120 THE HORSE AND THE WAR 



times he even attempts to seek light from the severely non-committal Remount 

 officer in charge like an importunate and insinuating backer essays to worm 

 himself into the confidence of a trainer or jockey on the racecourse. For, 

 of course, it is important that the speculator in Army "casters " should not 

 allow himself to get too badly " stuck." He knows there are risks, and his 

 ways of trying to reduce them never failed to raise my admiration of his 

 resource and his knowledge of cheap horseflesh. 



They cluster at the foot of the auctioneer's rostrum after the approved 

 manner of buyers at Tattersalls in London and laugh derisively when the 

 salesman expatiates in a professional manner on the virtues and limitless 

 possibilities of the ex-cavalry horse. You see he is doing his best for the 

 Government and taking every care that he shall earn his commission. More- 

 over, most auctioneers I have seen at work have entered into the spirit of the 

 sale and have good-humouredly adapted their chaff to the cosmopolitan char- 

 acter of their horse-coping audience. " Now, gentlemen," he observes, " we'll 

 give him one more run and please keep your sticks down. He's not 

 used to them." " No, guv'nor, you're right there ; what 'e's been used to 

 'as bin goin' about in a Bath-chair, I expect ! " observes an old stager with a 

 nomad's face and style of dress. The crowd opens out to let him be run up, 

 and the result of the manoeuvre is that some one hardens his heart and starts 

 the bidding at a couple of guineas. The auctioneer looks pained at the insult, 

 and the bidder has a slight shock of anxiety until competition begins and the 

 " caster " has found a new owner. So on through the programme, and then 

 there is the squaring up on the spot with the auctioneer and a general 

 adjournment of the buyers to adjust private transactions. 



Prices, of course, have varied a good deal. Early in the war " casters " 

 as a rule would only make the price the knacker could afford to pay. There 

 was no demand for them at that time, but times have changed. The horse 

 slaughterer can afford to pay a better price, for there is a market for the meat 

 and a demand for the hide, etc. Then there is a general horse shortage of 

 general utility animals in the fifth year of war, especially of draught horses for 

 the land. It is the reason why animals which have no military value have made 

 some remarkable sums at auction, showing that the user had to avail himself 

 of any sort of assistance, however temporary it might prove to be. All my 

 experience goes to show that judicious casting of Army horses is most essential 

 in the interests of financial economy and general efficiency. The authorities, 

 be they veterinary or remount, may not like to show heavy casting returns 

 in case the former should be criticized for condemning where they ought to cure, 

 and the latter for their general horse management. The reluctance to do so, 

 however, may surely be overdone since it means that animals are kept at the 

 public expense, which, because of their proneness to disease and sickness, have 

 little or no chance of doing active work with units and, therefore, must spend 

 their days passing between Remount Depots and Veterinary Hospitals and 

 congesting both. Certainly it is not true economy to go beyond certain limits 

 with chronic cases of lameness and those which come under the category of 

 " aged and worn out." Ha horse is not considered good enough to send over- 

 seas then he is relegated to home service, and when the time comes that he is 



