STABLES. U 



so dry that precautions to be taken against draughts 

 are not nearly so necessary as in England. Respecting 

 the latter country, Professor Williams writes : "Horses 

 kept in ill-ventilated stables are undoubtedly rendered 

 susceptible to many diseases, and to pneumonia among 

 the rest, but they will bear impure air even better than 

 cold draughts blowing directly upon them. I have 

 repeatedly observed that the slightest cold contracted 

 by a horse kept in a draughty stable has almost 

 invariably been succeeded by pneumonia, and, that 

 if the animal was not removed to a more comfort- 

 able situation, the disease tended to a fatal 

 termination." 



Ignorant grooms in England have a strong prejudice 

 in favour of warm stables, on account of the good effect 

 they have on the animals' coats. These men, naturally, 

 ignore the increased susceptibility to catching cold, 

 which horses kept in such places acquire, as well as 

 the very marked tendency the legs and feet have of 

 "going to pieces "; for a horse that is laid up with a 

 cough or a filled leg, gives far less trouble to the groom 

 than one which is in full work. In winter, horses 

 undoubtedly thrive better in comfortable stables than 

 in cold bleak ones. The owner, trainer, or groom can 

 personally satisfy himself as to the proper degree of 

 warmth, by regulating it according to what he would 

 consider agreeable to his own feelings, were he to 

 make the stable his own abode ; always remembering 

 that its atmosphere should be pure, and free from the 

 slightest suspicion of " closeness." 



With hard-worked animals, such as race-horses, I 

 have found the best results attend the practice of 



