38 THE HORSE AND THE WAR 



tion with him at the point at which we left him in the last chapter. He had 

 then stepped ashore — a stranger, indeed, and an obvious alien — from the 

 steamer which had been his stable for about three weeks. We may remind 

 you of his dishevelled state, and a critical onlooker, having no knowledge 

 of his virtues, might have been excused for promptly arriving at wholly wrong 

 conclusions. Let it not be forgotten that a horse thus " cribbed, cabined, 

 confined " on shipboard must inevitably lose condition and show signs of 

 physical wastage. Some, of course, will do so more than others. It is a 

 question influenced as to degree by temperament, for the nervous animal 

 must worry and fuss more than his phlegmatic and stoical companion. Then 

 the feeding is not conducive to the retention of condition. Normal feeding 

 on hard corn would quickly produce fever in the feet and intestinal compHcations 

 in a horse which is denied all chance of exercise and which must stand in 

 a very narrow stall in an unhealthy atmosphere for three weeks. Thus 

 it is that the diet, chiefly of bran and hay, must be low to suit the unnatural 

 conditions. The visitor is now the property of the British taxpayer, and 

 progress is commenced the moment he enters one of the remount depots. He 

 has to be made fit and trained for his new career. If he were not such a good 

 and sensible horse the work of remount officers would be made ever so much 

 more arduous than it is. It is their good fortune that the material is so pliable 

 to the methods adopted. Think of the complications if the process of accli- 

 matisation, where these horses are concerned, were long and tedious, or of 

 the delay if their temperament were less placid and yielding than it is. We 

 may think that conditioning and acclimatisation, as apart from training, are 

 hurried ; but we are at war, and what would be ideal in peace time is made 

 impossible by the ruthless and inexorable exigencies of war. What a good 

 thing, therefore, that he comes on as quickly as he does ! Training the 

 American light draught is the least difficult of all the details to be observed. 

 Rare indeed is the animal that is a confirmed shirker and jibber in our 

 artillery harness, and even he surrenders in time. Vice is found in very 

 infrequent instances, but more often than not it is the product of cruelty and 

 misunderstanding at some time rather than of nature itself. 



See now that raw-boned, dishevelled horse that stepped ashore only a 

 week before. He has had a few days' rest and a change of diet, his feeds 

 containing something more palatable and satisfying than bran and hay. The 

 clipping machine has caused him to discard the guise of rags and tatters ; 

 the tangled mane is off and the outhne of the cresty, strong neck stands out 

 clear and distinct ; the tail is no longer flowing and bedraggled, but has 

 been neatly squared off to about the depth of the hocks ; while the spreading- 

 hoofs have been shaped and now carry shoes. His eye is clear and healthy, 

 and he is taking a quiet and intelligent interest in life, especially at feed times. 

 For the " Yank " is a rare " doer." A month hence and the angularities 

 are distinctly less acute. He has lost the " ribby " appearance, and is 

 undoubtedly thriving on the none too lavish rations authorized by Government. 

 He is being regularly exercised now, and, if his progress has not been checked 

 by those troubles that beset the horse when compelled to endure what are 

 practically out-of-door stable conditions, he is certainly well on the road to 



