STABLES. 197 



horses at work, although, in common with our- 

 selves, they insist on the necessity of well ventilated 

 stables. No doubt it is injurious to any animal to 

 breathe an under-oxygenated air, and the effluvia 

 arising from animal excretions are injurious to 

 eyes and lungs. A hunter should live in a tem- 

 perature of about 63° of Fahrenheit in the winter, 

 and as much below that point as it can be made in 

 the summer, by means of exclusion of the sun, 

 open doors, &c. But it is essential that a stable 

 in the winter should not only be warm, but dry ; 

 and if not dry, the ground under and around it 

 should be drained. A delicate horse never arrives 

 at perfection of condition in a damp stable, and it 

 operates powerfully against all others, often being 

 the cause of fever in the feet. Stalls should not be 

 more than six feet wide, nor raised towards the 

 mano^er ; but there should be a slis^ht inclination in 

 the flagging towards the centre of them, to enable 

 the urine to find its way to a drain, which there 

 always ought to be, as it contributes much to clean- 

 liness, and consequently to health. " Loose places,'' 

 or " boxes," as they are termed, are most desirable 

 for all horses after severe work, and a celebrated 

 veterinary surgeon (Mr. Turner of Regent Street, 

 London, to whom the public is so much indebted 

 for his illustration of the navicular disease in the 

 foot) has given it as his opinion, that if all horses 

 were suffered to lie loose after work, there would 

 not be half the cases of lameness in the feet that 

 now occur. Desirable as such treatment aiay be, 

 it is universally impracticable, on account of the 



