STABLES. 47 



face, and doing himself other injury when feeding. 

 The upright pieces in a rack should be four, or foui 

 and a half inches apart, to prevent long food from 

 being unnecessarily wasted. The halter should never 

 be tied to the rack, (several fine horses having been 

 ruined by such carelesness,) but should be passed 

 through a ring in the manger, and confined to a longer 

 or smooth piece of wood, weighing about a pound. 

 With a halter of this description, there is no danger 

 of a horse's hanging, alarming, or injuring himself. A 

 stall should be four and a half or five feet wide, which 

 will allow him to lie down with comfort. The stable 

 floor should be planked, to m?ke the coat of hair show 

 to advantage ; but a dirt floor is far preferable, when 

 a horse is wanted for actual service : there is a mois- 

 ture received by the hoof from the earth, which is 

 absolutely necessary to make it tough and service- 

 able. Either kind of stable floors should be a little 

 raised towards the manger, to turn the urine from the 

 stall, which produces an unpleasant smell, and (when 

 permitted to stand a length of time) very unwhole- 

 some vapours. When the size of a stable is calculated 

 for several horses, the partitions between the stalls 

 should be neatly and smoothly planked low enough to 

 the floor, to prevent the horse when lying down, 

 getting his legs through, and high enough at top to 

 prevent them from smelling, biting, and molesting 

 each other. A plentiful bed of clean, dry straw affords, 

 to a fatigued or travelling horse, as great a welcome 

 as his food, and is as necessary in a stable as the 

 pitchfork, curry-comb, and brush. 



