MOUNTED INSTRUCTION 155 



number of hours in harness. Artillery, with animals in g:ood condi- 

 tion, should averag'e twenty miles per day. Six hours in harness should 

 be considered the average time horses should be kept hitched. Stand- 

 ing: around in harness is about as tiresome as actual marching". As 

 far as possible marches should be conducted so as to travel fifty min- 

 utes and rest ten minutes. 



The drill regulations state that under favorable conditions the trot 

 and walk should alternate in the ratio 1 to 3 in regard to time. Large 

 horses should travel at a slower trot than light ones. A 1,300 pound 

 horse, with g^ood road conditions can travel at a slow trot (six miles 

 per hour) for considerable length of time. A slow trot, when the draft 

 is lig^ht, does not fatigue an animal when a normal or extended one 

 will have a decided effect. Cannoneers in field batteries should be 

 required to walk on all hills, no matter how slight, and only be allowed 

 to ride going down hill or at a gait faster than a walk. Do not let them 

 hold on to carriag"es while walking as this will increase the pull as much 

 if not more when ridingf in the carriages. 



Field batteries in good condition should be able to make one hundred 

 miles in two days in forced marches with averag-e road conditions. 

 They should be rested two days or only required to make very short 

 marches for the next two days. In the recent Mexican trouble two 

 batteries of the Sixth Florida Field Artillery marched one hundred 

 and twenty-six miles in two days but lost quite a few horses in doing 

 so. This was probably due to the fact that the horses were not hard- 

 ened. It is a good illustration of the necessity for Battery Commanders 

 to keep their animals in condition at all times. 



It is always an advantage, conditions permitting, to finish the march 

 as soon as possible. This is less fatiguing for both men and animals. 

 The drivers should be required to walk for certain periods of the 

 march, as this rests both men and animals. The time of departure or 

 start when other conditions permit, should be regulated by climatic 

 conditions. If the weather is cool reveille should be at daylight and 

 the march start one hour later. In hot weather when the temperature 

 or sun have detrimental effect on both men and animals the march 

 should be completed before 9:30 A. M. This will necessitate a start 

 in the dark but a battery that cannot break camp Avithout confusion 

 in the dark should not be rated as a battery. 



In the southern states in mid summer and in the Philippines the 

 sun effects animals greatly. But the same animals travel rapidly after 

 sun set and from then on to about 9 :30 the next morning, while in 

 the Philippines when permitted to do so troops that commenced their 

 marches at 4 A. M. had no difficulty in traveling a distance of twenty 

 miles by 8 A. M. They would always make camp between 9 and 10 

 A. M. Troops that did not start until 7 A. M. or later, caused con- 

 siderable suffering among their animals in making a twenty mile march. 

 They could not travel at a gait faster than a walk. 



