prescribes as "good for a horse" would 

 better be thrown to the dogs. 



For the use of the stallion I like a box stall 

 not less than twelve by -eighteen feet, without 

 any manger or rack whatever for the hay, and 

 with a box snugly fitted in the corner for the 

 grain. Many prefer that the feed boxes should 

 be entirely detached from the stall, to be re- 

 moved as soon as the horse is done eating. The 

 hay is put on the floor in one corner of the 

 stall, and thus there is nothing no projections, 

 boxes, racks, mangers, sharp angles, etc. upon 

 which a spirited, restless horse may injure him- 

 self. If, in addition to these precautions, the 

 sides of the stall be lined all around doors 

 and all with stout boards, standing out at the 

 bottom about one foot from the wall, and slop- 

 ing upward and toward the wall for a height of 

 three and a half feet, you will have a stall in 

 which it will be well-nigh impossible for a horse 

 to injure his mane or tail by rubbing. In such 

 a box the horse need not be kept haltered, and 

 the owner may feel assured that the liability to 

 injury is reduced to a minimum. 



One of the most pernicious and dangerous of 

 all practices, especially among breeders of draft 

 horses, is that of overfeeding in order to pro- 

 duce great weight. Draft horses are not ex- 



