Riding for Ladies: With Hints on the Stable

by Mrs. Power O'Donoghue

When the hayloft is over the stable the floor of it should be of brick or concrete; if of wood, there will always be a difficulty about excluding vermin, which are the pests of every ill-managed stable.

The outer yard should be partially roofed, but where this is not the case there ought to be an adjacent room with a paved or asphalted floor, for purposes of clipping, singeing, &c., none of which operations ought ever to be performed in a stable or box.

For night lighting I approve of gas, when available; and if in the country, of lamps fixed with staples. Provision should be made for an abundant supply of water, arranged according to the source from whence it is most readily derivable; and to the ordinary stable apparatus, a long water-hose, together with a number of fire buckets, ought to be added.

The rack, manger, and drinking-trough should be level to the horses’ knees—the bottoms of them to reach almost to the level of the ground. This arrangement enables animals to eat and drink as nature intended that they should. The manger, which should be lined with zinc, ought to be fitted with a footguard; it is an excellent preventive against waste of food while eating.

I look with abhorrence upon the ordinary water-pot with chain and plug. It soils the water if not kept most scrupulously clean, and frets the horse besides. I approve of those that move upon a pivot, thus enabling the refuse liquid to be at once turned out, and the pot itself kept perfectly sweet and clean.

For bedding I do not think that anything is better than prime wheaten straw, properly shaken down and evened, to secure the comfort of the horse when he stretches or rolls. To leave it in lumps is both wasteful and cruel, for when it is so an animal cannot rest upon it for more than a very short period of time. He becomes restless and disquieted, he fidgets about, just as we do when we have the misfortune to be put to sleep on a hard, lumpy, uncomfortable bed,—and by-and-by he stands up, fretted, and declines to stretch himself any more. Thus his rest is disturbed and broken, and he is unfitted for his work next day.

Straw must of course be frequently changed, according as it becomes littered, broken up, or damp. It is sometimes left open to the inroads of dogs and poultry, a thing that ought to be guarded against for various reasons, among which may be counted the liability of vermin, which very soon find their way to the horse.

The best place for a granary is over a shed or coach-house. It ought to be a cool, airy apartment, with concrete floor, and walls lined with glazed brick. In small establishments the corn chest supplies the place of one. This, if used, ought never to be kept in the stable, owing to the chances so frequently occurring of its being left open by mistake, and horses breaking loose and gorging themselves almost to death. It should be placed in a loft, with a tube or shaft attached to bring the corn to the place where it is required.

Every stable ought to be provided with a copper, or boiler, for heating water and cooking food. This, both in town and country, should be considered an indispensable appendage. It is a great advantage, as well as a saving, to have the boiler made of malleable iron, which will stand every kind of hard usage without sustaining injury. It should be placed in a room that will afford space for all kinds of cooking implements, coolers, pails, &c., and a supply of coals as well. The entrance to this should be sufficiently wide to admit a good-sized wheelbarrow, or a cooler on wheels, and there should be a good lock to fasten the door. The furniture ought to include a couple of iron ladles for mixing or measuring the food, and a water-pipe with a stopcock running into the boiler.

The stable “cupboard,” or press, must not be overlooked. It is a receptacle intended to hold working implements—such as combs, brushes of all kinds, sponges, scissors, chamois leathers, or “shammies,” as servants call them for shortness—and a variety of other matters. The groom should have a key for this, and the master or mistress will do well to have another, in order that he or she may inspect it occasionally, and ascertain that it is not put to any improper use.