SOFT REPOSE. 87 



diminishing by many degrees his standing up hill. 

 In crood and well laid stables horses are not found 

 to acquire this habit ; so the cause of it speaks for 

 itself, and ought to be immediately remedied, 

 which any common bricklayer may do, if he 

 pleases, in half a day. 



Five feet eight, in the clear, I consider wide 

 enough for any horse's stall. If he is so fatigued 

 as to want to lie at full length, he ought to be 

 put in a box. This is, however, a position in 

 which horses never lie long together, unless 

 under very peculiar circumstances ; for it is, in 

 fact, a painful one to them, unless they have an 

 unusual quantity of soft straw under them, the 

 rotundity of their ribs creating an unpleasant 

 pressure. 



It is a most mistaken idea that a wearied body 

 can rest comfortably on anything but a soft, yield- 

 ing substance. Rest it will, and sleep will come, 

 for jaded nature will rest anywhere, and almost 

 anyhow ; but if we lie on any unyielding surface, 

 it is only the most prominent parts of the body 

 that find support. These begin to ache from 

 undue pressure on them; the other parts from 

 having no support at all. Some foreign horses 

 sleep on bare boards. They live, and perhaps do 

 well ; but they would certainly be more comfort- 

 able with a good bed under them. And it must 

 be borne in mind, that these occupiers of bare 



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