l6 STABLE BUILDING AND STABLE FITTING. 



from an adjoining stable, the smaller number, as arranged on 

 this plan (except where the nature of the site renders it 

 impracticable), may be considered the best. 

 Boxes for JIunters, owing to the exhausting character of their work, 



hunters. should have plenty of room for recruiting and repose ; boxes, 



as a rule, are most suitable for them, and these should be at 

 least 12 feet square ; this gives an area of 144 feet super, whilst 

 some authorities consider they should have double this amount, 

 to give them plenty of room to roll. Mr. G. Tattersall says 

 they should be 22 feet long and 13 feet wide, with a 12-foot 

 passage and height of 1 2 feet. Four or six boxes are sufficient 

 in one building, as the horses are less likely to be disturbed 

 when housed in small numbers, and the stable is more easily 

 kept at one temperature. It is convenient to have some of 

 them convertible into stalls upon the simplest principle. 



A design for a stable for hunters is shown on Plate 7, in 

 which the stalls are 12 feet by 12 feet, and by means of a 

 portable heel-post and partition, can be converted into stalls of 

 the ordinary width (6 feet), and the six marked A can be made 

 into closed loose boxes by putting up doors in the position of 

 the dotted lines, and adding about 2 feet of partition, or the 

 temporary provision of a safety bar might be used (as shown on 

 Plate 18, Figs. 3 and 4). 

 Covered way, A covered way for exercising the horses under shelter, and 

 passing entirely round the yard, is a common and useful pro- 

 vision, and helps to shade the stables in the time of extreme 

 heat. It should be made 7 or 8 feet wide and 9 feet high. 

 Breeding In breeding stables the yard should be particularly well 



stables. sheltered, the boxes having a south-west aspect and a dry soil. 



For barren and brood mares they should be respectively about 

 12 and 15 feet square, with a well-screened shed to keep them 

 from the wet when they are allowed to be loose. 

 Racing " Nimrod," writing from his experience of the best type of 



racing stables, seems to consider that the proportionate number 

 of loose boxes to stalls should be in the ratio of about six to 



stables. 



