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CHAPTER XIII. 

 MILITARY RIDING. 



BY 



MAJOR W. H. KING. 



The Army Horse. The principal qualifications the troop 

 horse should possess are soundness and hardiness ; for he will 

 be required to carry his rider for long distances, frequently over 

 very rough country, exposed to the varied changes of climate 

 and weather, and to bear with courage and fortitude the 

 fatigue and miseries of a campaign. It is obvious to the 

 mind of every thinking man that a horse required for the 

 performance of such arduous duties as the troop horse should, 

 from his earliest years, be liberally fed on the most nourishing 

 food, in order that he may when his time comes, at the age of 

 four or five years, be physically fit to successfully undergo 

 his education as a remount. Under the present conditions, 

 however, the army horse is greatly handicapped ; for as the 

 Government price for him as a four or five year old is only 

 40, and as it would not pay his breeder to feed him on corn, 

 he subsists on grass only, and when he becomes Government 

 property he is naturally so " soft " that it takes a long time to 

 get him into a condition fit for the ranks. It would be a far 

 better plan, and more economical and satisfactory in the end, 

 if the Government bought all their remounts at three years 

 old, or even earlier, and had them carefully fed and exercised 

 at the remount establishment until they were four, when they 

 would be fit to hand over to the regiments to be educated. If 

 this plan were to be adopted far fewer horses would break 



