T^he Stable 



be managed by placing ventilators at each end of 

 the building and then taking out a brick or making 

 an opening in each partition over the horses' 

 heads. 



The interior should be light and cheerful, the 

 walls tinted with yellow wash, and the windows 

 clean and well placed. I like boxes opening into 

 a yard with the half doors described above so that 

 the horse can look out and see what is going on. 



The stupidity, so-called, of the horse, is to some 

 extent the result of the dullness and monotony of 

 his life. Separate boxes with an outlook are 

 better far than solitary confinement in a box 

 entirely shut off, or, I think, than the noise and 

 disturbance of a long row of boxes. The objec- 

 tion to this plan is that the men have to be 

 exposed as they pass from box to box in bad 

 weather, and that the food and bedding are apt to 

 be wetted as the rations are served out. The 

 forage should not be kept in a loft over the 

 stables. If other arrangements can be made, and 

 the floor of the loft is removed, we have gone far 

 towards having a healthy stable. Dryness, how- 

 ever, is of extreme importance. Should reflooring 

 the stables be necessary — and in the case of most 

 stables which we are entering upon for a long 

 tenancy this ought to be done — the opportunity 

 should be taken to raise the floor if possible at least 

 a few inches above the level of the yard outside. 

 There is not much difficulty about this when there 

 II 



