40 THE HORSE AND THE WAR 



That is due to the " exigencies of the Service " — a most convenient phrase to 

 use in many more instances and senses than this one^ — and simple necessity 

 of having to legislate for thousands and tens of thousands. Thus the four 

 largest Remount Depots in the United Kingdom are arranged on the principle 

 of long rows of stalls of fifty or a hundred apiece, open to the weather except 

 for the not unimportant fact that they are roofed. The same principle obtains 

 in the Depots and Veterinary Hospitals in France, though much is done in 

 the matter of extending the roofs well beyond the quarters of the horses, and 

 in the erection of wind screens as some rough protection against the weather. 

 It will be understood that in this way every opportunity is given to the 

 latest-] oined equine recruit to harden itself and so prepare for probably more 

 severe exposure in the actual theatres of war. 



Remount officers must take this war-time feature of stabling into serious 

 calculation in the feeding and training of all classes of horses. They have to 

 be made fit, and the process cannot be made easy by abundance of food, a 

 warm box knee-deep in straw and heavy rugs in winter time ; such luxuries 

 have no place in war. The semi-exposed lines, whether they be those of 

 Remount Squadrons, Cavalry Squadrons or of Field Batteries, are the first 

 home of the war-horse and mule whether they have just arrived from over- 

 seas or have been bought in the United Kingdom. Obviously a horse which 

 feels the cold very much and has dehcate respiratory organs is not going to 

 do well. His acclimatisation is going to be slow and gradual, but even he 

 will " come " in time. Apart altogether from military necessity there may 

 be much to recommend the principle. The sudden transition from stable 

 to semi-open lines will frequently induce catarrh and coughs. They have to 

 be carefully guarded against lest serious pulmonary troubles should supervene. 

 It was such troubles that found out the weak spot in the heavy Shire 

 and Clydesdale horses which were bought in large numbers during the first 

 three years of the war. They simply could not battle against the conditions 

 of Army stabling. Once, however, the catarrh has disappeared the Remount 

 rapidly becomes hard and fit, and when his time comes he is far better able 

 to " keep a-going " under active service conditions than when he was 

 apparently fit before the hardening process had been entered upon. 



Mr. Wayne Dinsmore, the very able Secretary of the influential Percheron 

 Horse Society of America, has given us a reason why the American light 

 draught horses survive the weather test so well. They are more or less 

 hardened by the nature of their life from birth, and the fact, of course, is not 

 peculiar to one generation. Of our English horses the charger class with 

 thoroughbred blood in them, either whole or in part, have done well, though 

 the principle would not be the one ordinarily adopted when dealing with our 

 hunters and high-class riding horses in peace time. They have required a 

 good deal of nursing and watching, and wanted all, if not more than, the 

 ration of hay and corn allowed them. The maximum amount of self-created 

 bodily warmth is essential to make up for open stabling, w^hich is often swept 

 by chilling winds. A horse at liberty in a field can exercise himself in the 

 hardest weather ; far otherwise is it with him when tied up in a semi-open 

 stall. Really it is wonderful how they have adapted themselves to the drastic 



