STABLE BUILDING AND STABLE FITTING. 



Modern im- 

 provements. 



Improved 

 fittings. 



Iron stables. 



from damp, is essential, not only to good appearance and 

 successful grooming, but for the working capacity and health 

 of the horse ; and, moreover, in a stable where these require- 

 ments are complied with, an economy is effected even in the 

 food. Food supplies, in a measure, the absence of warmth ; 

 and a horse which is kept in a stable sufficiently near to the 

 temperature of his own body, will eat less, with the same bene- 

 ficial result, than one which is in a cold stable ; so that, apart 

 from all considerations of humanity, it is a commercial mistake 

 of the gravest kind to put a valuable animal into a cold or 

 badly ventilated stable, and is the cause of many of the 

 diseases to which horses are liable. " Unless," says a writer on 

 this subject, " animals are placed in circumstances congenial 

 to their habits and necessities, it is in vain to look for any 

 remedy, and whatever plan may be designed for their improve- 

 ment, nothing will be found to be of service unless it is in 

 accordance with the natural and ascertained laws of health." 



If in modern times no improvement has taken place in the 

 breed of horses, their existence in European countries has 

 become one of greater comfort than in the past, and such 

 stables as were formerly common are now only to be met with 

 where the owner is heavily handicapped by poverty, and even 

 in such cases there is generally an effort to do the best possible. 

 The drainage and improved sanitation of towns admit of 

 stables being erected in our midst without injury to the health 

 of the community, and at the same time tend greatly to 

 improve the condition of the horse. 



The modern fittings of stables have become in every respect 

 more conducive to this end ; iron — painted, galvanised, and 

 enamelled — being liberally used at home and abroad. 



Stables have been sent out to Egypt, and other countries 

 infested by ants, with fittings entirely of this material ; the 

 stalls and loose boxes being lined from the floor to the top of 

 the manger with plates of iron, and the divisions between the 

 stalls, instead of having the usual wood cleating, being fitted 



