GOING TO THE " PEESS." 93 



non-observance of which gives the impression (and 

 such is mostly the case) that the groom is not a 

 workman ; for instance, it may be said that if a 

 hood is thrown over a horse's quarters, the posi- 

 tion of the ears of the hood cannot be a matter of 

 consequence ; nor am I prepared to say it is so ; 

 but if I saw them standing an-end on the horse's 

 back one bending forwards, the other backwards, 

 like a hare listening, I should doubt the man 

 being a finished stableman ; they look, as a sailor 

 would say, " more ship-shape," brought through 

 the eye-holes, and laying uniformly neat. All 

 things in a stable should be done not from a man 

 recollecting that he should do it, but from habit, 

 as naturally as he brings up his left leg to follow 

 his right, or vice versa. In fact, a horse that has 

 been accustomed to be attended by a stableman 

 will want to have little niceties done to him that 

 a hawbuck of a groom never thinks of doing. 



The presses should be made so that all things 

 wanted can stand in them, or on shelves and pegs 

 also shut in. There will be a place for buckets, 

 forks, chamois, sponges, dressing-tools, mane- 

 combs, water-brushes, bandages, the men's strap- 

 ping-jackets, and sundry other articles in daily 

 use. 



Anything like a shelf in a stable should never 

 be seen ; not even a sill to the windows. I need 

 scarcely say that nails or hooks in the walls are 



