THE STABLE. 261 



prevented from toucliing or playing with their 

 neighbours; besides, if we consider the nu- 

 merous accidents that happen from low stalls, 

 how frequently they kick or bite, and other- 

 ^vise injure each other, there can be no doubt 

 I think of the superior advantage of high stalls. 

 At this moment I have under my care a fine 

 mare, who from kicking very high got her hind- 

 leg over the stall, and has. received a deep 

 and extensive wound, which will probably 

 prove fatal. The stalls should also be of con- 

 siderable depth, that a horse may not, by 

 drawing back, have the power of kicking those 

 in the adjoining stalls. The method of sepa- 

 rating horses by means of bails, or poles, 

 suspended by chains, I think very injudicious ; 

 the only reconmiendation it can possibly have 

 is the little expense that attends it, and its 

 alIovyin<T a si*Piit<^r number of horses to stand 

 in a stable. I am convinced, however, from 

 what I obsen-ed during the time I had the 

 honour of serving in the royal dragoons, that, 

 notwithstanding these recommendations, they 

 are really in the end more expensive to g<J- 

 vernment than stalls would be; scarcely a day 

 passing without some accident happening from 

 the bails : many dangerous, and some fatal 



