Tux Horse. 29 
are often rendered uncomfortably cold, and when the stable is 
full the whole are fevered or excited by excess of heat. Effi- 
cient ventilation—a very important object—is also much more 
difficult in a large than in a small stable. 
In width the stable may vary from sixteen to eighteen feet ; 
and in length it must have six feet for each stall. Large cart- 
horses require a little more room both in length and breadth of 
stable. The number of stalls should not exceed sixteen, and it 
would be better if there were only eight. 
Double-rowed stables, or those in which the stalls occupy 
both sides, require least space, and for horses kept at full work 
are sufficiently suitable, but for carriage horses single-rowed 
stables are better. If the double-rowed are used, the gangway 
should be wide, to prevent the horses from kicking at each 
other, as they are apt to do, when they grow playful from half 
idleness. 
4. Windows,—Windows are too much neglected in stables, and 
where they exist at all are generally too few, too small, and ill 
placed. Some think horses do not require light—that they 
thrive best in the dark; but many a horse has become blind 
for the want of light in his stable. When side windows can 
not be introduced, a portion of the hay loft must be sacrificed 
and light introduced from the roof. Side windows should be 
so arranged that the light will not fall directly upon the eyes 
of the horse. Nis 
5. Floors.—Stable floors may be of stone, brick, plank, or 
earth. One of the best kinds of stable floor, where the soil is 
dry, is made of a composition of lime, ashes, and clay, mixed 
up in equal parts into a mortar and spread from twelve to fif- 
teen inches deep over the surface of the ground forming the 
bottom of the stable, It will dry in ten days and makes a very 
smooth, fine flooring, particularly safe, easy, and agreeable for 
horses to stand upon, and free from all the objections to stone, 
brick, and wood.* 
* A, B. Allen. 
