80 THE HORSE 



The box stall should be ten feet square and may 

 be built with or without a floor, as is most con- 

 venient. In either case, its bottom should be 

 filled to the depth of from four to six inches with 

 fine gravel or coarse sand, which should be re- 

 plenished from time to time, and above this a layer 

 of straw or other litter should be spread at night. 

 A certain amount of the sand will be taken up 

 every time the stall is cleaned; this should be re- 

 placed with fresh sand. In this way the sand 

 never becomes foul and it forms the best of all 

 bottoms for box stalls. It is pleasant for the 

 horse to stand on and keeps his feet in fine, 

 healthy condition. This feature alone makes the 

 box stall worth while, even if it had no other ad- 

 vantages. 



The standing stall, on the other hand, should 

 always have a floor. I know that some very good 

 authorities recommend an earth floor, rather than 

 a wooden one, as being easier to stand on and 

 furnishing needed moisture for the feet, and 

 theoretically this is all right. But in actual 

 practice the horse invariably wears out and paws 

 away a hollow place where his fore feet stand and 

 his hind feet are almost certain to be much of the 

 time in a quagmire of dung. 



A wealthy amateur who had just purchased a 

 farm and had asked me some advice about his 



