THE CAVALRY HORSE 163 



They did not eat; they shrank to nothing in flesh where other 

 horses kept fat and fresh ; they chafed everywhere the saddle or 

 girths touched them; the insects drove them wild; they would 

 not stand crowding in drills without kicking ; they were not 

 trustworthy at any time; they stumbled very generally; they 

 went lame frequently and stayed lame persistently; they had 

 no decent fast trot, and usually a lounging walk which patrons 

 did not fancy. In the course of the business I leased many 

 horses to go to camp for a week or so with the militia. Every 

 time I included thoroughbreds in the list they were condemned 

 for making trouble on the picket line and at drill, and they 

 came home with their withers, backs, and elbows sore from the 

 saddles and girths. These are the cold facts. An ounce of 

 experience is worth many a ton of theory. 



Mr. Ware cannot be suspected of any prejudice 

 against the thoroughbred, for he prefers him as a 

 saddle horse for his own use. 



Gen. John B. Castleman of Kentucky takes the 

 same view of the thoroughbred. He writes : 



His breeding and training for generation after generation 

 have fitted him for the running turf and have unfitted him for 



general use Some cavalry officers without experience in 



the field, have persuaded themselves that a cavalry horse must 

 be a jumper, and therefore that the thoroughbred is indispen- 

 sable. The number of horses that make jumpers is in proportion 

 as small as is the number of soldiers that make good officers. 

 To practical cavalrymen it seems useless to injure horses' legs 

 and shoulders by teaching them to jump. 



The thoroughbred crossed with other horses some- 

 times produces a tough, serviceable animal, but in most 

 cases the result Is a weedy, leggy horse, with poor bone 



