CONSTRUCTION OF STABLES. 17 



Stand in a double row. The number of stalls should never 

 exceed sixteen. It would be better if there were only eight, 

 or a separate stable for each team. For these stables the 

 width may be from twenty-two to twenty-four feet. If the 

 horses do not exceed the average height, the stalls may be 

 only five and a half feet wide ; but they are better to be the 

 full width, six feet. Single-headed stables for coach-horses 

 may be sixteen and a half feet wide, and seventeen is quite 

 sufficient. Large cart-horses require^ a little more room, 

 both in the length and breadth of the stable. 



Arrangement of the Stalls. — In this there is little 

 variety. In a square or circular apartment, the stalls may be 

 ranged on each side, or all round. There is one at Edin- 

 burgh in a circular form. When full and lighted from the 

 roof, it looks well, but no particular advantage is gained by 

 this arrangement. The circular and the equilateral form 

 leave a good deal of unoccupied room in the centre. An ob- 

 long is the best, and the general form for a stable. The stalls 

 may be arranged on both sides or on one only. Each mode 

 has its advantages and disadvantages. 



Double-headed [double-rowed] stables, as those are called 

 in which the stalls occupy each side, require the least space. 

 When the gangway between the horses is not too narrow, 

 they are sufficiently suitable for coach or boat-horses, or any 

 others kept at full work. But many accidents arise from the 

 horses kicking at each other when they grow playful, as they 

 are apt to do while half idle. For this reason, a livery stable 

 should not be double-headed, without a very wide gangway, 

 perhaps of eight or ten feet ; they are quite unfit for valuable 

 hunters or carriage-horses. Indeed, no width of gangway is 

 sufficient to prevent some horses from attempting to strike 

 when another is placed directly behind. Those that are dis- 

 posed to mischief have frequent opportunities, as others are 

 leaving or entering the stables ; mares especially are gener- 

 ally very troublesome in these stables. For all kinds of 

 horses, that stable is decidedly the best in which the stalls 

 are ranged on one side only. These are termed single- 

 headed. 



The Walls may be composed of wood, stone, or brick. 

 In this country they are seldom made of wood. Stone is the 

 most permanent material, and is usually employed wherever 

 it can be cheaply procured, or the building likely to be long 

 required. Stone walls are said by some to be apt to sweat, 

 to keep the stable damp and cold ; but this objection, I appre- 



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