MOUNTED INSTRUCTION 149 



PAIRING AND TEAMING DRAFT HORSES 



Your draft horses should be sized in corral, and paired according 

 to weight and color as far as possible. 



Good practice is to first work to escort wagon in pairs. Timid or 

 vicious mounts can best be broken alongside steady trained draft 

 horses, and in teams place such animals in the swing pair where they 

 can do least harm. 



After pairing, the team can then be matched up according to rules 

 of pairing, placing- heaviest and strongest pullers from rear to front. 

 The lead pair should be not necessarily light, but handy, mobile 

 animals. 



Special attention must be paid to length of stride, disposition and 

 willingness in draft of animals. 



Drivers must be made to appreciate the fact that every sore, every 

 injury, every abrasion of the skin, is due to a certain definite cause 

 which, if removed, can produce no further efifect. If ill-fitting harness 

 has escaped the notice of a driver while his horses were at work, any 

 injurv caused thereby must not escape his notice at the next stables. 

 FAILURE TO DISCOVER AND REPORT SUCH INJURY AT 

 ONCE TO THE INSTRUCTOR OR TO THE CHIEF OF SEC- 

 TION IS A NEGLECT CALLING FOR DISCIPLINARY COR- 

 RECTION. 



Injuries due to the harness must be discovered in their very begin- 

 ning and at once reported to the ofificer in charge of the horses. That 

 officer then performs his duty unsatisfactorily if he lacks ingenuity 

 and skill to modify or correct the fit of the harness so as to remove the 

 cause of the injury. 



It is only by constant attention on the part of all concerned, drivers, 

 chiefs of section, chiefs of platoon, the officer in charge of the horses, 

 and the captain — that the animals of a battery can be kept up to their 

 work without more or less prolonged periods of enforced idleness due 

 to harness injuries. 



MOUNTED INSTRUCTION 



GOLDEN RULE: NEVER LET YOUR HORSES KNOW 

 THAT THEY ARE UNABLE TO PITLL ANY LOAD ON ANY 

 GRADE. 



Never let a horse lunge into a collar, as this bruises his shoulder and 

 will probably make him fear the collar. Do not expect the young horse 

 to pull immediately; if he will walk along quietly, it is all that can be 

 expected. At the end of a week, the average horse will come to the 

 collar nicely, a little encouragement being all that is required. Bear in 

 mind that it is always easy to make a horse pull, but that it is very diffi- 

 cult to prevent a too-free horse from working too hard. Each horse 

 must be required to do his share of the work. 



