STABLES.
There are few instances of the Ornamental triumphing over the Useful in a more ridiculous degree, even in thisAge of Eye-Architecture,25than in the usual management ofHorses, which some people seem to suppose are as fond of Heat as Crickets. I have almost wondered that Stables have not been furnished with Stoves to keep them of a regular Pine Apple heat: this might improve the appearance of a Horse’s Coat: the fineness and smoothness of which seems to be the grand desideratum.
Providence has protected the Horse with a coat of Hair sufficient to defend him from the inclemencies of the severest Climate, which Providentially begins to grow thicker about the month of October, and increases in thickness as the Cold to which he is exposed increases.
But it is the Fashion at present to fancy that his Stable and Clothing cannot be too close: in fact, many Horses are treated like Hot-house Plants, and thereby rendered so delicate and tender, that they are morbidly susceptible of all that vast train of complaints which are caused by what is called
“CATCHING COLD.â€
The Door is generally the only entrance for Air, and that only when it is occasionally open: the very threshhold of the Door is frequently stopped up with Dung, and the Key-hole filled with Straw. In the Morning, when the Door has been shut all Night, especially in Summer, the heat is intolerable, and the Air absolutely unfit to breathe. Itis surprising that these poor creatures are not oftener found stifled by the steams from their own bodies:—added to this, they are perhaps muffled up in thick and tight Body Clothes.
“In Summera single Sheet is fully sufficient for aHorse Cloth, and in Winter, one Woollen Cloth is all that is requisite. Neither Hacks nor Hunters should haveHead Cloths or Breast Cloths, which, though ornamental, are something worse than useless, for they keep a part, while at rest, warm, which, as soon as the Horse gets out, is the part that most meets the Cold Air, and is most exposed.â€
Hot-House Horses suffer severe Rheumatisms, &c. upon every trifling occasion:—a change of Stable—a Shower of Rain—standing still for a little while in the open air, produce a variety of Disorders, Lameness, Stiffness in their Joints, &c. &c.: in attempting to remove which, after they have been tormented by cramping Shoes and Pailsful of Physic, &c., the poor creatures are pronounced incurable, and givenover as “Foundered in the Chest,†or “Shook in the Shoulders,†or some such equally unintelligible Jargon.
“Till at last, having labour’d, drudg’d, early and late,Bow’d down by degrees, he bends on to his fate;Blind, old, lean, and feeble, he tugs round a Mill,Or draws sand till the sand of his hour Glass stands still.â€Dibdin’s Race Horse.
“Till at last, having labour’d, drudg’d, early and late,Bow’d down by degrees, he bends on to his fate;Blind, old, lean, and feeble, he tugs round a Mill,Or draws sand till the sand of his hour Glass stands still.â€Dibdin’s Race Horse.
“Till at last, having labour’d, drudg’d, early and late,Bow’d down by degrees, he bends on to his fate;Blind, old, lean, and feeble, he tugs round a Mill,Or draws sand till the sand of his hour Glass stands still.â€
“Till at last, having labour’d, drudg’d, early and late,
Bow’d down by degrees, he bends on to his fate;
Blind, old, lean, and feeble, he tugs round a Mill,
Or draws sand till the sand of his hour Glass stands still.â€
Dibdin’s Race Horse.
To cover a Horse with heavy Clothes while he is in a hot Stable, and to strip him stark naked when he goes out into the Cold Air, is, I think, as absurd a custom as can easily be imagined!—Gentle Reader, how would You like to have your Great Coat put on while sitting by your Fire-side in your Snug Parlour, which is of the comfortable temperature of 60, and have it pulled off when you went out, and were obliged to stand two or three hours with a cold wind blowing upon you of a chilling temperature of 40, and perhaps Raining hard into the bargain?
Such treatment is as uncomfortable to a Horse as it would be to a Man; and is the cause of the otherwise unaccountable premature mortality ofthese valuable animals, especially of our London Carriage Horses, which are often kept standing still exposed to the open air in cold and damp weather for hours together!
When Carriage Horses are taken out in Wet Weather, they should haveWater Decksover their Loins, and be kept moving about every ten minutes.
Where the ceiling of a Stable is low, and there is no window, the best way to ventilate it is by a funnel passing up through the Stable Ceiling, and through that of the Loft above.
Stables should be aired every day by keeping the Doors and Windows open during the absence of the Horses. Experience teaches us how agreeable, and indeed how indispensable fresh Air is in our own Apartments: it is equally so to Horses; and one would almost suppose that Persons who neglect to give it them never enjoyed the benefit of fresh Air themselves.
As goodMaster George Markhamtells us, in his Way to Wealth,4to., 1638, p. 9, “Coach Horses, by reason of their many occasions to stand still, must be inured to all Hardnesse.â€
Never let Carriage Horses be clothed while in the Stable, but desire your Coachman to carry theirBody Clotheswith him, and put them on when they have a waiting Job, as he does his ownBox Coat;—the former will be as comfortable to his Horses, as the latter is to himself.
A Coachman should make it a Rule (especially when he finds it cold enough to put on his Great Coat) every quarter of an hour to move his Horses about a little, and to draw round some Corner, so as to get out of the Wind. It is not so much their being long out of Doors, but their long standing quite still in a current of Cold Air, that injures Horses.
See more on this subject in the Chapter on Coachmen.