The Sporting Dictionary and Rural Repository, Volume 2 (of 2): Of General Information upon Every Subject Appertaining to the Sports of the FieldTaplin, William
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The Sporting Dictionary and Rural Repository, Volume 2 (of 2): Of General Information upon Every Subject Appertaining to the Sports of the Field
Taplin, William
Hunting -- Dictionaries; Sports -- Dictionaries
STABLE.—Stables are the receptacles for horses in general, and are of
very different descriptions; not only in respect to the various sorts of
horses for which they are intended, but the improved mode of
construction, and the numerous conveniencies they are now made to
contain. As horses were never in such high estimation, or of such
intrinsic worth, as at the present moment, so never was so much money
expended upon their preservation. There can be no doubt, but the health
and condition of valuable horses, may depend much upon the situation and
structure of the stable; and although every person will appropriate the
size of the stable, and the number of stalls, to their own wants, yet
there are certain judicious rules, and desirable conveniencies, which
should admit of no deviation. Whether a stable consists of two stalls,
four, or six, it may be rendered equally uniform, and confidently
replete with every thing that can possibly be required.
It is an established opinion, that a building of BRICK (lined or not
lined with deal) is preferable to STONE for the purpose; the former
being _dry_, and always in the same state: the _latter_ is influenced,
or acted upon, by the changes of weather; and in a hazy atmosphere,
generally _damp_; and in constant (or continued) rains, the walls are
frequently streaming with _water_. This, however, depends much upon the
aspect to which they are erected; a circumstance not always sufficiently
attended to, till it is found too late to repent. Stables are paved with
_bricks_, _clinkers_, _flints_, _pebbles_, or _stone_, as may best
correspond with the conveniences of the country in which they are
erected, and where, perhaps, some of those articles are difficult to
obtain. Stalls should never be less than _six_ feet wide; nor the stable
less than _nine_ feet high: _eight_ feet in the clear should be allowed
from the heels of the horse to the wall behind him; and iron hay-racks
are preferable to wood, as the latter (wherever spirited horses stand)
are always in want of repair. No stables can be called good, unless they
have proper rooms annexed for the reception of SADDLES, BRIDLES, HORSE
CLOTHS, and every article necessary to the proper support of such an
establishment; each of those become more perishable amidst the nocturnal
steam of the horses than by daily use.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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