8 



The Practical Stud Groom. 



GROUND PLAN OF FOALING BOXES 



The six boxes are 18ft. square. The sitting-up room 

 " amidships" should be fitted with a fireplace for heating 

 water for mashes, etc. A corridor, for the use of the " man 

 of observation, " runs the full length of the building. Each 

 box has two doors, which arrangement, in case of the mare 

 lying against one, enables the attendant to enter by the 

 other. All doors should open outwards. The doors that 

 open into the corridor should be fitted with small sliding 

 shutters to allow the attendant to watch the mares without 

 entering the boxes. The lighting arrangements must pre- 

 vent all risk of fire, and the mares coming into contact with 

 the necessary fittings. The scheme of ventilation must be 

 designed to meet all possible conditions of weather. Given 

 a mare in the throes of parturition and perspiring freely, 

 it is obvious that the ventilating arrangements suitable for 

 a balmy May night would be unsuitable for a night in 

 January, with snow on the ground and the thermometer 

 hovering near zero. On a small stud, two foaling boxes 

 might be deemed ample provision; the corridor would be a 

 superfluity and could be dispensed with, the entry to each 

 box being effected through a door opening directly into the 

 sitting-up room. 



The Brood Mare Boxes are not the least important 

 items on a stud farm, because the good health of the 

 pregnant and the suckling mare has an important bearing 

 on the after career of their progeny. The minimum size for 

 a box for a mare and foal should be 16ft. square. Anything 



