46 THE PRACTICAL HORSE KEEPER. 



capacious lungs and active respiration, and adapted by nature 

 to live and thrive best in the open air. In proportion to his 

 activity is the amount of tissue waste, and therefore of worn- 

 out and deleterious matter thrown off from his body. There- 

 fore, there is all the more necessity for an abundance of fresh 

 air, and the speedy removal of that which has become de- 

 teriorated. It is in over-crowded, badly-ventilated stables, 

 where sanitary rules are ignored, that diseases are most pre- 

 valent, and horses are shortest-lived ; and when such insanitary 

 conditions are combined with hard work, and bad or insufficient 

 food, then we have present everything required to diminish 

 efficiency, induce disease, and curtail existence. 



It must not be forgotten that a hot stable may not be a 

 foul one, though it very often is; nor a cold stable a well- 

 ventilated one. On the contrary, a stable may be warm, and 

 even hot, and yet contain less foul air than one which is 

 cooler. But there can be 110 doubt that hot stables are 

 generally foul, as the higher temperature not only usually 

 implies insufficient cubic space and an inadequate supply of 

 fresh air, but it also indicates more rapid decomposition of 

 urine, litter, and other matters, and the consequent disengage- 

 ment of hurtful gases, and diffusion of these in the limited 

 atmosphere. 



And even when there is ample cubic space, and the means 

 for ensuring ventilation are present, there is often a strange 

 tendency on the part of grooms and horse-keepers to ignore or 

 nullify these, by excluding, in the most careful and laborious 

 manner, the entrance of the uncontaminated air from without. 

 They seem to have a most unaccountable and perverse liking 

 for a hot and foul-smelling stable atmosphere, and to obtain 

 and enjoy it they will keep windows and doors rigidly closed, 

 shut down ventilators, or choke them with bundles of straw, 

 pack every crevice through which air may chance to enter, 

 with the same material, and even obstruct the keyhole. The 



