The following excerpt comes from The Horse: An Historical Author's and Reader's Guide.
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In the country house of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the
stable yard was a busy and important part of a gentleman’s
establishment. When the family was in residence, horses would be
required at all times of the day, for pleasure rides, carriage
journeys, sending messages etcetera. In grand establishments – and
many a smaller one too – the stables were positioned around large
courtyards, allowing plenty of space for a carriage and four to
manoeuvre. Since these were often cobbled, it meant a deal of hard
sweeping for the stable-boys in order to keep the yard clean and
tidy. A tall archway, frequently topped by a clock tower, provided
ingress and egress, as well as acting as a statement of the owner’s
rank and worth. In these noble mansions, the stables were in long
brick or stone buildings and usually had two storeys.
A narrow passage,
stretching the length of the structure either centrally or along the
front, gave access from the stable yard to the horse accommodations
and harness rooms. The latter were usually sited in a central
position for convenience, although sometimes in a separate building.
In large establishments, it was often the case that there was one in
each stable block. In the space above the stables, fodder was stored
in a hayloft, or living quarters were provided for the grooms and
other stable staff. Within the courtyard there was a coach-house as
well as feed rooms and other storerooms.
It was not unusual,
in a less grand establishment, for one stable building to house a
loose box at each end and stalls in-between. Some gentlemen’s
residences also had a stall(s) or open-ended box for washing down
sweaty or dirty horses. Nevertheless, the majority of Regency
households would have had mainly stalls with perhaps a stallion box
or two and a large loose box for an expectant mare or sick
individual.
In many establishments,
a gentleman’s hunters and riding horses would have been housed in loose boxes, while his quality driving cattle and ordinary
carriage horses were quartered in stalls. The farm stock would
have been tucked away in less commodious and salubrious surroundings
in a separate stable yard.
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| Stables in Marchfeld, Austria, Public Domain |
Stables must be light and airy. The ones pictured above are lofty and
open, which is perfect. It is better to provide warmth with clothing
than to restrict ventilation. Stabled horses require plenty of fresh
air if they are to avoid respiratory problems.
Loose Box or Stall?
Loose Box – a
single stable in which the horse is free to move about at will.
Stallion/Foaling Box
– larger stable for a stallion or a mare with, or yet to, foal.
Stall –
narrower stable, open at the rear, in which a horse remains tied.
The horse wore a
leather headstall (the modern headcollar) to which was attached a
rope or chain. This was fed through a ring on the wall or manger and
weighted with a ‘log’ – a wooden or metal ball. This
contraption, known as a ‘log and rope’, allowed the horse
a measure of movement and freedom to lie down, but prevented him from
turning around.
Frequently, chains
were attached to the partitions at the rear of stalls. These could be
fastened across behind the horses to prevent them pulling backwards.
Often as not, they were only put into use at night.
The generic term stable
covers both types. As stated above, the best stables went to the most
prized animals.
Dimensions
A ‘good stable
should be eighteen feet wide inside and each stall should be six feet
wide,’ says an eminent veterinary surgeon of the late
nineteenth century. He recommends that the wall divisions be nine
feet long, allowing a nine foot wide passage, with ten feet divisions
being preferable. It was considered acceptable for a cart-horse
stable to be only sixteen feet wide, but the width of stalls had to
remain at six feet.
Good dimensions for
a loose box were 10 x 12 feet, he states; nowadays this would be
considered the size for a pony! A modern hunter would expect a stable
of at least 12 x 12 feet, if not 12 x 14, and as of yesteryear, a
foaling box is considerably larger – usually around 12 x 16 feet.
The Country Estate
Even into Victorian
times, loose boxes were not common. In the majority of houses, horses
were kept in stalls, although it is probable that at some point
during the nineteenth century it became fashionable to convert stalls
into loose boxes. Indeed, this belief is borne out by Giles Worsley
in an article for Country Life about Houghton Hall in Norfolk.
He states that the stables at Houghton, in common with ‘all
country-house stables’ had been altered with the addition of
loose boxes in the nineteenth century. He goes on to say that in many
stable yards the original fittings were also replaced in that
timescale, but a number survive at Houghton, where the stables are
still used for horses.
Sir Robert Walpole,
Prime Minister during the 1730s, improved Houghton for political
reasons. He needed strong local support and knew how to get the
Norfolk gentry on his side. He hunted most days he was at Houghton,
kept his stables stocked with superb hunters and built stables to
impress. To further his aspirations, he entertained friends and
supporters in fine style at the beautiful house and park he created.
The current stables
were the second quadrangle to be built after the original was
demolished, being deemed to be in the wrong position after only
thirteen years. They were erected to house eighty animals, carriage
horses and cart-horses in addition to the hunters. Constructed of the
local, coarse yellow Snettisham stone, with brick to the interior of
the courtyard, there were varying degrees of opulence for the
occupants. In order to display his wealth and quality horseflesh, Sir
Robert stalled his hunters in palatial surroundings in the
north-eastern block. Dark timber partitions or stall-divisions,
finished with alternate columns (each topped with a ball) and stone
pillars (leading to the vaulted brickwork overhead), separate each
bay and the floor is laid with pinkish-red and blue-grey bricks.
Diocletian windows line the wall above the stalls. The original hay
racks are composed of twisting uprights and the mangers, also to the
front of each stall, have survived unaffected by modernization.
Bridle pegs decorate the walls above the feed bins, with a harness or
tack room nearby where the saddles would have been stored. Wooden
panelling lines the wall of the tack room, which still has
semicircular wooden pegs for bridles and other items of harness.
In the opposite
corner of the courtyard, a stable for six horses indicates a lesser
degree of comfort. Probably for carriage and coach horses, there is a
partition for each pair of animals, as opposed to one between every
horse in the hunter stable. Between each pair, hooks survive for the
hanging bails (heavy lengths of wood hung on chains) which
would have been used to separate them. Nevertheless, similar racks
and mangers head each double bay. The adjoining block was, in all
likelihood, used for the farm horses, since there are no partitions
and only a sloping hay rack – the equivalent of travelling economy
class!
This arrangement
bears out family records, where pairs of cow stalls occupied one side
of a barn while stabling filled the other, with another stable for
cart-horses a short distance away. Both had haylofts above.
While stables had
been built around a courtyard before, they were mostly created for
royalty, and according to Giles Worsley, it was those at Houghton
Hall which began the custom of adding the associated feed rooms,
harness rooms and carriage houses, so all were accessible in one
quadrangle. In this way, the mundane activities of the stable yard
were not only secure, any noise and odour would not cause offence to
the family.
Royal stables, and
those of the nobility, were frequently decorated as richly as houses,
boasting moulded ceilings, decorative lamp holders and even painted
reliefs. These accommodations were wide and roomy, the best stalls
having solid wooden partitions with grilles of metal or wood above so
that horses could see each other but not fight. Often, as described
above, they were finished with beautifully carved posts and arched
tops.
In all types of
stall, the floor sloped slightly to the rear to allow urine to escape
to an open drain in the passage, (see photograph of Marchfeld
above) which was kept swept clean by the grooms.
In the stables of posting houses and other establishments catering to public need, stalls were the order of the day, of a size appropriate to the grandeur of the establishment. The more fashionable the premises, the better care given to the horses, as with the patrons. Coach horses were kept in their harness all day in order to be ready when required. (This will be covered in more detail in Volume II.)
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| Stable Block, Croft Castle, Herefordshire (C) Author |
Bedding
While young and
breeding stock were usually kept at pasture, most working horses
spent their leisure hours stabled so that they were on hand when
required. They were bedded on thick straw, since that was freely
available, the choice of rye, wheat, barley or oat straw being
dictated by the crops grown on the estate. The horseman’s
preference is rye or wheat, since both are tough, springy and drain
well. Before the advent of combine harvesters, barley straw was soft
and full of ‘ears’, while oat straw was liable to be eaten. The
former could cause irritations, while for racehorses, hunters or
carriage horses needing to maintain fitness, the latter was
inadvisable. The bedding was (and still is where good management is
practised) banked up around the walls to provide protection from
draughts and to prevent the occupant becoming ‘cast’ from
lying down too close to the wall. ‘Cast’ means being
unable to rise without assistance, either from the proximity of the
wall or partition, or from lack of space. The bed was kept
scrupulously clean, being mucked out twice daily and droppings
removed to a skep as required. This is now termed a skip, the
procedure being ‘skipping out’. The word skep dates from
the thirteen hundreds and means a basket.
From Thomas Wallis' Farrier's and Horseman's Complete Dictionary, 1766:
When there is stable-room enough, partitions are to be made for
several horses to stand in; these should always allow room enough for
the horse to turn about, and lie down conveniently in; and they
should be boarded up so high toward the head, that the horses placed
in separate stalls, may not be able to smell at one another, nor
molest each other any way. One of these stalls ought to be covered
in, and made convenient for the groom to lie in, in case of a great
match, or the sickness of a valuable horse.
Behind the horses there should be a row of pegs, to hang up
saddles, bridles, and other necessary utensils; and some shelves for
the hanging up brushes, &c. and the standing of pots of ointment
and other preparations.
The other requisites for a stable are a dung yard, a pump, and a
conduit; and if some pond or running river be near, it is greatly the
better.
(C) Heather King
