132 STABLING. 



iOom, warm and well lighted, yet well ventilated. The 

 stalls should be at least five feet wide for work horses, and 

 if fine horses that are worked but little, they should be 

 large enough to enable stepping around freely. If there is 

 room, a box stall is the best, but it should not be close. 

 The door, at least, should be made of slats, and a window 

 above the head, so arranged that it can be thrown open to 

 give light and ventilation. The door should be large, to 

 preclude injury by striking the sides or hips against the 

 posts, and there should be a reasonably large yard, which 

 should be well fenced. If a manger and rack of the com- 

 mon form across the stall is used, I would suggest an im- 

 provement upon that in general use. 



First. It should be so constructed that the horse cannot 

 waste the feed while eating, yet should not be very high 

 the top about three and a half feet from the floor. 



The rack, instead of sloping out over the head of the 

 horse, should stand straight, or perpendicular, which will 

 prevent hay seed and dust from falling upon the horse's 

 head, and enable catching and pulling the hay more easily 

 from the rack, and the back so inclined forward that the 

 hay will all the time be in the horse's reach. The bottom 

 should be open like the front, so that the dust can drop 

 through to the floor. 



The best form of manger I have seen, both for conve- 

 nience, safety and health, is that so constructed that there 

 is an alley in front of the head. The place for hay is a 

 sort of box, on one side of which is a feed box, which 

 should be large enough to prevent throwing the feed out 

 while eating. The hitching ring should be on the off or 

 farther side, to prevent the strap being caught by the foot. 

 The manger should be about on a level with the shoulders. 

 The nearer the horse is made to imitate his position when 

 eating in the field the better. But this is not admissible in 

 the construction of the manger, since the horse would 

 waste the feed. This form of feeding box and manger is 

 cleaner. There is not that temptation to give more hay at 

 a time than the horse may need. The manger can be 

 reached easily and safely; in feeding the hay is easily 

 thrown upon the floor, where it can be easily shaken up 

 and thrown fresh and palatable to the horse. It obviates 

 the usual temptation of a receptacle under the manger, is 



