302 ON THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF HORSES. 
and means are provided in all the barrack stables, which may be 
regulated or modified at discretion. The degree of ventilation 
wall depend on various circumstances, as the size of a stable, the 
number of horses it contains, the state of the weather, the season 
of the year; all of which should be taken into consideration. 
The holes we see perforated at the top or upper part of each 
stable, are for the purpose of allowing the foul air to escape; 
which being heated, and consequently lighter, naturally ascends 
to the top, and can only be let out by apertures situated at that 
part. It is not perhaps necessary that these openings should be 
large, for that, on many occasions, would create too great a draft; 
but they never ought on any account to be altogether closed. 
In most barrack stables we find considerable spaces left at the 
bottoms of the doors and betw r een them (the doors being generally 
cut into two parts); these openings may, in many instances, 
where there are not a great number of horses in a stable, and in 
the winter season, be generally sufficient for the admission of an 
adequate supply of fresh air. But in large stables, and in crowded 
situations, other and more extensive means of ventilation must be 
had recourse to. The shutters over the stable doors are placed, 
in a great measure, at the discretion of the non-commissioned 
officers, who should open them partially or altogether as they 
may see occasion. In the summer it will often be proper not 
only to leave the windows open, but even the top doors also in 
very hot weather. 
In general, however, ventilation is better carried on by means 
of small rather than by large apertures; and except in warm 
weather, such openings as will allow any great draft or current 
of wind should be avoided. Changes from one extreme to another 
ought always to be guarded against, and one uniform temperature 
should be preserved as much as possible in a stable : for this reason, 
the habit so common amongst dragoons of throwing open all the 
doors whenever they go to stables, and of keeping them generally 
wide open during the whole of the stable hour, is not only a 
slovenly practice, but one likely to be productive of much mischief; 
and its bad effects are more especially felt, or to be apprehended, 
during the time the horses are being watered. - 
Most barrack stables have two large doors, situated exactly 
opposite to each other, in the most favourable position possible 
for a current of wind. Now it must, I think, be perfectly obvious 
to any one who will give this matter the least consideration, that 
introducing a large quantity of cold water into the stomach and 
bowels of a horse, and at the same time applying a strong cur¬ 
rent of cold air to his naked body, must be likely means to cause 
a sudden chill, and *to be productive of much mischief. We see it 
