12 Stable Management and the Prevention of Disease 



except occasionally in stations near foreign territory where 

 horse-thieves are plentiful. 



In private stables there is usually far less attention paid 

 to sanitation than in those belonging to Government ; but the 

 neglect does not produce so much disease as might be expected, 

 because only a few horses are kept in them. It is well- 

 known that when large numbers of either men or the lower 

 animals are collected together on a small extent of ground, 

 both the liability to and the virulence of disease are greatly 

 increased. 



For instance, people who breed one or two colts for amuse- 

 ment are seldom much troubled with strangles. The animals 

 either escape it altogether, or usually have it in a mild form 

 like that seen on farms in England. But in the late Bengal 

 studs, where hundreds of colts and fillies were collected in 

 stables, strangles used to be of an exceedingly severe type. 

 A veterinary surgeon, who had been in the studs lor many 

 years, told me that he considered himself fortunate when the 

 loss amounted to only tea per cent, annually. 



Private stables are usually built with thick mud walls, and 

 are roofed with tiles or a thatch of coarse grass. The latter 

 is in some respects better than tiles or corrugated iron, 

 being cooler in summer and warmer in winter ; but it has the 

 disadvantages of being liable to catch fire, and of harbouring 

 snakes, scorpions, and other vermin. 



The chief danger of fire arises from the saises and grass- 

 cutters being in the habit of making their cooking-places 

 against the stable walls. 



Considering how frequently this is allowed b}'' the owners 

 of horses, it is surprising that fires are not more numerous. 



The stables are usually walled in on all the four sides. This 

 plan is preferred by many people, because it makes the interior 

 warm in winter, and also renders it dark, and therefore less 

 attractive to flies than it otherwise would be. 



There is little objection to the plan provided the interior 

 be wide, lofty and well ventilated, and the horses few in 

 number ; but, on the whole, such stables are, I think, less 

 healthy than those which have walls on only three sides, and 



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