LOOSE-BOXES. 29 



neighbor from interfering with each other, and allows the 

 groom to see into the box without opening the door. 

 Where circumstances will allow, the door should be placed 

 on the gangway side, and not in another box or stall. 

 The other portions of the fence around the box should, like 

 its door, be of solid boards, extending up to about two- 

 thirds of its height, the other third to be sparred either 

 with wood, iron rods, or strong wire-work, screwed or nailed 

 to the top of the wooden portion. The upper portion of 

 spars or netting is inserted in a flat iron or wooden bar, 

 firmly secured to the front travis or wall, and attached to 

 the back post at the edge of the gangway, giving strength 

 to the whole fixture. To give strength to loose-boxes, as 

 is now done in our finer stables, the posts or travises are 

 made of sufficient length to reach up, and are secured to 

 a joist in the ceiling of the stable. 



The advantages of loose-boxes may be stated to con- 

 sist in giving to the horse more liberty of action, and con- 

 sequently a more natural position in a state of domestica- 

 tion than could be accorded to him when tied by the head. 

 Hence the excuse of the Arab, when refusing to sell or 

 part with his favorite horse for gold, that the European 

 would " tie him close." How abhorrent to the mind of the 

 sons of the desert that the winged steed should be tied by 

 the head after a life spent in unrestrained freedom at the 

 side of its dam — whether on the oasis of the desert or the 

 pastures of Pennsylvania. The old, stiff", hard-worked horse 

 and the lymphatic mare are alike benefited by the freedom 



