THE STABLE AND ITS MANAGEMENT 223 



ness can only be secured by unremitting good 

 housekeeping. The stable should not only be 

 cleaned very thoroughly once a week, but it 

 should be kept clean the other six days in the 

 week. Any owner, no matter whether he be a 

 good horseman or not, can see to this. He may 

 not know the nice points in harnessing a horse or 

 even the points of a horse, but his eyes and his 

 nose can tell him whether his stable is clean. The 

 droppings should be removed as soon as they are 

 discovered, and they should not be piled up in the 

 stable or against one of the walls of the stable on 

 the outside, but removed to a distance, if in the 

 country and treated for fertilizers ; in a city stable 

 they should be removed daily. This latter can be 

 done without any expense to the owner, as there 

 are manure collectors only too glad to cart it 

 . away. 



Drainage is also most important, but it should 

 always be surface drainage. Pipes beneath the 

 floor are always getting clogged up, and hence be- 

 coming foul. Besides plumbing everywhere is 

 expensive and bothersome. There should be as 

 little as possible of it in a stable. Of course run- 



