Stable Management. 75 



The Degree of Warmth necessary for the 

 Stabled Horse. 



A great outcry has been raised in this country against 

 warm stables, and, no doubt much good has been done 

 by the agitation on the subject ; but, like all reforms, it 

 may be carried too far ; and I am inclined to believe that 

 in many cases it has been. Warmth of some kind is es- 

 sential to the health of the well-bred horse ; for, though 

 the Welsh pony or the galloway may be fitted to contend 

 against cold, the horse of Eastern descent is certainly not 

 qualified to do so. From a long experience, I am satisfied 

 that a moderately warm stable, even with its attendant 

 closeness, is better than a large and airy but consequently 

 cold one ; yet, at the same time, if artificial warmth can 

 be given, the space and ventilation can scarcely be too free. 

 But, est modus in rebus, every one must be ruled by the 

 length of his purse ; and if he cannot afford large and 

 roomy stables with a stove kept constantly going, he will 

 find that his horses will be far more healthy, if the stable 

 is well cleaned and drained, and they are kept warm by 

 shutting it up pretty closely in severe weather. In the 

 summer the doors and windows may always be open, except 

 in cold nights ; but in severe winter weather a very slight 

 access of fresh air can be admitted during that period of 

 the twenty-four hours. During an experience of twenty 

 years, with an average of three or four horses in the stable, 

 I have not altogether had more than half-a-dozen cases of 

 disease of any kind in my stable, over and above lameness 

 incidental to road-work ; and this with a great variety of 

 horses of all classes and ages. Now, in general, I have 

 had a small confined stable kept warm but clean, and with 

 a pretty free ventilation, yet not more than the average of 

 private stables ; and the most healthy one I have ever 

 had was the most confined and worst ventilated to all ap- 

 pearance, but what fresh air there was entered at the heads 

 of the horses ; and I have made the same remark in other 

 stables. Some large airy ones were notoriously unhealthy, 

 while others, close, dark, and confined, were the reverse : 

 and the conclusion I have arrived at is, that horses kept 



