A man who has an establishment and keeps many horses has one very difficult problem. It is customary for the coachman to get commissions, whether the coachman has been consulted in the purchase or not. The dealers understand this, and add to the price of the horse what will have to be paid to the coachman. I have had dealers ask me plainly whether I kept a coachman to settle with. And once when I sold a horse to a distinguished professional man in New York, he sent a check for $50 more than the agreed price, asking that that sum be given to the coachman as he did not want the horse lamed or put out of condition. This is a stable tradition that we have borrowed from England, and is a tyranny that should be suppressed not only by law but by custom. I sold a horse recently to a gentleman at a price not at all above his value. His negro coachman called at my house for his commission. I sent him away in short order and at once wrote his master a note telling of the visit and its object, and requesting him to pay his own servants.
If a man have leisure for travel, the breeding farm is a good place to purchase a horse. At most of these farms the horses are green, but at some they are thoroughly trained before being offered for sale. But none of these horses are accustomed to the fearsome sights and sounds of the city. So I should advise none but skilful horsemen to go to the farms to make purchases.
But the wisest course that an amateur can pursue is to take a loss quickly. Just as soon as you find that you do not want a horse, sell him. If there be a purchaser ready at hand, well and good; if not there is sure to be an auction block not far away.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE STABLE AND ITS MANAGEMENT
Badly-constructed, badly-kept, and badly-managed stables are the contributing causes to most of the illnesses that horses suffer from. As nine stables out of ten in America are bad in all these three regards, I am confirmed in the belief that horses are very hardy animals instead of the delicate creatures that we sometimes think they are. That so many of them should be equal to hard and continuous work considering the conditions that surround them when they are at home is really quite remarkable. Even on breeding farms, where it is the business of the proprietors to rear fine animals for sale, the stables more frequently than not are wretched barns not fit even for the lodgement of mules. This is the case in Kentucky, even in the Blue Grass region. In many of the stables there I have seen tons of manure, that were most valuable for fertilization, left in the stables for no other reason that I could fathom than that it seemed to be no one’s business to take it away. “Why don’t you spread it on the pastures, or use it on the ploughed fields?” I asked one gentleman. “Oh, the ground does not need it,” he replied. I did not like to go any further for fear of seeming intrusive. Then again I did not believe that a man who thought tilled ground even in the limestone enriched land of the Blue Grass section would not be better for stable manure would bother particularly about the advantages of keeping stables clean.
Stables should be light not dark. There is a notion as old as the hills that a stable should be a dark and somber place. There are those who still hold stoutly to this view. Why a stable should be dark and the living room of a human being light, I cannot conceive. Light and air are the great purifying agents. Germs of various kinds multiply mightily in the dark, while many are killed by the light. The only reason that is given for a dark stable is that constant light in a horse’s eyes is likely to injure his organs of sight. I grant that cheerfully. Still there is no reason why there should not be light without the light shining directly into the eyes of the horses. It is as easy as possible to place the windows above the heads of the horses, and even to shield them with shutters that open upwards, shutters such as are so generally used on seaside cottages.
Ventilation is most important. This should always be provided for, however, so that in securing it there will not also be draughts either on the body or the legs of a horse. To accomplish this is not difficult even in the stables of the dry-goods-box pattern. The one supreme affection of a horse is for his home, and it is as little as an owner can do to make that home comfortable. Cleanliness is an imperative necessity. Without it the other things go for naught. There is no good reason why a stable should not be as clean as any other part of a gentleman’s establishment. And yet this is so seldom the case that a man who has visited a stable often brings with him to his house odors that are unmistakable and entirely objectionable to the sensitive olfactories of the more delicate members of his household. This cleanliness can only be secured by unremitting good housekeeping. The stable should not only be cleaned very thoroughly once a week, but it should be kept clean the other six days in the week. Any owner, no matter whether he be a good horseman or not, can see to this. He may not know the nice points in harnessing a horse or even the points of a horse, but his eyes and his nose can tell him whether his stable is clean. The droppings should be removed as soon as they are discovered, and they should not be piled up in the stable or against one of the walls of the stable on the outside, but removed to a distance, if in the country and treated for fertilizers; in a city stable they should be removed daily. This latter can be done without any expense to the owner, as there are manure collectors only too glad to cart it away.
Drainage is also most important, but it should always be surface drainage. Pipes beneath the floor are always getting clogged up, and hence becoming foul. Besides plumbing everywhere is expensive and bothersome. There should be as little as possible of it in a stable. Of course running water is most desirable if not necessary. But it should be restricted to two hydrants, one for carriage washing and one for drinking water. The surface drainage can be got rid of by having the floor of the stable a little bit elevated above the surrounding ground. Where the stable can be located so that there is declining ground on one side other than the exit, there is natural drainage which is a great advantage. The stalls also should have a very slight incline, so that they will keep dry naturally. This stall inclination, however, should be very slight, as it is desirable that a horse should have all his feet pretty nearly on the same level.
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]]
[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.