1-4 MILITARY COMJUSSION TO EUKOPE. 



The hay is generally chopped before being fed to the horses. 



The ration is increased with the difficulty of the service ; the above being a minimum for 

 easy garrison service. 



The liorses are shod in each squadron by its shoeing smith. 



Tliere in nothing peculiar in the shoes, wliich are light, but strong, and with small heels. 



FIELD SERVICE. 



In the field each horse carries, habitually, 3 days rations of oats and hay. The animals are 

 sometimes tied by the halter to a j^icket rope, or a picket stake, and sometimes fastened by the 

 right fore foot to a picket rope on the ground. 



When picket pins are used they are cut by the men on the spot, or carried along if it is 

 expected to encamp in a place destitute of timber. The Cossacks hobble their horses. 



The Russian cavalry do not spare their horses at drill, or on the march, but bestow all 

 possible pains upon them in the stable, or in camp. In bivouac, or in camp, they are clothed 

 with the saddle blanket if the weather is bad and cold. 



The habitual gait on the march is the walk, of about 3^ miles per hour; sometimes the trot is 

 used ; every hour or so a halt of a few minutes is made, -after which the men lead the horses for 

 about three-quarters of a mile. An ordinary march is from 16 to 26 miles a day, depending 

 on the nature of the country. 



The Cossacks regard a march of 45 miles as nothing extraordinary. 



After drill the horses are walked until" they are cool. 



They are never unsaddled until quite cool. 



At squad drills, in warm weather, some men are present with buckets of water and sponges 

 to wash out the horses mouths occasionally. 



In the translation of the regulations for field service iu time of peace and in time of war will 

 be found much information in regard to these subjects. In the field, the cavalry carry 1 day's 

 rations in a haversack. 



REMARKS UPON COSSACKS, DRAGOONS, LANCERS, ETC. 



There are two peculiarities which cannot fail to arrest the attention and command the reflec- 

 tion of the observer of the Eussian cavalry ; these are : the general division of the cavalry into 

 regulars and irregulars ; and the corps of dragoons. 



The irregulars may be comprehended in the general name of Cossacks. Yet their pecu- 

 liarities of armament, costume, and action are as varied as their origin ; while the sources of 

 the latter arc as multifarious as the tribes which compose the mass of Russian nationality, and 

 the circumstances which, through centuries of warfare, have finally united, into one compact 

 whole, a multitude of conflicting and heterogeneous elements. But, with all this diversity, 

 there are important and peculiar characteristics which pervade the mass, and are common to 

 every individual, with as much uniformity and certainty as that with which the firm govern- 

 ment of the czar is now extended over them. These peculiarities are: intelligence, quickness 

 of vision, hearing, and all the senses ; individuality; trustworthiness on duty; the power of 

 enduring fatigue, privation, and the extremes of climate; great address in the use of weajions ; 

 strong feeling for their common country; caution, united with courage, cajDable of being excited 

 to the highest pitch; in short, the combination of qualities necessary for partisan troops. The 

 events of more than one campaign have proved, however, that these irregulars can be used 

 successfully in line against the best regular cavalry of Europe. 



