CHAPTER II.
Pitting up the Stables—Loose Boxes and their Uses—Stable Fittings—Light, Ventilation and Drainage—Cobweb and Major—How to tell a Horse's Age—Do Horses understand Language?—Starting a balky Horse—The Horse that knew the Doxology—Horses telling Time by the Clock—Famous Horse Trainers: Rarey, Gleason, and Sullivan the Whisperer—How Cruiser was Tamed—Horse-breaking in Texas—“Creasing” Wild Horses.
Mr. Graham told his boys they might fit up the stable for their horses in whatever way suited them best; he gave them this permission in the confident belief that they would thereby be led to learn more about the animals and their needs than if the stables were turned over to them already fitted. The correctness of his judgment was shown by the earnestness with which the youths proceeded to inform themselves on the subject.
“There's plenty of room in the stable,” said Charley, “and so we'll have a 'loose box' for our horses in addition to the ordinary stalls. Mr. Sidney says it is desirable to have one box for every two stalls and therefore one box will be enough for us.”
“How large shall the box be?” George asked.
“Not less than twelve feet by fourteen if we have the space for it,” was the reply, “but even a much smaller box is better than none at all. Where space is limited one of the stalls may be made into a box by putting a gate across the end of it. A space large enough for a horse to turn around in, so Mr. Sidney says, is of great advantage sometimes to a sick, or very tired horse, or to one that is obliged to be idle several days at a time. When horses are in good health and steady use they haven't much need of boxes, and as we propose to keep our horses healthy and use them, too, one box will be enough for both of us.”
Then came the question of ventilation, which did not require a long debate. The youths were agreed at the start that horses as well as other animals require plenty of light and air; Mr. Graham had been of the same opinion before them, and had built his stable upon intelligent principles. It was on a dry foundation, was well drained, no unsavory gutters or sewers near it, and the windows were numerous and well arranged. He had taken especial pains with the windows and his orders to the grooms were very strict as to the proper ventilation of the stable.
“Unless you watch the grooms closely,” said Mr. Graham to Charley, “you'll very likely find them keeping the windows of the stable closed when they should be open. Grooms like to heat their horses into a condition of moisture in order to give their coats a silky appearance, and their best way of doing this is to keep the windows closed and the air foul. The colonel of an English regiment has said on this subject that the horses of his command live in stables that are constantly open to the air, and consequently are very rarely out of sorts; the same gentleman has a pack of hunting horses at his country seat, and his manager keeps them in stables that are close and hot. The hunters are constantly sick and he attributes it to the bad air in which they are confined.”