Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1888 — Keep the Stables Light. [ARTICLE]

Keep the Stables Light.

Dark stables are an aoomination, andshould not be tolerated. There is no» necessity to sacrifice comfort, either in winter or summer, to secure enough light. A horse’s eyes are enlarged—the pupil of the eye is—by being kept in a dark stable; he has a harness put on to him and suddenly brought out into the bright, glaring sunlight, which contracts the pupil so suddenly as to cause extreme pain. By persevering in this very foolish and injudicious as well as cruel practice, the nerves of the eye become impaired, and if continued long enough, loss of sight will ensue. To see how very painful it is to face a bright. light alter having been in the dark, take a walk some dark night for a short time, till the eye becomes accustomed to the darkness, then drop suddenly into some welllighted room and you will be scarcely able to see for a few moments in the sudden light. You know how painful it is to yourself, then why have your horse repeatedly to bear such unnecessary pain? A dark stable is invariably a damp one, and such stables we are not yet willing to put either a valuable working or driving horse in. Give good ventilation, let the sunshine and the air have a chance to effect an entrance, and your stables will be purer and more healthy than if you take such pains to exclude them and the good influence they invariably bring.