Box-stalls or not? This is a disputed matter. Some owners have only box-stalls in their stables; some none at all. In my opinion both ideas are wrong. Cutting up a stable into a series of boxes does not facilitate drainage, ventilation, light, or cleanliness. Then again it is doubtful whether a horse in a loose box-stall does not often acquire habits of independence that are sometimes uncomfortable and dangerous. In a stall a horse is tied, he is also more easily observed and therefore always under control. Box-stalls, however, are excellent for a horse that comes in very tired, or for one that is sick. So I should advise that in every stable there be one or two box-stalls, but that as a general thing the horses be kept in ordinary stalls. These stalls should be 9 feet long and 5 feet wide. A wider stall makes it easier for a horse to get cast. The ceiling of a stable should not be less than 12 feet.[10] Footnote 10: A carpenter in my neighborhood once asked me to select a horse for him from a drove that was on sale in the village. I picked out a large fine fellow, and the carpenter bought him. The next day I saw him with another horse. “Why, where is the roan?” I asked. “Oh, I had to take him back, he was too big for the stable!” “Why the dickens did you not make the stable bigger?” was my comment to the carpenter. Every stable should be kept cool in summer and warm in winter. But artificial heat should never be used, as it is in some of the sumptuous stables of the over-rich in the large cities. A horse does his work in the open, and there is no sense in pampering him. In very cold weather the stable should be kept as warm as is possible without stoves or steam-pipes, and the horse made comfortable with good blankets and plenty of straw for his bedding. In the summer when the thermometers are trying to climb to a hundred in the shade, then the shutters should be regulated so as to keep out the direct rays on the sunny side, and other windows and doors be left open. Harness room and coach room depend almost entirely on the size of the establishment that is kept. Both, however, should be light—then both can be seen without difficulty by the owner when he makes inspections. These inspections, by the way, should not be made at stated times, but at any time. An owner who expects his horses to be kept in good condition and turned out with proper harness to proper traps must take an interest in his stable and be on good terms with his servants. There is no suggestion of familiarity in this, but only the good understanding and the good feeling that always exists between that master and man, when the one gives and other gets good service.