CHEAP ADVANTAGES. 59 



stable in a hurry, probably learnt while in a 

 dealer's hands. When the doorway is either nar- 

 row or low, this often occasions their getthig hurt ; 

 and this further increases their propensity to rush 

 through the aperture : and I doubt not that many 

 of those horses we see down on one hip have 

 become so by a blow against the door-post. This 

 idea set me to work to provide a safeguard against 

 such a contingency, which I did in the following 

 way : I had my frames made a foot wider than 

 usual, and the door, of course, made to fit them. 

 I had two round pieces of wood, similar to a leap- 

 ing-bar, with the same sort of iron spindles at 

 each end ; these were fitted perpendicularly inside 

 the door-case ; so if a horse hit them in passing 

 they rolled round, and all danger of an injured 

 hip-bone was avoided. The diflference in expense 

 was not twenty-five shillings ; and when we con- 

 sider that if five horses, worth (say) five hundred 

 guineas, inhabit a stable, and each pass the door- 

 way twice a day, we have a thousand guineas 

 placed within the chance of injury seven hundred 

 and thirty times every year, which would be 

 avoided by a single sixpence, which is about the 

 interest of the money laid out. 



The doorways of all loose sheds where valu- 

 able mares, colts, or horses go in and out of them 

 should be made wide; for these frequently pass 

 the doorway in a trot — sometimes, indeed, in a 



