Bellevue gazette. [volume] (Bellevue City, N.T. [i.e. Neb.]) 1856-1858, 1856-12-25
AGRICULTURAL
StabIing for Horses.

Stabling of every description is ali evil.
|. is impossible q stable should be So built
that it will allow the animal one half the
freedom he enjoys whenloos ont Of doors.
Most stables are built SO as to aggravate
their ~inseparable cruelty. The flooring
slants from the manger to n gutter, which
runs at the horses heels. Now, if horses
be in n field, and at rest, they will always
be seen standing upon a piec5 of ground
that declines in precisely the opposite di-
rection. The fact is, our modern stables
throw the stress upon the back sinews or
flexor tendons, and thus prepare many an
animal for the injury he afterwards unex-
pectedly experiences, Nor is this all the
stall is perfectly at variance withth habits
of the horse he is evidently gregarious,
or lives among crowds of his fellow-crea-
lures the stall dooms him to solitude,
and the groom sits behind to see he does
not put his nose over the divisions, only to
look at a comrade. In many stables the
stall is so small that the horse cannot turn
round he car lie down perfectly at ease
in u very few yet, there he stands, look
ing NJ n bare wall, with the stress upon
his back sinews, for a period varying from
twenty to twenty-three hours during the
day, The horse, in any condition beyond
the dominion of man, Is neCessitated to
walk, in order to crop the heritage on
which he EXISTS; when under human
protection, he changes n life of ceascless
activity for one of all hut continuous stag
nation. Is it to be wondered then that the
slnews often fail! Or is i, n cause of com
plant against nature, that the feet and
legs so often oblige man to allow his
wretched servant to remain Idle? The
foot is the most valuable part of the horse;
but, to preserve the foot, continued motion
is imperative. This is denied q condi-
ton the very contrary is enforced and
then man in his presumption, blames ma
ture because the foot of the horse is SO
often the seat of disease.
Loose boxes are better than stalls. But
in those the injury is only lessened, mo-
removed. Tae horse has a loving hear
bestowed upon him. He must love some,
thing. Lambs, dogs, cats, goats, fowls
&C., every creature he is perlnitted to see
by turns have become the object of hi
affections. Mr.. Blaine records, tina
horses have defeated the utmost efforts o
nan to get them into condition when
companion has been taken away from tn
next stall, or when the animal has bee
stabbed alone. Bales after the fashion q
militrry stables, are to be preferred t
wooden partitions, unless they be mad
much lower than at present. The sta
should be made Il few feet wider than
the custom to build it. The floor shout
be slant from behind towards the middle
where the gutter may be placed, and the
be gently raised and afterwards inclin
towards the manger. A notion is abroa
that the present flooring carries off tn
urine of the mare, but were stables pave
in the manner we +. ~lvocaie, they woul
equally carry of the urine of geldings.-
The point in dispute is, surely, then, i
our favor.
Most stables, moreover, are kept niue
too warm. Not that any or heated b
means of u stove or fire, but the animal
doomed to reside within them are doome
TO breathe the same air over and owe
again, until it becomes hot, and smells S
strongly Of ammonia, as to sting the eye
and take away the breath of the strange
who unexpectedly enters them. This
not warmth but foulness, filth, and abom.
nation, which should immediately be al
jured. Let a stable be freely ventilated
it cannot have too much air at any perio
of the year; its inhabitants and the shell
ter of the walls will always make sufi
Client difference, especially when the mod
of ventilation is considered. The al
must never blow directly upon the horse:
tut Inc ventilation should te aIssr tirr;
heads, for foul air always has a tendenc
to ascend. If this plan were followed, III
stable would range from forty deg. to fit
deg. in winter, and from sixty deg. /
seventy in the summer but the most vic
lent draughts are better than foulness. !
The proprietor, therefore, on entering hi
stable, detects any stencil, he had bette
order the horses out to exercise, and Will
they are absent have every door and win
dow thrown wide open. After this la
been done once or twice, the groom wi