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CHAPTER VIII. 

 BEDDING. 



Necessity of Bedding Varieties of Bedding Comparative Powers of Absorption 

 of Water by Various Kinds of Bedding Requirements in a Bedding Classifi- 

 cation of Bedding Materials Effects of Bedding on Horses' Feet Straw 

 Peat Moss Sawdust Wood Shavings Tan Ferns, Fir Needles and Moss 

 Sand Combined Bedding Choice of a Bedding Bedding down Mucking - 

 out Disposal of used Litter Stable Manure. 



NECESSITY OF BEDDING. 



THE following are the chief reasons why a stabled horse 

 requires to have an artificial covering for the floor of his box 

 or stall : 



1. The floor is necessarily made so hard that he could not 

 lie down in comfort on it without a bedding. In fact, the 

 absence or deficient supply of bedding is not an uncommon 

 cause, in badly managed stables, of horses getting cut about 

 the points of the hips, hocks, and fetlocks from contact with 

 the floor. We must here remember that when a horse is 

 at grass, he has a large choice of ground upon which to 

 repose, and even then he does not always escape from the 

 injuries just mentioned. Also, it is advisable as a rule to 

 encourage hard-worked horses to lie down during the day, 

 when they are in the stable. 



2. For purposes of health, comfort and cleanliness, 

 an animal needs to have some material under him that 

 will soak up or drain off the urine and the moisture 



