HYGIENE AND SANITATION 



OR PRINCIPIvES TO BE OBSERVED FOR THE PRESER- 

 VATION OF HEALTH. 



The old-fashioned adage that '' preveiition is better than cure'^ 

 cannot be more usefully brought into practice than in its applica- 

 tion to the health of the horse and other domestic animals; for so 

 long as a horse enjoys immunity from disease, so much more 

 valuable is he to his owner, as no time is lost in the due fulfillment 

 of his daily duties, to say nothing of the absence of anxiety and 

 trouble on the owner's or stableman's minds and parts, by reason 

 of attention and expense involved during a bout of sickness; 

 therefore it will not be out of place to devote a special chapter to 

 the careful consideration of how to keep a horse in health so far 

 as ordinary precautions avail. 



One of the first and most important matters for consideration is 

 the construction of the stable; few, if any, architects seem able to 

 grasp the first principles of ventilation, or, if acquainted with them, 

 rarely carry them into practice; free circulation of pure air com- 

 bined with a complete freedom from cold draughts is an absolutely 

 essential feature of a healthy stable; many horses, especiall}^ those 

 kept for racing, hunting, trotting and carriage work, are kept in 

 elaborately built stables in which a high temperature is maintained 

 by keeping the inlets to fresh air tightly closed, and that without 

 any provision for its ingress other than passes through the windows 

 or doors. Places no better provided with ventilation than this are 

 egregiously faulty; horses kept for sport and private convenience, 

 especially the former, are, without doubt, rendered peculiarly sus- 

 ceptible to disease, particularly diseases affecting the respiratory 

 organs, by the mistake of keeping them in an unnaturally high 

 temp2rature; it is quite possible to keep a horse sufficiently warm 

 -to fulfill the exigencies of training for racing and hunting and 



