lo HORSE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA 



rest, but they will bear impure air even better than cold 

 draughts blowing directly upon them. I have repeatedly 

 observed that the slightest cold contracted by a horse 

 kept in a draughty stable has almost invariably been 

 succeeded by pneumonia, and that, if the animal was not 

 removed to a more comfortable situation, the disease 

 tended to a fatal termination." 



Ignorant grooms in England have a strong prejudice 

 in favour of warm stables, on account of the good effect 

 they have on the animals' coats. These men naturally 

 ignore the increased susceptibility to catching cold, which 

 horses kept in such places acquire, as well as the very 

 marked tendency the legs and feet have of "going to 

 pieces;" for a horse that is laid up with a cough or a 

 filled leg, gives far less trouble to the groom than one 

 which is in full work. In winter, horses undoubtedly 

 thrive better in comfortable stables than in cold, bleak 

 ones. The owner, trainer, or groom can personally satisfy 

 himself as to the proper degree of warmth, by regulating 

 it according to what he would consider agreeable to his 

 own feelings were he to make the stable his own abode, 

 always remembering that its atmosphere should be pure, 

 and free from the slightest suspicion of '' closeness." 



With hard-worked animals, such as race-horses, I have 

 found the best results attend the practice of keeping the 

 stables moderately dark, in order to induce the occupants 

 to lie down, and, during hot weather, to keep the abode 

 cool by preventing the admission of rays of light, which 

 are always accompanied by rays of heat. I here take for 

 granted that the free circulation of air is not interfered 

 with. 



