( 121 ) 
OTJU WOEKING HOESES. 
- BY - 
CAPTAIN C. G. MACKENZIE, R.A. 
H AYING to visit lately, in tbe course of duty, upwards of 20,000 
of the working horses of London, and other large cities, I 
thought that a few notes might possibly interest those officers of the 
Regiment, (and they are the great majority) who care about stable 
management. 
Bus & Tram What must I think, strike anyone making such a series 
Morses. of visits, is the comfort and well-being of the animals 
we are apt to look upon as four-legged slaves, namely the bus and tram 
horses. No doubt the last decade has seen a great improvement in 
their condition, because the older stables visited, built before this period, 
still leave much to be desired; but it has evidently been impressed on 
the larger business associations, (which in these days of keen competi¬ 
tion, must get full value out of every shilling expended,) that the truest 
economy is to spare no reasonable expense in housing their horses 
healthily, and in feeding them liberally, both as to quality and quantity. 
The consequence is a very small percentage of sickness, and a 
considerably increased life of usefulness. These same remarks apply 
to the Railway Companies, and other large employers of equine 
labour, who suffer however in this one thing, that their hours of work 
cannot be quite as regular as those of the bus and tram companies. 
Cab Horses Far l° wer down the social scale as regards health 
* and comfort, come the cab horses, who, luckily for 
themselves, spend a considerable portion of the day in the open air. 
Horses undoubtedly, like human beings, have a faculty for adapting 
themselves to most unpropitious surroundings, and occasionally are 
found looking sleek and well in badly ventilated ill-drained stables, so 
that the unthinking may be tempted to ask “ why go to the expense 
of housing them better 3) ? The answer of course is that in case of 
epidemics, always likely to occur, especially in a large city, the 
mortality in these foul stables will be out of all proportion, great. 
The best stables I saw in London, belonged to a firm of wine 
merchants, and were quite unnecessarily luxurious, consisting chiefly 
of loose boxes, and the stalls fitted with mat-covered partitions. The 
head of the firm is however a well known breeder and lover of horses 
of all kinds, and evidently 
working animals. 
3. VOL . XXVI, 
grudges no expense for the comfort of his 
