REMOUNTS 109 



Despite the great cheapness of the raw material in 

 Russia, "It probably costs the Government of that country 

 as much to mount its cavalry, as it does the English Govern- 

 ment. As all the officers and men of the brigades belong 

 to the Reserve, the money spent at the brigades serves the 

 double purpose of supplying the cavalry with horses, and of 

 keeping up the Reserve. For instance, each atdelenie is 

 capable of supplying three squadrons of reserve cavalry. 

 Consequently, a brigade of two cadres can furnish three 

 regiments of Reserve Cavalry consisting of six squadrons each. 

 In peace time, an atdelenie is equivalent to a squadron of 

 cavalry. 



Besides the young remounts, each cadre has a certain 

 number of old horses which are used for the drilling of the men. 



There are two brigades for the supply of horses for the 

 twelve regiments of the Guards. As these remounts have 

 to be bigger and stronger than the dragoon remounts, they 

 are bred, not on the steppes, but in studs under civilised 

 conditions, and were consequently considered to have been 

 too quiet for me to operate on. This was the greatest 

 possible mistake ; because the methods of breaking which I 

 practise are essentially those that are best calculated to 

 make a horse's mouth, to form his paces and to teach him 

 to jump; the inculcation of obedience being of course 

 a necessary preliminary. Russians are so thoroughly 

 imbued with high school ideas of equitation, that unless a 

 man has been in a circus, he cannot, according to them, 

 know anything about giving horses good mouths and making 

 them handy and clever. 



On seeing General Strukof for the second time in my 

 life, I was glad to find that he was somewhat more amiable 

 than before. He spoke in excellent French, and gave me my 

 programme in Russian, and in the same language a copy of a 

 circular letter that had been sent to the generals who respect- 



