STRAW BEDS FOR HORSES, SzC. 117 



111 this month, when the frost sets in, the 

 horses are prevented from going out to exercise 

 on the downs, consequently recourse must be had 

 to exercise them in rather a more artificial way. 

 The arrangement for this purpose, for the want 

 of a better, is generally made in the yard front- 

 ing the stables; such a yard is described in Vol. I. 

 as 180 feet by 354, and which may answer for the 

 forming of the straw beds tolerably well ; indeed, 

 I have often had to ride horses slowly in their 

 sweats in more confined situations than the one 

 I have there noticed. But it is my duty to state 

 what I consider to be a sufficiently commodious 

 place for the horses to be exercised in with safety, 

 without considering the expense, rather than run 

 the risk of having an accident happen to a valu- 

 able horse or two by being exercised in too con- 

 tracted a space. 



The sort of place we would recommend for 

 the above purpose should be a long well-fenced 

 paddock, adjacent to the stables, about 200 yards 

 in length by 70 in breadth, with a wall round 

 it six feet high, entered by a boarded gate, of 

 the same height, by seven feet in breadth. The 

 space to be taken up round the inside of the 

 walls of the paddock, on which the beds of the 



