Riding and Driving

by Edward L. Anderson; Price Collier

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.