THE STABLE
Once you have a horse, the next thing is to provide a place for him
to live in. It may be better to keep a horse in a livery-stable
rather than to have no horse at all, but certainly nine-tenths,
and something more, of the pleasure of owning horses is lost
if you have no stable of your own. There are three classes of
stables,--good stables, bad stables, and magnificent stables;
just as there are three kinds of lies,--lies, damned lies, and
statistics. Wise men have good stables and sometimes tell lies;
ignorant and bad men have poor stables and often tell damned lies;
gamblers and shoddy millionnaires--!
Whatever else they may have, good stables must infallibly have
light, air, and good drainage. To accomplish these things, the
stable should be above the level of the ground surrounding it, if
only a few inches, to facilitate proper drainage. It should face
preferably south or west, to get the largest possible amount of
sunlight. Pay no attention to any talk about "a dark stable." It is
an exploded notion. It is of course necessary to be able to darken
the part of the stable where the horses take their rest; and it is
a great convenience to have a box-stall or two, separated entirely
from the others, where a horse may be kept quiet, cool, and out
of the light. But if necessity demands a choice between light
and darkness, choose the light every time. Sunlight is the best
antiseptic in the world for either men or horses.
The size of the stable depends upon the purse. It is not a question
of the number of horses, because no horse owner was ever known to
have all the horses he wanted. Just as every yacht owner wishes
to add just ten feet to his yacht, so every man with a stable of
horses could use just one or two more to advantage. It is a fair
statement to work upon, however, that every horse in a stable is
entitled, for his health and comfort, to nine hundred cubic feet of
space, at least. Next to the proper allowance of food and water,
this matter of good air in the stable is the most important of all.
The gases given off through the lungs and skin, and those generated
from urine, and fæces, are poisonous and irritating. Coughs, colds,
bad coats, swelled legs, general debility, are all due to badly
ventilated stables, and if a contagious disease starts in such a
stable, it is well-nigh impossible to save any one of the inmates.
Bad ventilation does not mean necessarily that a stable is hot,
nor good ventilation that a stable is cold. If properly managed,
a stable may be so ventilated as to avoid either extreme. What is
wanted is abundance of fresh air without draughts. All systems of
ventilation are based upon the principle that heated air expands
and ascends, so that the inlets should be below, the outlets above.
The inlets should be so arranged that the cool air does not come
in where it may blow upon the legs of the horses or make them
uncomfortable when lying down.
All windows and doors should be kept in easy working order, so that
it is no trouble to servants to open and close them.
For after all has been said and done upon these matters
theoretically, the practice will depend almost entirely upon the
man or men in charge. I would rather have a poor stable, with a
first-rate man in charge of it, than the best stable ever built,
with a careless, indifferent, ignorant, and occasionally inebriate
man in charge. No mechanical arrangements, no matter how minute
and delicate in their serviceability, are of the slightest value
when in control of the incompetent. Spend time, thought, money, and
patience in building yourself the best stable your purse permits;
but in proportion spend even more in procuring the man who is to be
at the head of it.
When you get him, don't pamper him, or bribe him, or kotow to
him,--no self-respecting man is held by such bonds,--but make him
your friend and run your stable jointly with him, respecting him in
his capacity and retaining his respect for you in yours.
Above all things, abjure the maudlin sentiment of the day, that
there should be no master and no man. The universe, so far as
telescope can see, the earth, from centre to rim, recognize love,
law, and obedience. Every intelligent man is the servant of
somebody, and ought to be proud of it; if he is not, something is
radically wrong with him or the master he has chosen to serve.
Try to make the man in the stable proud of being your servant. If
you succeed, everything will go well; if you cannot accomplish
this with love and law, then you will have to fall back upon some
makeshift, like money, and get on the best you can. But make no
mistake, and save yourself untold troubles by realizing at the
start that money alone does not make good servants in the stable
or anywhere else. The sailors who fought with Paul Jones, and the
cavalry-men who rode with Phil Sheridan, were not thinking much of
their pay. The manikin moved by money will spoil your stable, your
temper, and your horses. Study carefully the characters of those
who are continually complaining of their servants!
The simpler the construction of the stable, the better. Have as
few separate rooms and as few passageways as possible; this means
light, air, cleanliness, and convenience. If you are about to build
a stable, go about among your friends, view their stables, and
hear what they have to say from their experience. Money spent in
practical inspection before building will be saved many times over,
in getting what you want, and, best of all, knowing why you want it.
A few inches above the ground is enough for drainage; if the stable
is higher than this, you have a pent to go up and down at the
stable door. In winter this is dangerous, and at all times it frets
the horses to slide out of the stable at the start-off.
Your entrance door should be at least 10 feet 6 inches wide and at
least 10 feet 6 inches high.
The ceilings in coach house, and over the stables, should be at
least 12 feet high, and a foot or two more gives that much more air
space.
Windows in coach house, saddle room, harness room and cleaning
room should be at a height convenient for opening and shutting and
always in easy working order. Windows in stalls and boxes should
have the lower sill at least 6 feet 3 inches above the ground, so
that the light shall not be in the horse's eyes and draughts shall
not blow upon them. These windows should all have shutters on the
outside, should hinge from the bottom, let down from outside in,
and be enclosed on the inside in a box to prevent side draughts.
The stalls should be at least 9 feet long, though 10 feet is not
too long, and at least 5 feet 7 inches wide, though a narrower
stall may prevent a horse getting cast. If there are stalls on both
sides, or stalls on one side, and boxes on the other, the aisle
between should be at least 10 feet wide, that the horse may be
brought out and turned comfortably.
If possible, have one or two box-stalls completely detached from
the other stalls and boxes, for sick horses, for horses needing
rest and quiet, and for new horses that may come into the stable
with distemper.
If there are living rooms over the stable, do not have them over
the horses. Horses ought to be allowed to sleep in peace.
The coach-house floor should be preferably of wood on account of
dampness, though cement is cheaper, and in a well-aired and dry
stable is good enough.
The aisle between stalls should be of brick, or of well-laid small
flint brick, laid in mortar, and with the lines running parallel
to one another, and not in herring-bone fashion, so that a hose
and a stable broom can thoroughly cleanse the cracks. Any other
arrangement requires a knife to get all the dirt away.
The stalls should have brick floors, or brick or cement, with a
slatted wooden floor over it. There are advocates of wood alone and
brick alone for the stall floor; the slats are a fair compromise.
These slats should run down the centre of the stall, beginning
some 4 feet from front of stall. The slats should be held together
with iron rods, and either pull out bodily or move on hinges, so
that the stall may be washed out thoroughly with the hose. The
partitions between stalls should be 7 or 8 feet high in front and
5 or 6 behind. It is well to leave a few inches of space between
the partitions and the wall in front, and between the bottom of the
partitions and the floor, for circulation of air.
The ideal stall would have both a box-drain in the centre, and a
drain running at the bottom from one end of the line of stalls to
the other at a slight incline. The latter is sufficient, however.
Horses should stand as nearly as possible on a level. A slope of
one in eighty is enough for drainage.
Box-stalls should have a centre drain with a well-secured top
to prevent accident. All drainage in stables should be surface
drainage. Permit no underground pipes, traps, or drains in your
stable! Boxes should be at least 10 feet 6 by 12 feet.
It is claimed by practical horse owners of long standing that
no more straw is used in stalls and boxes with brick floors than
in those with wooden or wooden slat floors, and that the former
are cleaner. It goes without saying that the less wood and iron
you have in stalls and boxes, the better. They rust, corrode, get
soaked, and smell. In a well-kept stable your nose should not be a
factor in the recognition of the fact that you are in a stable.
The harness room should be of wood throughout, ceiling as well, to
avoid dampness. Unless you have dozens of sets of harness, some of
which are seldom used, and therefore conveniently kept in cases,
cover your harness-room walls with baize stuff, and have your
harnesses in the full blaze of all the light and publicity there
is. They will be kept better.
Have a box with a baize stuff back and a glass door for bits,
chains, etc., and have it too big rather than too small.
Harness room, coach house, saddle room, and cleaning room should
each have a place for a stove.
There should be no artificial heat where the horses are kept.
Well-blanketed horses can be kept without injury even in an
occasional temperature of 30°, as happened frequently in many
stables during the severe winter of 1903-4. Such a temperature is
not good for them, but even that is much better than artificial
heat incompetently superintended.
Six or seven horses in one stable are enough. They have more air,
more quiet, are kept cleaner, and the coming and going makes less
disturbance and does not change the temperature of the stable so
violently.
In this climate a stable of wood is cheaper, cooler in summer,
warmer in winter, and, at all times, drier.
[Illustration: PLATE XV.--STABLE PLAN]
After studying a number of stables and experimenting with my own, I
should build a stable--say to accommodate seven horses, or fourteen
at a pinch--as follows: coach house to stand fourteen vehicles
(Plate XV.). The building to face south or west. Horses to face,
the majority of them, to the north. Ground floor 4 inches above
the outside ground. Entrance door to slide and to be 10 feet 6
inches wide and the same in height. The ideal thing, of course, is
to be able to drive through your stable by having another door
opposite your entrance door. It only diminishes the wall space,
and is convenient in many ways, especially in a country stable,
where you may wish to stand a horse and trap indoors. Drive in the
door on to carriage wash, sloping toward drain in centre, this to
be of cement. Sliding door to the right admitting to the stables,
with six stalls facing north and two box-stalls facing south. Space
10 feet by 10 feet for cleaning harness, between box-stall and
wall that separate carriage wash from stables, with a door at the
end, half door preferred, furnished with hooks and two telescope
harness-hangers, water-trough, and shelves. Aisle, 10 feet wide
between stalls and box-stalls, laid in vitrified brick, all lines
between bricks running into one another both lengthwise and
sideways for greater convenience in cleaning. Drain in centre of
each box-stall, and covered drain running at foot of stalls. Covers
of all drains removable, and drains to be easily washable with
hose. Stalls floored with brick, box-stalls of the same. Half door
at end of aisle to face large door leading into carriage wash. In
this climate, screens on all doors and windows for summer. Windows
as described. Feed and hay to come down shafts on one side of space
allotted to harness cleaning. Trough in that space with cold water
only. Hot water to be furnished by boiler on stove in carriage
house. No separate harness cleaning room in a stable of this kind.
The rough work can be conveniently done in the space described,
and the polishing, dusting, etc., in the harness room. This saves
an extra room, probably dark, and at any rate another room to be
kept clean. Carriage house to the left of carriage wash, preferably
floored and ceiled with wood, with hospital, or rounded corners and
edges, so that it can be readily and thoroughly cleaned, 25 by 35
feet, which will easily contain twelve to fifteen vehicles.
Harness room to be entered from end of carriage wash opposite
entrance door, to be eleven by twenty-four, walls lined with baize
and furnished with fixtures for harness, saddles, whips, etc. Two
extra box-stalls, tool room, water-closet, and separate entrance,
with stairs to living rooms above, built out from southwest
angle of carriage house. These box-stalls to have half doors, if
possible, opening into a small paddock and floored with dirt or
peat moss. Forty dollars' worth of Miss Hewitt's well-made hurdles
will make you a very useful paddock and save scores of dollars in
veterinary bills. By all means have cleats to form a ladder on the
wall of the hay-shaft, so that the man can get directly and quickly
to his horses in case of accident or danger. Poles, fastened to the
wall with hinges, so that they are not in the way when not used,
along the walls of the carriage house, for robes, and rests for
poles themselves. Chests lined with tin for travelling and for
storing winter or summer clothing, blankets, robes, etc.
Hay should be fed from the floor, not from overhead mangers. Feed
boxes and water-receptacles movable, that they may be from time
to time taken out to be scoured and sunned. Horses watered with
water-buckets and not by having water in stalls always at hand. As
regards this practice, the theory is indisputable, but in practice
you have dirty water, stale water, water when horses are heated or
just after meals, unless you have first-class servants; and if you
have these, the buckets are safer and save that much plumbing--the
less of which you have in a stable, the better. In such a stable
you drive your carriage in on to the wash. The horses are unhooked
and taken into the stables, where if it is a raw day the door may
be closed. The harness is taken off, hung on hooks, and the horses
are cared for. The harness is then cleaned and taken to the harness
room, where it may be given finishing touches. The carriage is
washed down and run into its place, and all with the very minimum
of going and coming and so arranged that no dirt need be carried
across clean spaces. Horses, carriages, and harness are all landed
where they are to be first cared for, and are then close to where
they belong when cleaned. This of course is an economical plan,
and is not intended to describe the ideal stable. It is merely an
ideal stable for a man of moderate means.
Once a week, weather permitting, all carriages should be aired
and sunned outside. It may be said, however, that a thoroughly
dry carriage house is better than even this much exposure to the
sun, with the effect of fading cushions, trimmings, etc. Saddles
should always be dried in the sun when possible. Once a week, too,
the coach house should be cleaned and dusted. Once a week horses
should be moved from their stalls to other stalls or box-stalls,
bedding removed, slats lifted or taken out, if there are slats, and
the stable flushed and broomed out thoroughly and sprinkled with
disinfectant and water. I have known stables where there has not
been a sick horse for years, except in the case of new horses with
distemper. The temperature of a stable is best between 50° to 70°.
The nearer it is kept at 65° the year round, the better.
Into the details of fixtures, implements, architectural and
plumbing minutiæ, it is not the purpose of this small volume to go.
There are books which cover this ground completely, accurately,
and in great detail, the titles of which may be found in the
Bibliography.
Although only the ground plan of a stable is outlined and described
here, the rooms above the stable are important. The coachman, with
or without family, should live in the stable, and it is convenient
to have the undermen there too if possible. Horses should never
be left to take care of themselves through the night. The living
rooms should be properly ventilated, heated, and provided with bath
rooms, and everything within reason done to make those who care for
the horses at least as comfortable as the horses.
Racing stables, breeding stables, stables for twenty and thirty
horses, are subjects in themselves, although the principles
outlined here must of necessity obtain in a good stable of whatever
size and for whatever purpose. There are two stables, that I have
seen, and probably others, where money has waved experience to one
side, and insisted upon this or that, where a pliant architect
has obeyed, and they are both useless. There is such a thing--it
was discovered in these cases--as having a stable too big, and of
attempting to house too many horses under one roof.