RESULT OF BEAUTIFUL PROPORTIONS. 425 



prolonged beyond a certain limit, for all effective companies, more or 

 less incongruous with regard to their composition, scarcely comprise 

 more than one -fourth of good subjects. 



It is important, then, to combine the walk and the trot in such a 

 way that the animals may recover their breath. 



Experience demonstrates, in this respect, that few horses forge before having 

 travelled a distance of 1500 metres at a trot ; if this pace is pushed farther, the 

 number of those which make this noise will increase without cessation. The 

 result will be that the walk must be resumed at this moment. Let us, then, 

 examine the lungs ; we will see that 5 minutes will be necessary for the respi- 

 ration to become calm, normal, and again permit the horse to trot. A distance 

 of 1500 metres, followed by a walk of 500 metres, alternately repeated, is, then, 

 the combination which will furnish the most prudent pace. 



The number of halts is also to be taken into very serious consideration. We 

 know that their object is to rest the horse by unloading him of a part of the 

 weight which he carries (the rider) and by the cessation of all work. They 

 permit also a readjustment of the harness. 



General Bonie says that in times of peace the horses should be walked at the 

 first start 1500 to 2000 metres, in order to train the animal and prepare his organs 

 for more rapid movements. Then a trot of 1 kilometre will be made. The walk 

 will be resumed for 5 minutes, to be followed by a second kilometre at a trot. A 

 five-minutes' walk will now re-establish the normal respiration. This will be the 

 time for the first halt. At the end of 5 minutes, the walk will be resumed for 

 from 500 to 600 metres, after which the trot will be used. If the ride does not 

 exceed 28 kilometres, two halts will be sufficient : one at 5 or 6 kilometres from the 

 place of starting, the other at 10 kilometres from the place of arrival. Above 

 28 kilometres and up to 50, almost the extreme limit of our rides between the two 

 halts spoken of, a third one will be made midway, and the riders dismount for a 

 quarter of an hour to allow the horses to rest. The horses should not be allowed 

 to trot within 2 or 3 kilometres of their destination, in order that they may be 

 calm and dry on their arrival. The velocity of the march will thus be 8 kilome- 

 tres per hour, including the halts. 



In times of war the distance travelled over should be : 



12 kilometres in 1 hour. 



22 



" 2 hours. 



32 



, " 1 hour and 20 minutes of rest, divided 



into six halts. 



Then a rest of 4 or 5 hours will be taken, after which a march of 60 

 kilometres could be completed in 10 hours, at a walk, with 50 minutes for five 

 halts made every 12 kilometres. 



Concerning the gallop, the troop being supposed to run upon 

 smooth and firm ground, and not to have done any work on that 

 day ; under these circumstances, the following is what it is able to 

 accomplish : 



