17- 



ANIMAL MANAGEMENT. 



Weak 

 points of 

 pannels. 



Numnah 

 pannels. 



Blankets. 



Thick 

 and thin 

 blankets. 



Uses of 

 a blanket. 



the back, and the saddle made to fit through its pannels instead of 

 through its tree. 



Theoretically this is wrong in principle, though it certainly works out 

 in practice, and may, therefore, be defended ; but for the pannel, the 

 civil saddle would be a constant cause of sore back. 



Pannels have their weak points, they may be too bulky or too thin, 

 the stuffing may have become hard, lumpy, or even caked if sweat has 

 passed in. Until every soldier knows something of saddlery, it is fair 

 to urge that a pannel requires a saddler to deal with it, whereas there are 

 other means much simpler, such as a blanket, which a soldier may adjust 

 for himself. No doubt it is owing to this that pannels have disappeared 

 from the regular service of the Army, as their alterations can only be 

 effected by a trained man. 



Pannels have been made of felt (numnah) and fitted to the side bars ; 

 by themselves they are insufficient protection to the back. They must 

 be used with a blanket, and are then useful. Strips of numnah of 

 varying lengths may be usefully employed in making a saddle fit ; two, 

 three, or more layers may be cut out, kept together by a stitch or two, 

 and bound to the side bar. This will be again referred to in dealing 

 with sore backs, for which purpose strips of numnah are of the greatest 

 value. 



Blankets.— h blanket beneath the saddle is a most admirable method 

 of protection. It does not lend itself like a pannel to graduated variations 

 in thickness, but on the other hand, it can be dealt with by a person 

 without any instruction in the trade of a saddler, and the changes he 

 can effect by altering the method of folding may be brought about in a 

 few minutes. 



A good thick blanket is economy, a thin blanket an abomination ; a 

 good blanket folds, a thin blanket wrinkles ; a good blanket saves a back 

 from bruising, and lasts some time ; a thin blanket has a short life, 

 and is never satisfactory when horses are losing condition. 



The great recommendation of a blanket is that so many useful 

 adjustments may be made by alterations in its folding when a back 

 becomes worn or injured, and this will even be the chief recommendation 

 of a blanket under a military saddle. In fact, a blanket is the only means 

 of immediately replacing artificially the amount of flesh a horse loses, and 

 so enables us not only to prevent the ribs from becoming bruised through 

 the whole weight of the rider being brought closer to the body, but also 

 to keep the arches of the saddle clear of the spine. We must not forget 

 that every ounce of flesh lost on the back brings the saddle nearer to the 

 delicate parts below, and increases enormously the liability to injury. 



