294 
REVIEW— THE HORSE’S FOOT. 
Quitting the subject of the Foot. Mr. Miles expresses his full 
concurrence with Mr. James Turner in his estimate of the benefits 
arising from — or rather the evil eschewed by — lodging horses in 
loose boxes, in place of tying them up in stalls; and has submitted 
the following ingenious and ready plan for the conversion of stalls 
into such places — i. e., loose boxes — if elongated stalls can be so 
called. 
“ Most modern stables are built with stalls from six to seven feet 
wide, with plenty of room behind the horses to allow of passing, 
without incurring the danger of being kicked : — in such a stable 
sink a second heel post at just sufficient distance from the wall to 
allow a free passage, and take the space so gained into the stall ; 
close it with a gate, and you will have a very fair substitute, in 
the absence of a better, for a loose box, and that, too, without sa- 
crificing a standing for a horse: but, if a stall can be conveniently 
spared, a four-stalled stable may be converted into, three very good 
boxes by shifting the divisions, and taking in the space in the rear 
of the horses.” 
Two objections are made to loose boxes: — -one is, that horses 
are never tidy in them — lying down, and rolling and fouling their 
clothes; the other, that they will eat their litter. Muzzling will 
remedy the latter objection. But to the muzzles in common use — 
the leathern one and the iron one — Mr. Miles raises objections on 
account of the one not giving vent enough for comfortable respi- 
ration, and the other permitting the horse still to feed through its 
bars; and in their place he has invented a wire muzzle , of which, 
from his description and drawing, we are disposed to think very 
favourably, providing the weight of it prove not objectionable. 
Notwithstanding Mr. Miles’ work contains but little to interest 
the veterinary reader, yet will most veterinarians feel desirous to 
possess it, when they come to see the lithographic drawings of 
hoofs and horse-shoes it contains: to our mind, these display more 
ease and softness and nature than is to be found in the productions 
of many professional artists. Amateurs, however, will read the 
work, concise and light as it is, with that sort of pleasure which 
will be certain to carry instruction along with it; and thus will they 
fit themselves, should they feel disposed to enter deeply into the 
subject, for the perusal of those heavier and more elaborate treatises 
on the foot of the horse to which we have in another place di- 
rected attention. 
