Stable Practice in the Georgian Era

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.

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.)

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