50 THE HORSE : ITS KEEP AND MANAGEMENT. 



Most gentlemen are very particular about having the 

 stable floor cleaned, and will even have the place washed 

 under the horses' feet. Some have this done once a day, 

 while others are content with having it done once a week. 

 Now many of these stable floors are made of hard Stafford- 

 shire blue bricks, or sometimes asphalte, and by washing 

 them down so often it makes the surface very smooth. Of 

 course the bottoms of the stables are not always made of 

 the two things I have named, occasionally cement is used, 

 and I will explain further on how much better this is for 

 the horses' feet. 



In my younger days I was always very much surprised 

 to see the number of horses that were lame. They were 

 mostly carriage horses. If you took one hundred of the 

 latter, and one hundred waggon and cart horses, including 

 those belonging to farmers in the surrounding districts, you 

 would find there would be from fifteen to thirty of the 

 carriage horses laid up at certain periods of the year, and 

 you would only find from three to seven cart horses lame 

 out of the whole hundred. I could not help feeling 

 sure in my own mind (although young at the time) there 

 w^as some cause for this, and as my nature has always been 

 a rather inquisitive one, I made many enquiries from 

 different gentlemen, coachmen, grooms, carmen, and 

 farmers of my acquaintance, as to the reason of it. I did not 

 get a satisfactory answer to my mind from any of them. 



The farmers said, " Ah, you see we do not pamper 

 our horses like gentlemen do." The carmen's answer was, 

 " Carriage horses are better bred than cart horses, and are 



