THE HORSE 99 



fatigued. A horse which has the freedom of a 

 loose box never stands in the position in which he 

 would normally be tied, and presumably he chooses 

 the position which is of greatest comfort to him- 

 self. It is always possible to improvise a box stall 

 or two at small expense. Two movable bars 

 placed across the end of a six foot stall will make 

 a good loose box for any pony up to 14.2 hands, 

 and is, in om^ experience, exempt from any serious 

 objections. The end stalls in a stable can be 

 turned into box stalls by putting a couple of bars 

 from the stall partition to the opposite wall, thus 

 adding the width of the passage to the length of 

 the stall. This method is open to the objection 

 that the loose horse can, if it so desires, reach its 

 neighbor in the next stall, and the ability to do so 

 may lead to a tooth and heel battle, with unpleas- 

 ant consequences. Grooms always object to box 

 stalls, and will keep the horses tied up in them if 

 not sharply looked after. Their opposition is due 

 to the slight amount of extra work entailed ; and 

 the only real objection ever experienced is that 

 theu^ use adds slightly to the straw bill, which ad- 

 ditional expense is more than compensated for 

 by the increased health and energy of the horses 

 kept in them, 



