268 THE HORSE 



Boxes. 



For horses in hard work a box 9 feet wide by 14 feet long 

 is quite large enough, and this particular width is just the 

 length of an ordinary railway sleeper, which may come in 

 useful on some occasion when additional flooring is required. 

 Sick horses, and idle ones, require more room, since it is 

 their only chance of taking exercise, and for them boxes 

 should be provided 12 feet by 14 feet, or even 14 feet square. 

 Brood mares with foals require large boxes, and so do 

 stallions, and for them they may be of any size up to 18 feet 

 square. 



Drainage. 



Perhaps the best system of drainage is some forui of 

 surface drainage which can be easily cleansed, and does not 

 permit liquids to sink into the flooring; and this can be 

 carried out by having the flooring made with blue, or red, 

 specially prepared bricks that are channelled sufficiently to 

 carry off all liquids, while at the same time they afford good 

 foothold to a horse. They should be laid to have a slight 

 fall. Another method is to have the flooring of concrete 

 largely composed of small pebbles. A third way is to have a 

 concrete bed, with a layer of cement above in which cobble- 

 stones are embedded, a grouting of cement being finally 

 added. When properly done this makes a capital floor and 

 never gets slippery under any circumstances. The concrete 

 should be formed of rough, broken bricks, or something 

 similar, to a depth of about a foot, and then overlaid with 

 cement for about 9 inches, the proper fall being now 

 attended to. When the cement has become fairly stiff the 

 cobbles should be embedded to rather more than half their 

 depth, only a narrow breadth being done at a time, so that a 

 man can easily reach to fit the stones properly in their places ; 

 and these should not be set too close together, to afford 

 facility for sweeping away any accumulation that may lodge 

 between them. When all are set a little liquid grouting can 

 be added to obtain the necessary level between the stones. 

 A channel leading from the stall or box should conduct all 



