THE HOKSE. 29 



are often rendered uncomfortably cold, and when the stable is 

 full the whole are fevered or excited by excess of heat. Effi- 

 cient ventilation a very important object is also much more 

 difficult in a large than in a small stable. 



In width the stable may vary from sixteen to eighteen feet ; 

 and in length it must have six feet for each stall. Large cart- 

 horses require a little more room both in length and breadth of 

 stable. The number of stalls should not exceed sixteen, and it 

 would be better if there were only eight. 



Double-rowed stables, or those in which the stalls occupy 

 both sides, require least space, and for horses kept at full work 

 are sufficiently suitable, but for carriage horses single-rowed 

 stables are better. If the double-rowed are used, the gangway 

 should be wide, to prevent the horses from kicking at each 

 other, as they are apt to do when they grow playful from half 

 idleness. 



4. Windows*-? "Windows are too much neglected in stables, and 

 where they exist at all are generally too few, too small, and ill 

 placed. Some think horses do not require light that they 

 thrive best in the dark ; but many a horse has become blind 

 for the want of light in his stable. When side windows can 

 not be introduced, a portion of the hay loft must be sacrificed 

 and light introduced from the roof. Side windows should be 

 so arranged that the light will not fall directly upon the eyes 

 of the horse. 



5. Floors. Stable floors may be of stone, brick, plank, or 

 earth. One of the best kinds of stable floor, where the soil is 

 dry, is made of a composition of lime, ashes, and clay, mixed 

 up in equal parts into a mortar and spread from twelve to fif- 

 teen inches deep over the surface of the ground forming the 

 bottom of the stable. It will dry in ten days and makes a very 

 smooth, fine flooring, particularly safe, easy, and agreeable for 

 horses to stand upoD, and free from all the objections to stone, 

 brick, and wood.* 



* A. B. Allen. 



