Among Horses in India. 9 



Chatties. 



Another plan of great assistance in keeping the floors clean 

 is that of supplying one of the small earthern vessels, called 

 chatties, for every two horses. 



When a sais, or native groom, sees an animal about to stale^ 

 he takes up a chattie, catches the urine, and carries it away 

 to the manure-heap. Chatties are so extremely cheap, that 

 the cost of supplying sufficient for a whole regiment is 

 trifling. 



Captain Hayes, in his excellent book on 'Horse Management 

 in India,' condemns the above practice, on the ground that it 

 teaches horses to abstain from staling for an injurious time ; 

 but I never knew one instance of its doing so among the 

 thousands of horses of v/hich I have been in charge. 



All the above-mentioned precautions seem excessive to 

 one accustomed only to English stable management ; but it 

 should be remembered that far more attention to cleanliness 

 is required in a hot than in a cold climate. Many stable 

 floors in England, upon which horses stand all their lives 

 with impunity, would be very unhealthy in India, on account 

 of the great heat hurrying decomposition and favouring the pro- 

 duction of those lower forms of animal or vegetable life by 

 which many diseases are now known to be produced. The 

 measures recommended were carried out in the stables of 

 which I was in veterinary charge during the greater part of my 

 service in India. Thej' are not so difficult to enforce as 

 might be imagined, because a native groom, called a sais, is 

 supplied by Government for every two horses, to assist the 

 European soldiers in their work. Constant watchfulness, 

 however, is necessary, otherwise the saises will merely hide 

 the urine with earth, which they will pat smooth and level 

 with the rest of the floor, instead of carrying it away. In a 

 day or two a strong smell of ammonia can then be perceived, 

 and on scraping up the spots where the urine has been 

 covered, the earth will be found black to a depth of one or 

 two inches. Saises are also in the habit of throwing the urine 

 which they catch in the chatties upon the open ground just 



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