STABLE. 



which are made ufe of are not unfrequently given to them in 

 very ineligible dates and modes, equally as to time, manner, 

 preparation, and quantity ; the natural habits or methods 

 of feeding in the animals being fcarcely at any time, or in 

 any cafes or circumltances, if they be ever at all attended 

 to or regarded, fo as to lead to better praftices. The ftufF- 

 ing the rack? of horfes in ftables at all times and feafons 

 with large quantities of hay and other fimilar forts of fod- 

 der, as is too commonly the cafe, is, in all circumftaiices 

 and cafes, a wafteful and highly improper manner of pro- 

 ceeding in ftable-foddering. And the letting them have 

 their feeds of corn or other forts of provender in irregular 

 manners and quantities, is not lefs detrimental and incon- 

 venient to the animals, than fluffing them fo much with hay. 

 They never fucceed well when there is much irregularity in 

 the praftices of feeding them. All the other operations 

 about them fliould alfo be performed, as much as poffible, 

 in exadl manners, and at proper periods. 



But with the farm and heavy team-horfes, both in the 

 itables and on the roads, as well as in other places, the man- 

 ner of treatment is ftill more exceptionable and improper 

 in a variety of different diltridls and fituations of this 

 country. It has been obferved by Mr. Vancouver, that, 

 except in Ireland, where the method of treating farm-horfes 

 is extremely bad indeed, thofe in the county of Devon have 

 perhaps as hard a meafure of negled. and ill-ufage dealt 

 out to them, as is any where to be met with in the whole 

 united kingdom. From the injudicious manner in which 

 they receive the corn that is occafionally given them, it 

 is fuppofed, in fome meafure, a queftionable point, whether 

 it affords them a benefit, or, by diverting their appetites 

 from the hay, pea-haulm, or other forts of llraw, abfo- 

 lutely produces an injury and difadvantage, in conlequence 

 of the avidity with which they fwallow the corn in an un- 

 mafticated or unchewed Hate. In order to reftify and re- 

 medy fuch improper modes of managen\ent in the liable and 

 other treatment of farm and heavy team-horfes, a better 

 and more defirable example, it is thought, can no where be 

 found, than that which may be drawn from the management 

 of farm and waggon-horfes in Pennfylvania and Maryland, 

 in North America. Thefe horfes, it is faid, perform jour- 

 nies of two and three hundred miles over the itupendcus 

 mountains of that country, with prodigious loads of wheat 

 and flour from the interior, and wet and dry goods from 

 the fea-ports to the different points of embarkation, at Fort 

 Pitt, Red-ftone, Charleflown, Wheeling, and other places 

 on the Ohio river. Notwithllanding which, thefe waggon- 

 horfes, through the whole extent of that country, are, it 

 is afferted, feldom feen in a lefs high condition than the 

 brewers' and other large cart-horfes in the metropolis of 

 this country. The manner in which thefe American horfes 

 are fultained and fupported, fo as to perform thefe labours, 

 is, it is faid, generally by feeding them, in the (tables and 

 on the roads, with hay and ilravv chopped in fliort pieces 

 about half an inch in length, with which is mixed about 

 half a peck of rye, oat, and Indian corn-meal, to about 

 two and a half or three pecks of hay chopped in the fame 

 manner. A feeding-trough, fufficiently large for four or 

 five horfes to eat out of at the fame time, is attached to 

 each waggon, it is faid, while on the road. The chaff is put 

 into this trough, and after being well mixed with the given 

 quantity of meal, is moillened, and again well ilirred together, 

 until every Ihrcd or part of the hay or chopped ftraw is found 

 to be covered, or, as it were, frofted over by the meal. The 

 avidity with which the horfes eat their meat or provender, 

 when thus prepared, may, it is fuppofed, be readily con- 

 ceived. Their feed or meal being finifhed, they either 



purfue their journey or lie down to reft ; but in either 

 cafe, it is obferved, not without being well drefTed, and 

 perfeftly freed and cleanfed from the muddy and other 

 effects of their laft labour. It is the pride and pleafure, it 

 is faid, of the carters, as well as of the waggon mafters in 

 that country, to fee their horfes in a condition rather above 

 than under the labour which they have to perform ; and io 

 a hundred miles travelling, from Baltimore to Philadelphia, 

 it is confidently afferted, that as many prime waggon-horfes, 

 and in as high condition, may be feen, as is the cafe in any 

 direftion for the fame diftance from the chief city of tliis 

 country. The adoption of a fimilar manner of treatment 

 in the management of farm and waggon-horfes in the ftables 

 and on the roads in this country, needs, it is thought, no 

 further recommendation than the certainty of thefe fafts and 

 ftatements, w-hich are unqueftionable. 



The praflice of baiting poft, ftage, and travelling horfes 

 with rye, oat, or bean-bread, in the manner performed on 

 the continent, is likewife, it is fuppofed, an infinitely more 

 economical and facile mode of adminiflering refrefhraent to 

 jaded, exhaufted, and labour worn-out animals, than that of 

 giving them the crude corn in its unbroken ftate, which is fo 

 commonly and indeed almoft univerfally praftifed in thi» 

 country. 



That there are great wafte, want of economy, and lofs of 

 nourilhment,' in the too general pradlice of giving unbroken 

 corn to animals, efpecially horfes, is extremely evident, 

 from the ftate it is in after it has paffed through their 

 bodies, as it is found, in many cafes of horfes thus fed, to 

 have lofl but a little of its nutrient property, being Hill 

 capable of fupporting other forts of animals, particularly 

 thofe of the granivorous kinds, in a perfeft manner. In its 

 unbroken condition, when not completely m.afticated or 

 broken by the teeth of the animals, as is frequently the 

 cafe, the digeltive procefs of the ftomach would feem to 

 have but little effecl upon it, as it paffes in nearly its 

 natural flate, while, when broken or crufhed by art, it 

 readily afts upon it, and the whole of us nourilhing pro- 

 perty is taken up there, and in its long courfe through the 

 bowels, in confequence of its being fo much more fully and 

 extenfively applied to their furfaces. All horfes are, there- 

 fore, far better fed and fupported, where the grain is re- 

 duced in its preparation before it is given, than in the com- 

 mon ufual modes of giving it whole. The fuppofed defcA 

 from want of chewing and mixing the faliva of the mouth 

 with it, where broken grain is given as the feeds of the ani- 

 mals, is probably complete fuppofition, being founded on 

 an imperfeft conlideration of the matter, and not upon the 

 refult of aAual trials, as it has been a great deal talked 

 about without any fort of proof, which can be depended 

 on, being given in its fupport. 



Stable Bin or Hopper, that fort of box, or contrivance 

 of that kind, which is fixed up in ftables for the purpofe 

 and convenience of containing the corn or other fort of pro- 

 vender, which is to be given to horfes in fuch places. 



Stable Logger, Lumper, or Ball, the oval, oblong, or 

 round piece of folid wood, which has a hole through its 

 middle, for the purpofe of receiving and paffing the rein 

 of the horfe's head-itall or halter through, and faftening it 

 by a knot or otherwife, after it has been put through a ring 

 fixed to the manger or other part of the ftall, in order to 

 poife and keep it tight, but not to be fo heavy as to in- 

 convenience the horfe in feeding or otherwife. There are 

 often in good ftables, two reins to each hcad-ftall balanced 

 in this manner. The forms and weights of thefe pieces of 

 wood fliould always be well fuited and proportioned to the 

 nature and powers of the horfes. 



Stable 



I 



