8o THE HORSE AND THE WAR 



illustrates with a saving grace of humour the square peg in the round hole. 

 In the course of his visits a young infantry transport officer — such an officer 

 may have about fifty animals in his care — complained of the poor quality 

 of the oats. " What's the matter with the oats? " inquired the A.D.V.S. 

 " M'ell, sir," was the reply, " they are so small ; they get into the horses' 

 teeth." " Ah, well, that's bad, very bad. Perhaps you'd better indent on 

 ' Dados ' [a person who is known officially as the Deputy Assistant Director 

 of Ordnance Supply] for some toothpicks " ! Of course, the zealous transport 

 officer meant well. But the best part of the story is that a day or two later 

 the boy was ordered to replace a casualty in the Une, and the first time he 

 went over the top he won the Military Cross. Clearly it was a case of a square 

 peg having been in the round hole. 



Then, again, this same A.D.V.S. was giving instruction to a class of 

 officers who were concerned with horses in the field, and one enterprising 

 member of the class volunteered the information that he thought he knew 

 all there was to know. He had, for instance, carefully read Horace Hayes' 

 " Notes on Horse Management " and Fitzwygram's well-known book on 

 " Horses and Stables." " Then," observed the A.D.V.S., "I suppose you 

 can tell me how many bones there are in a horse's foot." " There are three," 

 promptly came the reply. The interrogator was naturally rather startled, 

 and he had to investigate deeper and inquire the identity of the three. Our 

 gallant officer obliged at once. " They are," he said, " ringbone, sidebone 

 and navicular " ! He was not discharged the class that day. 



I mention these quite true stories, not in an unpleasant way, but in order 

 to show that all associated with horses in health and sickness must constantly 

 be learning and improving their usefulness to the betterment of the animals 

 themselves, and that the wisest among us may stiU go on learning. 



It will, I think, be interesting at this stage to outline the procedure by 

 which remounts are sent from the base depots to the front. Remounts are 

 those horses and mules which repair the day-to-day wastage, and so maintain 

 the armies, where animals are concerned, at their allotted strength. In a 

 previous chapter it was pointed out how, since the war began, over a quarter 

 of a million remounts had been received in France from the beginning of the 

 war to the end of 1917. It will be understood how that total has greatly 

 increased since, especially since the advent of the American hosts. Those 

 figures convey in the best possible way the vast extent of this important 

 branch of the Service. It is, of course, a part of the enormous Department 

 of Supply in the charge of the Ouartermaster-Gencral of the Forces. In 

 France there is a Remount Directorate, at the head of which is Brigadier- 

 (ieneral Sir F. S. Garratt, C.B., K.C.M.Ci., and its marked efficiency in every 

 respect is shown by the able ^^'ay animals have unfailingly been supplied to 

 all those combatant and non-combatant units which have to make use of 

 them in the proper prosecution of the war. With each army there is a Deputy 

 Director of Remounts, and he is " indented on " — the word is a military 

 one, and it is therefore the proper one to use— by every brigade, division 

 and corps in his particular army area. The demands are tabulated, and 

 after authentication he applies to the Directorate at their headquarters for 



