STABLE MANAGEMENT. 71 



it, and the oats shotild be mixed with bran, in the proportion of two 

 parts of bran to one of oats, lessening the bran a handful every 

 feed, until it is seen by the consistency of the horse's dunging that 

 he can digest his oats without the inconvenience and dangers of 

 that bane to condition — constipation. This most essential point in 

 the stable management of horses is very much neglected. Grooms 

 seldom taie notice of a horse's dimg until he is off his feed, and 

 then they either have recourse to some nostrum of their own mak- 

 ing up, or wait until inflammation sets in. Some horses are more 

 inclined to constipation than others, hence it is that they aU require 

 attention to this point ; it is the key to health and condition. The 

 temperature of the stable in which a horse is placed when first 

 taken from the fields should not at first be much increased beyond 

 that of the open air, or the sudden change will probably affect the 

 lungs, and cause infiammation of those organs, or may occasion 

 roaring or broken wind. The horse should for the first few days be 

 placed in a bam, or a roomy loose box, well ventUated, which will 

 allow of his exercisiag himself, and prevent his legs from swelling, 

 or his feet getting too hot. The temperature should be kept up and 

 increased by degrees, until it is seen to take the requisite effect 

 upon the horse's coat, by causing the long hair to fall off, and a 

 renewal of short hair in its place. This should be encouraged and 

 carefully watched, or, if the temperature gets too high, the hair will 

 fall off in patches, and leave the blue cuticle as bare as the paper I 

 am writing upon — indeed I have, in the course of my experience, 

 seen horses without a particle of hair on their bodies (except the 

 mane and taU), caused by taking them up from grass and placing 

 them at once in a hot stable. I may mention an instance of a clever 

 horse-coper in the midland counties, who prepared a horse by this 

 means, and afterwards sold him at a great price to a showman, who 

 exhibited him as the celebrated ' blue horse ; ' and a queer-looking 

 animal he was too. The clothing should also be very light at first, 

 and the grooming done with a soft brush, or it will cause irritation 

 and itching of the skin. If dieting be carefully attended to, as 

 above recommended, there will be little, if any, necessity for physic. 

 The less physic a horse has the better ; it only weakens his digestive 

 powers, and stiU further creates a necessity for it, until at last the 

 torse cannot live without it, and will nearly always be amiss. Exer- 

 cising is the next point to which I shall call attention. At first, a 

 walking pace is quite fast enough, and if the horse is stabled in a 

 loose box, once a day of two hours' duration wiU be sufficient ; but 

 if in a stall, he ought to be exercised twice a day, morning and even- 

 inec. and as time progresses — say a week — ^he may be trotted, and 



