94 THE HORSE. 



abroad. It may be urged, that horses regularly 

 aired and exercised, are kept in the highest condi- 

 tion, and with an ability equal to their utmost pos- 

 sible performance, and yet always under confine- 

 ment in the stable ; and their grooms will probably 

 ever be provided with solid arguments against the 

 contrary practice, which must bring to them some 

 accession of trouble, from the soiled coats of their 

 horses. Saving and excepting that, I am not aware 

 of any solid argument against the practice ; and it is 

 submitted to the lovers of the horse, and to all those 

 who aim at getting the utmost possible service from 

 him, whether a little extra trouble in grooming will 

 afford an argument of the weightiest consequence. 

 My hacks stood loose in the stable during a number 

 of years ; and I believe, after being habituated to 

 that liberty, must have felt extremely awkward on a 

 change, and being again made fixtures night and 

 day to the manger. It then occurred to me, that 

 where the convenience was wanting, of loose stables 

 or boxes, it might prove an appropriate substitute, to 

 convert stalls into boxes, in which the horses mio-ht 

 stand loose by the use of a bar or two, doors, or 

 gates. This plan I published in my first Treatise, 

 (as under), and I believe the earliest experiment of 

 it was made about thirty years since by a gentleman 

 in Westmoreland ; since which it has been in consi- 

 derable use, and at present, perhaps, the best speci- 

 men of it may be seen at the new London Repository 

 in Gray's Inn Road, where are upwards of a dozen 

 of these inclosed stalls. The gate is about six feet in 

 height; and in the adjoining partition, is a hand- 



