RIDING SCHOOL. 249 



incurring the delay and inconvenience of sending the 

 animals to a smithy. There will very rarely be any trouble 

 in arranging to get a blacksmith to come and work in the 

 forge, where he should find everything ready at hand. The 

 great advantage of this accommodation depends on the fact 

 that it is impossible to fit a shoe especially an ordinary 

 heavy shoe as accurately cold, as it is to fit it hot. 



STABLE-YARD. 



A capital ground surface for a stable-yard, if expense be 

 no object, is one made of hard buff-coloured paving bricks 

 laid on a layer of concrete. Hard blue bricks will be cheaper, 

 but are less resistant to wear and do not look so well. If 

 economy has to be studied, the centre of the yard may be 

 laid down with gravel ; and the edges with bricks, say, to 

 a width of 8 ft. In a small stable, a space upon which to wash 

 carriages will generally be required, and will be most con- 

 veniently placed outside, and at a distance from the coach- 

 house of say, 5 or 6 yards. This space may be made about 

 1 5 ft. square ; it should be covered with waterproof material, 

 such as bricks to match the pavement of the yard ; and its 

 sides should slope downwards and inwards (say, at a gradient 

 of i in 20) to its centre, at which there should usually be 

 a grating communicating with an underground drain. 



Although gravel in the first instance is far cheaper than 

 paving brick, the difference is made up in time by the greater 

 expense and trouble in keeping it in order. Besides it 

 harbours dirt and wet. Cobble stones are noisy and bad for 

 the horses' feet ; they retain damp and are difficult to keep 

 clean. 



RIDING SCHOOL. 



A riding school is one of the greatest conveniences a 

 hunting man, trainer, or owner of polo ponies can possess ; 



