212 PEECEPT ATTD PEACTICE. 



desire for companionship is lost to him, and he does 

 not feel the deprivation. 



I am quite clear that horses (in technical phrase) 

 " do better" in stalls than boxes, unless those boxes 

 are made with rails only between the inhabitant of 

 them and the other horses. Whatever cheers the 

 spirits must be beneficial to horse or man, and vice 

 versa. Horses feed better from hearing others eat ; 

 and many a horse that would not touch a feed of 

 corn, given to him in solitary confinement, will set 

 to work himself, hearing others grinding. 



A good deal may be said in favour of keeping 

 valuable horses in boxes on this head ; they permit 

 them the privilege of standing or lying down, as they 

 like. There is no danger of their getting cast or of 

 getting loose ; in which case, though horses are, as I 

 have said, social animals, the intrusion into the stall 

 of another horse by a loose one frequently throws a 

 whole stable into confusion, and often produces the 

 direst catastrophes. But let me correct the term 

 applied. I have used that of boxes ; better to say, 

 where stalls are not used, compartments for horses. 



