The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-01-21
HORSE STABLES.
Absence OF Ventilation I'm Stables the
Cause OF Most Equine Troubles.

Cause OF MOST Equine TROUBLES.
Some years ago when the epizootic
prevailed among horses all over the
country we were led to investigate
somewhat closely the condition OF
the stables where the disease pre-
vailed and also in the localities where
it was unknown. The effectiveness of
the stables in which the horses were
lodged was surprising. In some locali-
ties where basement barns were popular
every horse was more or less disabled
from work and many died, or were
useless from subsequent lung or blood
disorders. The greatest defects were
dampness, want of drainage, absence
of ventilation, darkness or bad lighting,
exposure to cold and winds through
open walls or i'll fitting doors and VIM
dows, and uncleanness. Now, these
are all productive of disease and are op-
posed to the simplest rules of sanitary
practice. They are precisely the same
evils by which disease is produced and
spread among human beings and by
which infectious and contagious dis
orders are encouraged. Can it be exc
pected that our animals. made of one
blood with ourselves, and subject to the
same diseases can escape the results OF
diseaSe-breeding influences any more
than we ourselves can? It can not be
expected, and we must realize this fact
before we can preserve our valuable
servants from disease and death, which
are the necessary effects of these suffi-
Gent causes.
Dampness is productive of many dis
eases. Rheumatism, lung diseases-of
which influenza, catarrh, bronchitis,
pneumonia-pleurisy and pleuro-pneu-
monia are quite frequent among horses;
blood diseases-of which meningitis,
nasal gleet, farcy and CHAMBERS are COM
mon-and some fatal fevers all proceed
from this cause. 1t is an exceedingly
common defect in stables where they
are under the barns or are located, for
the sake of warmth, in hillside, or
where the manure is thrown out of a
window or small door and accumulates
in heap gainst the wall. In one case,
in which eleven horses were all suffer-
ing from epizootic malignant intiu-
enza,) the rear of the stable, base
ment, was q rock from which water
oozed continually and was collected
into a sort of shallow well, from which
the horses were watered. Here was
not only the direct evil of dangerous
dampness, but the water was reeking
with the foulness of the stable, from the
breath and odor of the horses, and the
condensation and concentration of the
impurities, and thus dill ectly poison
Gus influence was contributed to the
water which the horses were compelled
to drink. Want of drainage is product
i've of dampness and foul air, with all
the results which flow from these evils.
1t fills the stables with the pungent va
pors of ammonia from the decomposing
urine, and thus irritates the delicate
membranes OF the throat and lungs,
and offends the eyes and causes ulti-
mate blindness. Heaves, an exceed
ingly common disorder, is more often
due to this cause than to those to which
it is attributed in the veterinary books
such as dusty or mouldy feed, over
feeding, watering directly after feed
ing, or to the use of clover hay. We
believe the foul air has more to do with
it than all these other causes combined.
Farmers sometimes complain that the
ammonia of their horse stables rots the
harness and oorrodes the varnish of
their carriages. Are the tender air
passages and the sensitive membrane
of the eye less susceptible to damage
and injury than the leather and the
varnish? And yet few farmers who
find their horses blinking with red, ID
famed eyes and coughing as they are
brought out from their close, undrained
stable on winters morning, and even
when they themselves sneeze from the
pungent air, consider that this corrosive
gas from the decomposing urine in the
saturated floor is something which has
any baleful effect upon the horses.
Absence of ventilation is productive
of the same evil. But still more, If
poisons the blood and produces farcy,
CHAMBERS, spinal meningitis, boils. puS-
tules, itchiness of the skin, loss of hair,
and multitude of other disorders. For
the lungs are filled with and the blood
takes in the wastes of the animals from
the lungs and from the skin, as well as
from the exorements and the poisonous
gases discharged so freely from the
bowels. 1t is as though all these waste
and disease-producing matters were
gathered into the water and poured
into the stomach, but much worse, be-
cause they pass directly into the blood
with the air which is drawn into the
lungs, and thus the fountain of life"
is poisoned at its source.
Darkness is injurious to the eyes,
and, moreover, affects the nervous sys-
TEN, which is highly developed in the
horse. A side light is equally per-
nicious, because it eXcites only one eye
to the injury of the other, and the eyes
are exceedingly sympathetic in this
respect, and one suffers with the other.
A full, cheerful light, moderated by
blind of whitewash or blue wash on
the glass, is one of the most needful
comforts in the stable. Exposure to
cold draughts chill the horses, wasting
food and causing serious diseases.
Rheumatism, which is more frequent
than is suspected in horses, and
which is wrongly supposed to be
sweeney" hip lameness, founder,
spavins, and host of other
popular but illusory complaints, is too
often produced by badly fitting doors
and windows; often joints in the walls;
Enclosed caves, and other defects which
admit the piercing blasts of winter.
with the driving snow and the pelting
sleet. We need scarcely remark about
uncleaniiness, because every owner
of horse knows how great an evil
this is, excepting to mention that a
foul skin is most dangerous to a horse's