THE STABLE INSPECTION 



The most important activity of this Association, next to the Parade, 

 and perhaps not second to that, is the s) stem of Stable Inspection. 



Entries tor this may be made at any time, and by stables of all kinds, 

 including livery, hack and boarding stables. There is no entry fee. The 

 stables are judged, not in competition with one another, but accordingly 

 as they s itisfy the standard fixed by the Judges. The prizes are unli nited 

 in number, and consist mainly of silver medals, awarded to the proprietor 

 and to foremen and nightmen. The stables and the foremen are not 

 always graded alike. Someimes a foreman makes poor use of the facili- 

 ties at his command, and, more often, a good foreman has to struggle 

 against pDor facilities and bad drivers. The Judges are the most expert 

 and impartial men that we can find in Boston or elsewhere. Their reports 

 are confidential, and are communicated only to the proprietor of the 

 stable. 



Among the p3ints considered by the Judges are quality and quantity 

 of hay and grain, watering, bedding, blanketing, grooming, ventilation, 

 stalls, sanitary condition of stable, and the handling of the horses by 

 grooms and drivers. 



The stable inspection is availed of more and more every year, espe- 

 cially by large concerns. We had forty entries this year, and the num- 

 ber of horses owned by each pers >n or corporation varied from one to 

 three and four hundred. The total number of horses in the stables 

 inspected was over two thousand. 



Many large concerns, especially corporations, leave their stable 

 management wholly to subordinates, and often do not know whether it is 

 good or bad, or how .it could be improved. There are men working 

 alone at night n city stables, old employees in many cases, as to whom 

 the question is never asked whether they do their work well or ill. Most 

 of these men are faithful. A few of them have been unearthed b}' our 

 stable inspection Judge's, and it is pathetic to see how pleased and sur- 

 prised they are to find thit any human being takes an interest in them or 

 in their work. 



No amount of system cai compensate for the want of this personal 

 interest in the horses and in the men who take care of them. It should 

 be the business of some person in authority in every concern to know 

 how the horses look and feel, whether the men in charge are faithful or 

 not, how long they have been in the service, what suggestions they have 

 to make, and so forth. It seems to be the policy of man}- large corpora- 



