Riding and Driving

CHAPTER V

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.

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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.

CHAPTER VI

FEEDING AND STABLE MANAGEMENT

Experience has shown that one man can care for three horses; that two men can care for seven; three men are needed for ten, and so on. But even this must be modified. Where the members of the family live in the country and do most of their own driving, these figures are correct, but in an establishment where two men are required on the box with one or more vehicles, and a groom must accompany each trap, and there is, to boot, a fair amount of riding, additional help is needed in the stable, if everything is to go smoothly; and horses, harnesses, saddles, and carriages are to be turned out well.

The whole problem of the care and system of a stable centres around the horse, and more particularly the horse's stomach. No animal, in proportion to its size, has such a small stomach as a horse. The stomach of a man, whose weight is one-eighth of that of a horse, will hold something more than three quarts of water; while the stomach of a horse will only hold three gallons, or four times that quantity. The great bulk of the horse requires a large quantity of food, and what food he eats digests and passes through him quickly. If this were not so, the stomach would for a large part of the time be so distended and so press upon other organs of the body that his usefulness would be seriously impaired.

He must, therefore, be fed regularly and often, that is to say, three times a day at least, and four times is better. The management of the stable must hinge, therefore, upon the meal hours of its inmates and their use by the owners—where horses must do duty at an early train in the morning and another train in the evening, or where horses are out shopping from 11 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. and there is driving and riding in the afternoon, and night duty as well, the routine of the stable must be adapted to those demands.

In the case of a large stable, where three or four men are kept, a regular routine of duty should be laid out as on shipboard, with hours and duties clearly set down, otherwise confusion will reign. In a small stable the requirements of the family should be so far as possible along regular lines, and in all cases everywhere no coachman or groom ought to be subjected to calls for horses without warning. By nine o'clock in the morning the orders for horses wanted up to noon should be given; by two o'clock the orders for horses wanted up to eight o'clock. This cannot be done always, but it ought to be done so far as possible, otherwise the best-natured and most systematic man in the world will find it impossible to keep his stable running smoothly, his horses fed and watered and dressed at the proper times, and, most important of all, his horses ready for work when they are needed.

A horse just watered, or with a stomach full of hay, or with a hearty feed in him, is perhaps the most uncomfortable of all conveyances, and if worked hard under the circumstances does himself serious injury.

There is no real pleasure, no real sport, in this world that does not entail intelligence and labor. It is one of the greatest of pleasures, one of the most wholesome sports, to own, to ride, and to drive horses. But to have a stable of, say, from three to ten horses and to get your own fun out of it, requires work, intelligence, and oversight.

Visit your friends who have horses and see how often this horse cannot go out, that horse cannot go out. One is lame, another has a sore back, another is used up from yesterday, and so on. Or look about you at the condition of your neighbors' horses,—tired-looking, staring coats, bags of bones to look at, rattling carriages and ill-fitting harnesses, interfering, and overreaching; and these establishments cost money and are supposed to give pleasure.

How shall we avoid all this? If you have no interest in your stable and have no time, say half an hour a day, to devote to it, and no other member of the family knows or cares anything about it, by all means job your horses and do not attempt a stable. At least you can avoid being particeps criminis in the ruining of horses, the spoiling of coachmen and grooms, and the wasteful destruction of harnesses and carriages.

But if you have a stable, look after it. Provide yourself with a Stable Book; a long-leaved book of a hundred and fifty pages,—the left-hand page with the month at the top and thirty-one spaces below for days of the month. At the top as headings have Feed—Shoeing—Repairs—Cash—Miscellaneous. On the right-hand page have blank space for Remarks and any details about horses, veterinary visits, horses bought or sold. The coachman should enter against the proper dates what horses are shod and how, what feed comes in, all articles, including clothes, purchased, and all other details. This book comes in at the end of the month, to be compared with the owners' bills, and he should add the amounts and check off the items. Both the coachman and the owner should know to a penny what the stable is costing.

We have all probably discovered that we do not know where to save, if we do not know how we spend. The beginning of all economy is the knowledge of expenditures. It may be maintained just here that all this is too much trouble! Those who feel that way had best close the book. Neither this chapter nor any of the others is written for those who know it all,—of whom, alas, there are so many,—nor for those who do not wish to know anything which entails trouble.

The necessary implements for the work of the stable should be furnished willingly, and buckets, hose, forks, hangers, clothes, chamois, hooks, brooms, sponges, should be kept in repair or renewed. It is a poor plan to economize at the working end of the stable. One or two horses or traps less, or a groom less, but let what you have be good of its kind and be kept good.

Once a week the stable should be washed out, polished, and dusted, and sprinkled with Sanitas or some other good disinfectant, and the owner should, as they say on shipboard, have "quarters." Look over everything from end to end; if you do not take that much interest in the matter, it is not likely that the executive officer at the stable will retain a very enthusiastic interest in the affairs of the stable for long. A man with half an eye can tell, from the horses, harnesses, and vehicles he sees, whether the owners coöperate with their coachmen or not.

A man should be able to groom a horse thoroughly in from thirty to forty minutes, and this work should be done, if possible, away from the other horses.

A good routine for stable management can only be worked out by each man for himself, according to the regular demands upon the stable from the family, as a basis.

Although horses are kept primarily to work, it is by no means easy, although of all things most necessary, that they should have exercise regularly. Many of the accidents and much of the illness in most stables arise from irregular exercise and careless feeding. The average horse in the private stable should be out two hours a day, and should do ten miles. With one day's rest in seven, seasoned horses can do more than this—up to fifteen, and even more, miles a day—and be the better for it.

Their muscles harden, respiratory organs are less liable to disease, and, strange as it may sound to the uninitiated, their feet and legs do better, even when the work is on hard roads. Swelled legs, founder, azoturia, colic, and the like are more often the result of overfeeding and under exercising than the reverse.

If the feet are washed out when the horse returns to the stable—being careful to dry the legs thoroughly—and stopped at night with a sponge or bit of thick felt, these precautions, with regular exercise and judicious feeding, will do more than anything else to keep your horses in condition to go when you want them. Coachmanitis and groomaturia sometimes interfere with the owner's wish to use his horses; and where this malady is of frequent occurrence, a prolonged holiday is the only remedy.

There are some men who are constitutionally unfitted to get on with men under them. They are not necessarily bad men, but, from their golf caddy to their butlers and secretaries, they are disliked. One woman will run her house year after year without friction; another, of the bumptious variety, will supervise the whole universe, while her husband, children, and household drift, growl, and suffer. One man will step aboard a yacht, and his crew and officers will pull and haul and quarrel and leave; while another, with the same men, will have no trouble. The writer has no prescription to offer for the curing of fussy wives or bad masters. It is not to be expected that even the Almighty will create a man who shall combine the attributes of Oliver Cromwell and Heinrich Heine. But in this matter of the management of the stable there are a few rules worth keeping in mind.

Don't use your influence till you get it!

Don't worry yourself or others about trifles!

In the vital matters of honesty, sobriety, carefulness, neatness, be insistent and positive.

Don't put on airs about things of which you know less than your coachman.

Don't show your damned authority—as the Irishman with his pig—just for the pleasure of showing it!

Horses, no doubt, lived upon grasses and the like when they cared for themselves. Horses even now can do a certain amount of slow work upon hay alone, but to do this a large quantity is needed, say from eighteen pounds to twenty pounds. But by a mixture of food a horse can be made to do more and faster and more exhausting work.

Hay—good hay—is short, fine, agreeable to smell and taste, hard and crisp, and is generally mixed with clover, and the best hay is one year old—is the basis of all feeding. An average allowance is about twelve pounds a day, with the larger quantity given at night. A little hay also at noon helps digestion. If a horse is wanted for fast work, eight pounds of hay is enough. A horse does his work more comfortably to himself if his stomach is somewhat empty rather than distended with hay. The feeding of the hay should be regulated so that the animal is not given his hay just before going to work, but at the meal after he comes in. Many coachmen are great believers in chopped hay or chaff. There is not much saving in feeding hay in this way—none at all if it is bought already in the form of chaff—although a little chaff mixed with the other food requires more time in mastication and hence is better for digestion. Hay should be fed from the bottom of the stall.

Oats—good oats are heavy, thin-skinned, clean, hard and sweet, and without musty smell. Good oats will weigh from 42 to 45 pounds to the bushel; fair oats, 38 to 40 pounds. Horses in average work should have from eight to ten quarts of oats a day. Where the work of the horses is severe, they should have as much as they want. The cavalry allowance is ten quarts a day, which is a good medium allowance. The rations of oats should be increased or decreased according to the amount of work the horse is doing. Oats may be boiled or steamed, may be flavored with ginger or a little "black jack" molasses, or even mixed with a few slices of apples for nervous or bad feeders. If a horse gobbles his feed, it is well to sprinkle his oats with dry bran, or to mix them with chaff.

Barley, beans, peas, are not much used in private stables, though beans for a horse in hard work or for fattening are valuable. A quart of crushed beans mixed with the other food at night is recommended. They should be at least a year old, weigh from 60 to 64 pounds to the bushel, and be hard, plump, and sweet.

Corn is used largely in the West for horses, but seldom in the East, in private stables. It is a strong, fattening food, and, served to the horses on the ear, is good for teeth and gums, and makes them eat slowly. It should not be fed in quantity, but as a change, or a cob or two at a time with other food.

Bran—should be dry, sweet-tasting, free from mould—is not exactly an article of food. It may be fed with other feed, but is usually given once or twice a week in the form of a mash, preferably the night before a day of light work or no work at all.

Linseed is an aperient, like bran, and is used to moisten food that is too constipating, and is recommended strongly by some authorities in the form of a mash mixed with bran or as a jelly in the case of horses out of condition and needing a palatable stimulant. It is also conducive to glossiness of coat and healthiness of skin, but unless used sparingly affects the wind.

Apples, boiled potatoes, carrots, black molasses, clover, or other fresh forage may all be used as a change of diet. This last should be given sparingly at first, for it is often the cause of serious trouble when given in quantity all at once.

Carrots are altogether the best substitute for fresh grass. They can be given without harm, occasionally, the year round, either alone or mixed with other food—always cut up lengthwise, otherwise the horse may choke on them.

Remember, always, the smallness of the horse's stomach in feeding him. When left to himself, he will graze all day long, eating, however, but little at a time. When he comes in tired, give him a little food, a mash or gruel, or, if he is to have a hard day, carry a little oatmeal and a bottle of Bass for his luncheon. If you are caught far from home with a tired horse, almost any house can furnish oatmeal, warm water, and, if procurable, a small amount of stimulant added, and this, with a good rubbing down, will make another horse of your tired beast.

Though the stomach of the horse is small, his water capacity is large. The water he drinks does not remain in the stomach, but passes directly through it, and the small intestines to the cæcum (one of the large intestines). Except where a horse is ill, overheated, or overtired, he may be allowed to drink as much as he will. Horses should always, too, be watered before they are fed, for reasons obvious from what has been said of the horse's stomach. Horses should be watered the last thing at night, say 10 p.m. No horse should be tortured by being kept without water from 7 p.m. till 6 a.m. This is cruelty and soon tells on the horse to his great and very perceptible disadvantage. Even horses coming in from work in warm weather may have a small quantity, but only a small quantity, of water while they are being cooled out and rubbed down. No overheated, tired horse should be allowed to fill himself up with cold water; neither, on the other hand, should he be kept in a raging thirst indefinitely.

Salt is so necessary a part of the horse's diet that it is best to have a piece of rock salt weighing two or three pounds always in his manger, rather than to leave it to his feeders to give him so much at each meal, which often results in an irregular supply.

Express companies and other large owners and users of horses have been experimenting with molasses as a food. It has been used, too, in both the French and German armies. One quart of molasses, three quarts of water, one and one-half pounds of corn meal, one and one-half pounds of bran, and six pounds of cut hay, is the proper mixture for one horse, and should be fed morning and evening, with some dry oats at noon. This is, of course, very much cheaper than the usual methods of feeding, and in a number of cases has proved successful. The writer has seen horses fed upon this diet; they did the slow and heavy work in large brewers' wagons, and looked sleek and well, and were said to do their work as well if not better than on the old system of feeding. It is difficult to use molasses in private stables, particularly in summer, when it attracts flies and sours when left in the manger, but it is a good adjunct to the bill of fare in any stable, and anything that gives variety and is wholesome is valuable as a food.

Table.—Nutritive Value of Certain Articles of Diet in 100 Parts

(1) Represent muscle-forming ingredients.

(2) Maintenance of animal heat.

(3) Waste-repairing ingredients.

(4) Woody-fibre ingredients, stimulate digestion and separate richer particles of food.

Table.—Common Weights and Measures

CHAPTER VII

FIRST AID TO THE INJURED

It is a dangerous thing for owners to doctor their own horses, unless they are practically veterinarians by experience, or profession. It is even more dangerous to leave such matters to the man in the stable. An omniscient coachman can do more harm to his cattle than all other evil surroundings combined. To treat a horse for a wrongly diagnosed malady, with half-understood remedies, is the height of folly and the acme of cruelty.

On the other hand, there are certain simple remedies and certain familiar maladies, of which the horse-owner ought to know something for his own, and his horse's protection.

The range of pulse per minute in a healthy adult horse is from thirty-four to thirty-eight. In disease the range is from as low as twenty to as high as one hundred and twenty. The fore and middle finger should be placed transversely on the artery inside of the jaw, near the jowl, to feel the pulse. Do this often when your horses are in health, and thus accustom yourself to find the pulse instantly and to note its pulsations accurately in time of need.

The average temperature of the horse is 100° F., a third more or less. The temperature of the horse is taken by the insertion of a clinical thermometer in the rectum, where it should remain five minutes. Horses registering a temperature as high as 106° have recovered, but above this death generally ensues. Nursing, in cases where the ordinary ailments are concerned, is better than blistering and firing, which are more spectacular and to the half-ignorant more popular.

Good laxative foods are green grass, green wheat, oats, or barley, carrots, parsnips, bran mash, linseed tea, hay tea, and linseed oil.

A gallon of gruel may be made from a pound of meal put into cold water, placed on the fire and stirred till boiling, and then allowed to simmer till the water is thick.

A bran mash should be made in a clean bucket; three pounds of bran, one ounce of salt, two pints and a half of boiling water, covered and allowed to stand twenty minutes or so till it is cooked.

A Bran and Linseed Mash.—Boil one pound of linseed slowly for two hours or more, add two pounds of bran, one ounce of salt; the whole to be stirred up and allowed to steam. The thicker the mash, the better.

Linseed Tea.—Boil one pound of linseed in two gallons of water until the grains are soft.

Hay Tea.—Fill a clean bucket with clean hay, then pour on as much boiling water as the bucket will hold, then cover and allow to stand till cool, when the liquid may be strained off and used.

Linseed oil, from a quarter to half a pint daily may be mixed with the other food, keeps the bowels and skin in good condition; but no artificial stimulant as food should be used constantly.

In weakening diseases or low fever, or in cases of severe exhaustion, a quart of ale or porter, or a pint of port or sherry, may be given mixed with the mash. Oatmeal and ale are easy to carry, and a palatable mash can be made quickly of these with a little warm water almost anywhere, and nothing will help out a tired horse more.

Common cold is an inflammation of the mucous membrane lining the nostrils and air passages. Symptoms are loss of appetite, staring coat, tendency to sweat easily, and discharge from the nostrils. Treatment: removal to loose box, plenty of fresh air, well blanketed if cold weather, bandages for the legs, laxative diet, green food, warm mashes instead of oats, and plenty of water. If the irritation and cough continue and the running at the nose is bad, the head may be steamed by holding it over a pail of hot water. If the horse becomes and continues feverish, a dose of one to two drams of nitrate of potash may be given daily for two or three days. Where the cold is accompanied by sore throat and difficulty of swallowing, give nitrate of potassium, one dram to half a bucket of water three times a day. A good liniment to use on the throat and to be well rubbed in is mustard and water rubbed on and allowed to remain half an hour and then washed off, or two parts linseed oil, one part turpentine, and one part solution of ammonia.

Colic is caused by bad food, change of diet, sudden exposure. The horse gives evidence of spasmodic pain, turns his head toward his flank, bites and kicks, and even rolls. As an immediate remedy, give a pint of gruel with two ounces spirit of nitrous ether, one ounce tincture of opium, and half an ounce of aromatic spirits of ammonia. There should be relief within the hour; if not, repeat the dose, and use oil and warm water as an injection.

Diarrhœa, in the form of scouring, may be a natural effort to get rid of some obnoxious substance. Horses that are not well "ribbed up" or of a nervous temperament are prone to it. Feed dry food after giving a laxative of half a pint of raw linseed oil. Give an infusion of gentian, one ounce, and one to two ounces tincture of opium.

Worms.—Several kinds of worms are found in the horse's intestines, but the most common is the bony white worm tapering at both ends. The horse loses condition in spite of a voracious appetite. After a fast of twelve hours, give a dose of two ounces of turpentine in a pint of linseed oil with half an ounce of tincture of opium. Injections of a weak solution of salt serve to clear away the smaller worms that inhabit the rectum. Change of food and salt are good.

Irregular Teeth.—The molars sometimes grow into sharp edges. The horse feeds badly, "hogs" on one side of his mouth in driving, and shows sometimes signs of inflammation in the mouth. The remedy is the simple one of having the teeth filed down smooth and even.

Scratches.—A very common condition of the skin in the hollow of the heel, sometimes called "cracked heels." It is caused by exposure to wet, cold, and dirt The skin is inflamed and dry and a watery discharge exudes. Keep the parts dry and clean, wash with warm water and Ivory soap. Dust with powdered alum three times a day. Or apply a dressing composed of one part of carbolic acid to twenty of oil or glycerine and keep there with a soft bandage around the pastern and heel.

Wounds and bruises, whether the skin is broken or not, should be carefully bathed in warm water, three parts of carbolic acid to one hundred of water. Warm linseed poultices may then be applied. In all serious cases of this kind little more can be done than to relieve the animal till the veterinarian comes. In minor casualties, as cases of sprained tendons, bruises, and the like, a cooling antiseptic wash is: four ounces of witch-hazel, two ounces of spirits of camphor, two ounces of tincture of opium mixed in an equal amount of water.

Splints.—Probably eighty per cent of horses have splints and not over five per cent remain lame from them. A splint is an enlargement or horny excrescence of a part of the shank bone. It is more common in young than old horses. Splints caused by striking in action, on the contrary, are ample cause for judging a horse unsound.

When a splint begins forming, shave off the hair about it and rub in an ointment of biniodide of mercury for three days, then apply a strong blister. The best blister is composed of one ounce powdered Spanish flies, one ounce powdered resin, four ounces of lard. Mix the lard and resin, and then add the Spanish flies. After blistering a horse, his head must be tied up for forty-eight hours at least, to prevent his getting at the irritated part.

Shoe boils are usually caused by the pressure of the shoe when the horse lies down. The boil should be opened and drained and a three per cent solution of zinc sulphate injected. The horse must then wear a shoe-boil boot at night.

388a

SKELETON OF THE HORSE

388b

Nail in the Foot.—Remove the nail and pare the wound as near the bottom as possible, disinfect with a solution of carbolic acid, one in thirty, then linseed poultice the foot for two or three days and let the foot be shod with oakum and a leather sole till healed. An old-fashioned remedy is to apply a piece of salt pork, flesh side in, and bandage it on the part.

Chafing, Collar, and Saddle Galls.—Properly fitting harness and saddles is the preventive. A mild astringent wash, say four ounces witch-hazel, two ounces spirits of camphor, two ounces tincture of opium, will serve, and the part to be without pressure or rubbing till healed. For inflamed legs or galled shoulders another excellent wash is: one ounce of sal ammoniac, seven ounces of vinegar, two ounces of spirits of wine, two drams of tincture of arnica mixed in half a pint of water.

Broken knees should be thoroughly cleansed and disinfected with a solution of carbolic. Hot fomentations are good, and the wound should be dressed with burned alum or with alum and boracic acid in equal parts dissolved in water.

Laminitis or Foot Founders.—Remove the shoes, place the feet in hot water for an hour, poultice twice a day for four or five days. As the horse is without exercise, give him a gentle purgative, half to a quart of linseed oil, two drams of ginger, one dram nux vomica as a drench, then four ounces of nitrate of potash and four drams gentian, known as founder powder, daily.

Chills, after violent exertion when the horse is unfit for work, or from undue exposure. Clothe warmly, rub ears and legs, and give stimulants, one and one-half ounce spirits of nitrous ether, one-half ounce aromatic spirits of ammonia to one pint of water, is a valuable remedy in any case of prostration.

Strained or bruised tendons,—first hot fomentations, then a cooling lotion, such as vinegar and water; or two ounces witch-hazel, two ounces spirits of camphor, two ounces laudanum; or four ounces acetate of ammonia, four ounces spirits of wine, eight ounces water.

Lameness had best be left for diagnosis to the expert, unless the lameness is the result of injury and the seat of the trouble plainly visible. Firing and blistering should be a last resort.

Do not expect too much of the veterinary; except in simple cases their task is often a blind one. The best way to save trouble is to begin at the beginning, by studying the horse, the stable, the food, and the care of the horses yourself; and this elementary knowledge, with careful handling when the horses are in harness or under saddle, make the best "ball," "drench," "lotion," or "fomentation" known.

It is not intended in this chapter to suggest more than can be understood and carried out by an intelligent man, with a few simple and non-dangerous remedies.

Rice-water gruel, made thick, is a soothing drink, and useful in continued scouring or diarrhœa.

Alcohol is to be rubbed into the skin of horses who are apt to chafe easily under harness or saddle. It hardens the skin.

Vinegar and water is a cooling lotion.

Fomentation means the continued application of hot cloths wrung out to the injured part.

Purgative, a popular purgative is composed of eight parts of aloes, two parts of glycerine, one part powdered ginger, well-mixed and given in a dose of from six to eight drams.

Linseed oil is also a purgative and less irritating than aloes; the dose is from ten to thirty ounces.

Stimulant, one ounce aromatic spirits of ammonia, one ounce tincture of gentian, one pint of water. Useful in all cases of severe prostration.

Tonics.—The mineral tonics had best be left to the veterinary. A quart of good ale warmed and two drams of grated ginger is a simple cordial drench. A safe vegetable tonic is two ounces of tincture of gentian in a pint of water. A good tonic powder is: two drams of gentian, two drams of ginger, one-half dram of fenugreek.

For acidity of the stomach, and to prevent tendency to colic, a tablespoonful of bicarbonate of soda, powdered gentian, powdered ginger, mixed in equal parts and sprinkled over the feed, is harmless and a valuable minor tonic.

To cool a horse quickly and effectively, dash water between the fore legs, between the hind legs, over the head, and down the back or spine. An overheated, almost prostrated, horse may often be saved serious if not fatal trouble in our hot climate by a bath of this kind. In private stables, water is seldom used, except on the feet, to wash out the mouth, eyes, sheath, and anus, and on the legs of white or gray horses. But this should not be taken as the article of a creed. A bath, or shampoo, all over does no horse harm, and all horses good, in our hot climate, if precautions are taken to dry them thoroughly and close the pores if necessary by a rub-down with alcohol. In cases of actual sunstroke, souse the horse well, all over with water, if possible from a hose, and an easily prepared remedy is: an ounce of aromatic spirits of ammonia, two ounces of whiskey in half a pint of water—give this every hour, till the horse is relieved.

Flexible collodion is a valuable remedy in any stable. In case of wounds or cuts that do not need sewing, shave the hair about the cut, cleanse carefully, and apply the collodion with a camel's-hair brush; this will keep the edges together, and in minor wounds no other remedy is necessary.

Iodoform is one of the very best antiseptics for either man or beast, and may be dusted on wounds; or two parts of iodoform and eight parts of cosmoline make an ointment that may be a more convenient way of applying it.

The well-known "white lotion" for bruises, sprains, inflammation, sore backs, shoulders, or any part of the animal rubbed by the harness or saddle, or by accident is: one ounce acetate of lead, one ounce sulphate of zinc mixed in a quart of water, to be used as a lotion. Nitrate of potassium is useful when you wish to promote the action of the skin and kidneys or to reduce fever. It should be given dissolved in the drinking-water in doses of from two drams to an ounce three times a day. It is the most valuable remedy known in cases of founder, and may be given in doses of from two to three ounces three times a day, and may be continued without danger for two or three days.

Salicylic acid is another remedy, equally good for man or beast, as an antiseptic to be dusted upon wounds and indolent sores, proud flesh: for rheumatism, one dram of the salicylic acid with two drams of bicarbonate of soda, given twice a day, is as good as anything.

But when all is said and done on this subject, it must be repeated again and again that, regularity as to time, and variety as to fodder in feeding, plenty of water, regular exercise, peace and quiet during rest hours, a dry stable, thorough grooming, the eye of the master, and the interest of the man in the stable,—these taken daily in large doses make the best prescription in the world for the continued health and usefulness of your horses.

TABLES

Doses According to Age