112 27TH REPORT, BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



paying very high rates for their rental that they can be obtained even 

 for an ordinary, peaceful encampment. Anyone who has visited or 

 participated in a militia encampment in which mounted militia were 

 engaged, and has seen the curious mounts provided for such troops, 

 will readily appreciate the difficulty of obtaining really satisfactory 

 remounts for this purpose. 



MOUNTED SEBVICE IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY. 



The mounted service in the Regular Army is now being supplied 

 with horses which are bought young, developed and trained in the 

 remount depots, and issued to troops at 4J to 5 years of age, properly 

 trained and ready for work. The remount depots were first estab- 

 lished in 1908, and already the wisdom of Congress is apparent in 

 permitting the War Department to use abandoned military posts for 

 this purpose. As will be shown under the next head, the horses for 

 the depots are purchased by officers direct from farmers, and the 

 middleman's profit under the old contract system is eliminated, the 

 breeder receiving the money which the Government pays for the 

 horse. 



The War Department is now paying about $150 for 3-year-old un- 

 broken colts, and somewhat less for 2-year-olds. The writer is per- 

 mitted to make the following quotation from a recent letter from the 

 officer in charge of the Fort Reno Remount Depot to the Quarter- 

 master General concerning two lots of 2-year-old colts purchased in 

 1910 in Texas and Wyoming : * 



These colts are now 3 years old, and have in my opinion made satisfactory 

 growth. 



The average height of the Texas colts is 14.3; average weight, 796 pounds; 

 average growth in. the year, 3 inches ; average increase in weight, 115 pounds. 

 By the time they are 5 years old, with the exception of probably 8 head, the 

 average height should be 15.1 or over, and weight 1,000 pounds or over. 



The average height of the Wyoming colts is 15 hands ; average weight, 864 

 pounds; average growth about 2 inches; increase in weight, 48 pounds. Prac- 

 tically all this gain has been in the last few months. These colts at 5 years of 

 age, with the exception of probably 3, should average well above 15.2, and weigh 

 1,050 to 1,100 pounds. 



The Texas colts cost $80 per head, and the cost of forage from the date they 

 were received (June 6, 1910) to June 1, 1911, was $32, making the cost of the 

 colt to the Government when 3 years old $112. 



The Wyoming colts cost $100 per head, and it has cost $25 per head to forage 

 them from August 30, 1910 (date of receipt), to June 1, 1911, making the cost 

 of the colts at 3 years of age $125. 



Cost of the Missouri and Virginia horses at 3 years is $150 to $164. 



The mounted service still contains a large number of unsatisfactory 

 horses purchased under the contract system, and it will naturally be 

 some time before all the horses in the Army will have been received 



1 See Plate IV for typical illustrations of these remounts in the rough. 



