STABLE ECONOMY.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2573, 6 July 1882, Page 4

STABLE ECONOMY.

Bains should bo built on high, dry land, bo that they can ba well drained from surface water. Stagnant water, filled with decaying vegetable matter from filthy stables, is rank poison to the horse. Neither man nor beast can long remain in health, shut up in an illventilated stable, surrounded by pools of water, filled with the manure that loaches from the stable, but will contract malarial fevers or contagions diseases of some kind. It follows, as a necessary consequence, that stables should be thoroughly drained i Damp stables cause many diseases, tuch bb bad eyes, coughs, fevered logs, cc atches, and greasy heels, that careful grooming cannot alleviate. Damp, ill-ventilated stables cause inflammation of the throat and lungs, which throw the horse off his feed and out of condition, in spite of careful management. Sunshine and pure air arc both very essential to horsoo. The genial rays of the sun and the pure air of heaven preserve their health end ward off contagious diseases that destroy many valuabls inmates of ill-venti-lated stables. The horse barn should ba well ventilated by windows or apertures constructed near the floor of the stable, to admit pure air, and with port-holes in the upper lofts to permit the foul air to escape. The ammoniacal gas arising from the excrements is lighter than the surrounding atmosphere, and will rise, to be purified by atmospheric cir, it port-holes are provided for it to escape from the barn. Otherwise the oxygen is diluted with carbonic acid gas, generated within the lungs in respiration, and with the ammoniacal vapour [arising from tho manure, which are destructive to the health of all animals, when breathed over and over in close stables. This throws horses out of condition, and fills their system with fever. They will eat more food, drink more water, and do less work. Their coats stare, their spirits fail, their legs weaken, and they are incompetent to perform their daily task; besides which, they contract chronic disorders in ill ventilated etables that destroy their future usefulness. Pure air purifies the blood, and pure blood makes good health. Tho French attribute the origin of glanders and farcy, those incurable disorders, that prove fatal to so many horses, to dark, damp, ill-ventilated stables. It is a plausible theory, and if it is the cause of those disorders, it would ba well to apply the remedy of cleanliness, ventilation and draining. Anything that will atop the spread of disease is of vital importance. Box stalls are a necessary appendage to largo stables. Two or three stalls, for the uso of sick and lame horses, are indispensable to all large establishments. Tho more box stalls, the bettor for training racehorses. They are far bettor than open stalls for conditioning the racer, and are batter for wintering that class when out of training. They should bo built from twelve to sixteen feet square, which would give abundant room for the largest class of inmates to lie down and get up without being cramped for room. These stalls can bs converted into single stalls by a movable partition when necessity requires it, Bach stall ought to have an escape pipe running up to the roof to carry off the foul air, and apertures at the bottom to lot in fresh air. Tho constant ingress of fresh air, and the egress of foul air will cleanse and purify the stable. Condition for winning races is nothing more than good health, put in excoution by constant exercise and good grooming. Preserve the health of horses by pure air and clean stables, and the skill of tho trainer will more easily put them in condition to contest for the palm of victory. Great consequence is attached to health and condition in the breeding stable. It is acknowledged to bo the turning point of success in breeding establishments. Largo barns ought to have a yard attached to the promises, with a shed built on tho north side, to protect it from the pelting storms and cold winds of tho north. These yards are convenient for idle horses to exercise in. They prove excellent places for grooming horses, where the dust and filth incident thereto will not annoy their stable companions. They serve o good purpose, too, in providing a place for hitching up skittish horses, to prevent their running away from careless grooms. In case of emergency they can be used for broodmares near foaling time. They are capital places for breaking colts. They are worth what they cost to terns wild colts and subduo vicious horses. The vicious horse must know that he is walled in beyond escape, before ho will submit to the commands of the trainer. The yard is a matter of economy, as it saves labor in exercising stock, and managing the different classes of horses to be found in large establishments. ■