DETERIORATION OF THE HORSE IN ENGLAND 27 



bog-Spavin, and ringbone, which are not infrequently 

 shown ; that few of this stock prove fit for the British 

 cavalry, and hardly one for the horse or field artillery. 

 What Colonel Hallen said was written in 1888, and 

 how true it was the Boer War has demonstrated. 



Mr. Fred Adye, in his book on horse-breeding 

 (1903), says that there is perhaps a popular im- 

 pression that the British cavalry horse is the best 

 horse in the world, but that the impression, if it 

 exists, is a very erroneous one. The physique 

 both of men and horses at recent military manoeuvres 

 in Wilts and Dorset had greatly deteriorated since 

 1872. Squadron after squadron passed by, and ' not 

 a good horse could we discover among them. There 

 was uniformity of bad points. All seemed to be 

 both light and coarse, plain heads, upright 

 shoulders, no back ribs to speak of, and drooping 

 quarters.' And he adds that the opinion of Indian 

 cavalry officers was that the Indian cavalry, at any 

 rate in a long campaign, would ride round the 

 British ; that their horses, though smaller, being so 

 much better shaped and bred, it was the opinion of 

 many experienced officers that, could Indian cavalry* 

 have been used in Africa, the war would not have 

 lasted half as long as it did. He said the general 

 supply of horses has not of late years been equal 

 either in quality or quantity to what it formerly was. 

 What can we think of our boasted English cavalry ? 



Sir Walter Gilbey was not content with his book, 



* Largely Arab. 



