LIGHT. 349 



accumulate until It reaches almost to the horse's bell5% and the bottom of 

 it is a mass of dung\ If there were not often many a hole and cranny 

 through which the wind can enter, and disperse the foul air, the health 

 of the animal would suffer. 



LIGHT. 



This neglected branch of stable-management is of far more consequence 

 than is generally imagined ; and it is particularly neglected by those for 

 whom these treatises are principally designed. The farmer's stable is 

 frequently destitute of any glazed window ; and has only a shutter, which 

 is raised in warni; and shut down in cold, weather. When the horse is 

 in the stable only during* a few hours of the day, this is not of so much 

 consequence ; nor of so nmch, probably, to horses of slow work ; but to car- 

 riage horses and hackneys, so far at least as the eyes are concerned, a 

 dark stable is little less injurious than a foul and heated one. To illus- 

 trate this, reference may be made to the unpleasant feeling and the utter 

 impossibility of seeing distinctly, when a man suddenly emerges from a 

 dark place into the full blaze of day. The sensation of mingled pain and 

 giddiness is not soon forgotten ; and some minutes pass before the eye 

 can accommodate itself to the increased light. If this were to happen 

 every day, or several times in the day, the sight would be irrepa- 

 rably injured ; or, possibly, bUndness would ensue. Can we wonder, 

 then, that the horse taken from a dark stable into a glare of light, and 

 feeling, probably, as we should do under similar circumstances, and unable 

 or a considerable time to see anything around him distinctly, should 

 become a starter, or that the frequently repeated violent effect of sudden 

 light should induce inflammation of the eye, so intense as to terminate in 

 blindness? There is, indeed, no doubt that horses kept in a dark stable 

 are frequently notorious starters, and that starting has been evidently 

 traced to this cause. 



Farmers know, and should profit by the knowledge, that the darkness 

 of the stable is not unfrequently a cover for great uncleanliness. A glazed 

 window, v/ith leaden divisions between the small panes, would not cost 

 much, and would adm^it a degree of ligiit somewhat more approaching to that 

 of day ; and, at the same time, would render the concealment of gross inat- 

 tention and want of cleanliness impossible. 



If plenty of light be admitted, the walls of the stable, and especially 

 that portion of them which is before the horse's head, must not be of too 

 glaring a colour. The constant reflection from a white wall, and especially 

 if the sun shines into the stable, will be as injurious to the eye as the 

 sudden changes from darkness to light. The perpetual slight excess of 

 stimulus will do as much mischief as the occasional, but more violent one, 

 when the animal is taken from a kind of twihght to the blaze of day. The 

 colour of the stable, therefore, should depend on the quantity of light. 

 Where much can be admitted, the walls should be of a grey hue. Where 

 darkness would otherwise prevail, frequent whitewashing may in some 

 degree dissipate the gloom. 



For another reason it will be evident that the stable should not possess 

 too glaring a light. It is the resting-place of the horse. The work of the 

 farmer's horse, indeed, is confined principally to the day, but the labours of 

 others are demanded at all periods. The hour of exertion having passed, 

 the animal returns to his stable to feed and to repose, and the latter is as 

 necessary as the former, in order to prepare him for renewed work. Some- 

 thing approaching to the dimness of twilight is requisite, to induce the 



