STABLE MANAGEMENT. 
171 
meant to be lain upon, not to keep the legs and feet in a 
perpetual stew !” Conceive the state of mind of the man 
who prides himself on the appearance of his horses and his 
stalls when spoken to in this strain ; the idea of his stables 
being so maltreated, his horses standing on bare bricks. 
What would any gentleman think who came to see the stud? 
Ah, we forgot that ! In our innocence, we were thinking- 
only of the horse’s comfort; we were for ensuring cool stables, 
freedom of movement, limbs emancipated from the binding- 
litter, with a cool surface for his feet ; never dreaming what 
any one might say about the appearance ! However, we 
can’t alter our opinions to suit the fashion of the times; there- 
fore, what we have written is written. 
We will now have the same animal outside the stable door; 
he is about to undertake a journey, ridden or driven as may 
be ; we need not follow him, but wait patiently until his 
return home, warm and somewhat tired. He is taken into 
his box, his saddle or harness removed ; again he is brought 
outside, fastened to a ring near the stable-door, his feet and 
legs washed, again returned to the stable, dressed over, 
clothed, and littered down for the night. Now, this standing 
outside in the cool air after exertion cannot but be provoca- 
tive of cold, and sometimes of serious internal inflammation ; 
indeed, the very intention of it, to prevent the animal’s per- 
spiring in the stable after being clothed, is in itself a sufficient 
condemnation of the process, the melancholy effects of 
suppressed perspiration being familiar to all who think on 
the matter ; the difficulty is easily removed by walking the 
horse gently for five or ten minutes before taking him into 
the stable, for when once there he is certainly the better for 
not being disturbed. On the treatment of the animal before 
we leave him for the night, we may be allowed to suggest 
the propriety of washing and well drying the feet and legs, 
clothing the latter with flannel bandages, and well rubbing 
the body with a wisp of hay. And here, in passing, permit 
us to remark, for the especial benefit of the dresser, that 
there is no occasion to use the said wisp after the manner of 
a mallet, the prevailing notion in the minds of those men 
being, that dressing a horse’s skin, and beating his ribs in, are 
in some mysterious manner intimately connected. 
Of course, we have been speaking of the treatment neces- 
sary after a journey of some length, that has produced a 
certain amount of exhaustion ; the mere pleas ure ride or drive 
of an hour or two calls for no more after-care than the ordi- 
nary morning’s exercise . — Oxford Journal. 
{To be continued .) 
