THE NECK, THE HEAD, ETC. 123 



whole of the cavalry sabres of a new pattern, the ex- 

 isting ones being two inches shorter than any others in 

 use in foreign services, which would put our troops to 

 great disadvantage : quoth his Excellency, " Then let 

 my cavalry soldiers get two inches nearer to their op- 

 ponents than has been hitherto the practice," replied 

 Serenissimus. It is just this, it is an affair of inches ; 

 and these inches are widened into yards when the 

 horse does not or cannot follow the reins instantaneously 

 and accurately. 



We have already pointed out several disadvantages 

 of the mountain of pack that is built up on the shoul- 

 ders of some cavalry horses; an additional one is, that 

 it changes the line of direction in which the pull of the 

 rein acts, so as to make it go right up into the sky, 

 and altogether miss both hind and fore legs, thus plac- 

 ing all horses, whatever the excellences or defects of 

 their organisation may be, on the same dead level of 

 uncertainty and inaccuracy. It is not the weight alone 

 of " the epitome of a Jew's old-clothes shop " that is 

 so destructive, although this in itself is bad and ab- 

 surd enough ; what is still worse is the way in which 

 that weight is distributed, so as not only to render all 

 attempts at equilibrium impossible, but also to throw 

 the bridle-hand of the rider so high that he cannot 

 use any description of bit advantageously. A Cossack 

 will load his horse to almost the same pernicious ex- 

 tent that most regular light cavalry men are compelled 

 to do, and still neither the speed, the agility, nor the 

 power of endurance of the little animal are impaired in 

 anything like the same degree as happens with the 

 troop-horse : the weight is better distributed for all 

 purposes. (Plate VI.) 



