2S2 THE STABLE. 



Bihly, instnnces may he known wliere a horse is cramped 

 in a narrow stall, where he can neither lay down nor stretch 

 his limbs, but be compelled to stand all night ; and yet 

 Ruch a liorse may even continue to do a good deal of work ; 

 but, sooner or later, this kind of treatment produces the 

 most disastrous results ; gourdy legs and greasy heels are 

 induced, and a premature breaking up of the horse's 

 strength is the inevitable consequeiice. 



The ventilation of stables is, comparatively speaking, a 

 modern improvement ; for it was not till nearly the close 

 of the last century that public attention was called to the 

 evil consequences of the system previously adopted — that 

 of closing up every aperture by which air could enter, and 

 rendering the stable more like a hot-bed than a resting 

 place for animals which breathed and required a pure at- 

 mosphere to breathe in. — Before this period, no groom 

 ever thought of admitting fresh air into a stable ; some 

 chought it of no use, while ofliers considered it as highly 

 pernicious. Mr. J. Clarke, of Edinburgh, was the first to 

 protest against close stables, as an unhealthy and perni- 

 (;i(3us custom ; and no sooner was the subject inquired 

 into, than it was ascertained that at least one half of the 

 diseases to which hcjrses were so commonly subject, were 

 produced by close, hot, unventilated stables. 



In guarding against this evil, however, its opposite must 

 be avoided; stable-men generally understand that warmth is 

 congenial to the nature of horses, and argue that, to look 

 well, a horse must be kept warm. This is in part true 

 but not wholly so ; we recommend warm, but rxotfoid sta- 

 bles : — this is the great distinction that should be kept in 

 mind ; foul stables are always hot, — but warm stables need 

 not be foul ; — it is the impurity of the atmosphere of the 

 stable that does the mischief; and it is this very impurity 

 that we strongly insist upon as the evil which must be 

 avoided. 



No breathing animal can continue in the enjoyment of 

 good health, without a constant supply of pure air: this 

 truism is the basis of ventilation. Pure air is composed of 

 tvvt> gases, termed nitrogen and oxygen, in the proportion 

 of about two parts of the former to one of the latter. An 

 animal in breathing inhales the oxygen, which is absolute 

 ly essential to its well-being, and which, passing into the 

 lungs, purifies the blood ; the same animal gives out and 



