CHAPTER XI 

 Triumphs of the Army Veterinary Service 



THE story of the doings of our war-horses and mules on active service 

 in France would only be half told were it to be brought to an end with 

 their work and welfare at the front and along the lines of communication. 

 So far as this narrative has gone it has been wholly concerned with their pro- 

 gress and doings from the time they are embarked in England to the day 

 when they come to be an active and essential piece of the vast machinery 

 which is making war. Their reception at the base remount depots in France 

 has been described and, later, their issue to those fighting and non-fighting 

 units which must make use of horses and mules in order to secure their proper 

 mobility and usefulness. Obviously, therefore, we have been discussing 

 our friends in the full possession of their health and strength. There comes 

 a time when they succumb to the rigours and dangers of modern warfare. 

 Some of them must fall sick and war-weary and so are no longer " service- 

 able " — to use a military expression- — and when that happens they become 

 the patients of the Army Veterinary Corps. When I remind the reader that 

 in the spring of 1918 there were over 30,000 horses and mules in veterinary 

 hospitals and convalescent horse depots, it will be understood what a large 

 part is being enacted from day to day by this very efificient branch of the 

 Service. 



I am writing at the moment of France only. In every theatre of war 

 where British armies are fighting, the A.V.C. is worthily maintaining and 

 steadily improving its standards. In dealing with this progress I ma^' seem 

 to write with enthusiasm, but I would like to make it clear from the outset 

 that my impressions were gained at first hand and after some length}^ study 

 of the Veterinary Service in France — of its personnel, its institutions, its 

 methods, and its whole-hearted devotion to the daily task of restoring the 

 horse from disease and exhaustion to health and strength. If our mihtary 

 organization and administration have triumphed in many other directions, 

 they most certainly have in this particular one. The public have no concep- 

 tion of their splendid achievements, and it is due to them, equally as it is due 

 to those who have been toiling through the months and years so assiduously, 

 always learning something new and useful, and always profiting by their 

 lessons, that the story should be told. 



Beyond all doubt it has been a great war for the Veterinary Service. 



90 



