Divisions of stalls (and boxes) are made with the following objects: 1. To keep the animal within certain limits of space; for instance, those necessary for the economical employment of bedding. 2. To prevent him from kicking or otherwise injuring a neighbour on either side of him. 3. To prevent him from smelling and sometimes from seeing his neighbour or neighbours. While carrying out these objects we should be careful to interfere with ventilation as little as possible. The first mentioned condition is the only one which has to be fulfilled in all cases. The second is not provided for, or only in exceptional cases (as with a kicker for example), in military and other stables where swinging bails are used. The third condition may often be dispensed with. The divisions may be made 11 ft. long, 7 ft. high at the head of the stall, 4 ft. 9 in. high at the foot, and solid for a height of 3 ft. 6 in., in order to aid in saving the animal, if he happens to kick against the divisions, from injuring himself, which he would be likely to do, if he kicked hard against iron bars, for instance. As a further protection to the possible or probable kicker, the lower portion of the divisions may be covered with wood, the grain of which is sometimes placed horizontally, so as to allow the foot of the kicker to glance off the wood more readily than it would do, if the boards were arranged vertically.

Pillars are placed at the entrance of the stall to give a firm attachment to the divisions. I see no use, except the doubtful one of hanging things on them, for tops or heads being placed on these pillars, so as to make them project above the divisions. Mr. Alec Goodman informs me that he has seen accidents caused by their presence on occasions when the horse, on being let loose, has swung himself round in a precipitous manner, owing to his having been hit or threatened by the groom; and has accordingly knocked his head with more or less violence against the projection on the top of the pillar.

Divisions of stalls are sometimes furnished with sliding safety bars, which, when not in use, are concealed in tubes let into their respective divisions. When drawn out and fitted into the opposite wall or pillar, they form a useful barrier for blocking up the passage of a horse that may have got loose during the night. When partly drawn out, they may be employed as a temporary bracket for saddlery or harness, which is a practice that is not altogether without danger to horses which are led past the stall, especially in the case of a groom forgetting to replace them after they have served their turn.

As a protection to the feet of a kicker and also to the boards, a thick mat or other suitable contrivance, about 3 1/2 ft. square, is sometimes hung up against the lower end of the division at the foot of the stall. Alternate divisions are in some cases made movable, so that a box, if required, may be converted into two stalls, and vice versa.

Swinging bails consist of bars of wood or iron which are suspended horizontally from the ceiling, wall, or other convenient means of support, and which serve in the place of divisions for stalls. Apart from considerations of economy of space, cost, and time occupied in construction, they are used in the Army with the object of a simultaneous view being obtainable of all the horses in a line of stalls; and of accustoming the animals to stand quietly close together, as they would often have to do on active service. Various contrivances have been devised for the ready and even automatic release of horses which get their legs over these bails. Protection from kicking may be afforded by suspending from the bails a thick mat of rope or other suitable material.

The necessity for the horse's water, corn, and hay being kept apart at watering and feeding times, is recognised by almost every groom, and is self-evident in the case of water. As horses usually prefer corn to hay, they will as a rule endeavour to throw out the latter during their search for the former, if both be given in the same receptacle. Horses will generally go through a similar performance while eating, out of a manger, hay that has been made from too ripe grass, the seeds of which will tend to drop out of their respective ears and to accumulate at the bottom of the feeding vessel. Another objection to a combined corn and hay manger, is that, with such an arrangement, the groom would often have the slight extra trouble of being obliged to remove the remainder of the hay before giving a feed of corn; because a horse as a rule consumes hay far more slowly than oats. The infliction of annoyance on the horse in making him hunt for his corn in a mass of hay is, I think, undesirable, especially in the case of long hay, which offers greater impediment to this search than that which has been cut into short lengths. When animals are fed on short hay or chop, I do not see much objection to the practice of using only one feeding receptacle for the hay and corn; although with long hay I think it is a decided advantage for a hard-worked horse to have these two articles of forage kept separate, so that he can turn from one to the other as he chooses. The manger, besides serving for corn, will be the most convenient feeding utensil for mashes and roots on account of its being generally empty, to say nothing of its size and shape.

The materials used for receptacles for water and food should be strong, non-absorbent, and fairly cheap; and whatever article of either kind is kept constantly in reach of the animal, should be of such a nature that he will not be induced to gnaw it, the practice of which habit will be apt to teach him to crib. Iron, whether plain, galvanised, or enamelled, will therefore be the most suitable substance for their construction. I have heard that inferior kinds of enamel often contain poisonous salts of lead, but am unable to say how far the presence of these compounds would affect the health of horses which fed or drank out of vessels lined with such enamel.