The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1871-07-27
THE HORSE STABLE,

j From an elaborate and very carefully
prepared Report On Horses, submitted tol
the Massachusetts, State Board of Agricul
ture, III $780, by Prof. W. S. Clark. now
President of the MASSACHUSETTS, Agricul
tural College, we take the following:
A suitable stable is the first requisite in
the care of horse It should be capa-
cious well-yentilated, but warm, we'll
LIGHTED. and so situated as to be free from
dampness. Stables are not unfrequently
built over cellars or depressions in the
soil, which receive the manure, and are
often partially filed with water. The
constant evaporation from this pond keeps
the entire stables damp and chilly, and
thus in an excellent condition for causing
founder, rheumatism, lung fever, collie,
and other diseases in the poor, exhausted
creatures, whose uncomfortable nights
must be passed here. Warmer, but not
more salubrious, are stables over cellars,
dark and close, which are tuning with
the pungent, noxious gases generated by
fermenting dung. Such cellars ought al
ways to be very thoroughly ventilated,
not merely by an open door or space on
one side, but by a constant and abundant
circulation of air.
The stalls should be as wide as circum-
stances will allow, but never less than five
feet, in order that the horse may have
room to lie in an easy, unconstrained pc.
sition, and rise without any danger OF
bruising the points of his hips.
Wherever it is feasible, loose box
stall, twelve or fourteen feet square, is by
far the most comfortable for the horse,
\ L
stable, for use in cases of sickness OF. acct
dent. The difference between such a
resting place, into which horse is turn
ed loose and narrow stall, where his
head is hitehed up two feet from the
floor, as often happens, is much like that
between berth in the cabin of a steam
boat and nice, double bed.
The floor upon which the horse stands
should be as near level as possible, and il
it must be inclined to carry off the water
it would probably be more agreeable tc
the horse to have his fore-feet the lowest
as his back sinews are less tense in thi:
position and 1t is observed that for this
reason horses in pasture usually stand
with their fore feet in a hole which the,
have excavated by stamping.
The English method of having CRATE
over drain in the center Of the stall is
an excellent one
Another good plan is to lay double
floor the under one with an inclination
of three inches, and the upper one OF
planks four inches thick at one end anC
one inch at the other, placed about al
inch apart. In this way the standing
place is perfect and the drainage perfect
Many horses have been seriously injur
ed, besides being made uncomfortable, by
being confined ia narrow stalls upon IN
clined floors. In box stalls, where the
horse can move about and take the most
agreeable position, it is, of course, not
necessary that the floor should be level,
and perhaps better that it should not
be so.
The sides of the stall should be smooth
and II the horse is disposed to rub bis
tail b. may be prevented by fastening
strips of plank six inches wide to the
partition about three feet from the floor
In narrow stall there might be danger
that the horse would injure his hips upon
these planks, but he WILL soon learn t.
avoid them in rising.
The common form of rack and manger
for ordinary stables is on the whole not
VCA ODlVCb1OudDlC w bCu G1C anu
straw are cut, the rack is quite unnecessa-
~, and, if one be used, it would be much
better to set it in vertical position than
inclined, as is usual. The horse would
feed more easily and be less annoyed by
dust. The edge ofthe manger shonld be
prote cted by a strip of band iron, both
that it may not be destroyed and that The
horse be not tempted to acquire the vic
ious habit of cribbing.
The best method of fastening q horse
in stall is the English one of attaching
q light weight to the end of the halter
and allowing it to run up and down un-
der the manger, which should always be
boarded in front from the floor up. By
this arrangement, the horse enjoys suf
fcient liberty and yet has no chance OF
getting cast by stepping over his halter