IV] 



FEEDING, EXERCISE AND TRANSPORT 



45 



died or were killed. The best way to encourage 

 soldiers to look after their horses well is to give 

 them the same horse all the time, and offer little 

 prizes for the best-kept horse. 



Grooms should always be encouraged by 

 being praised for good work and reprimanded 

 for bad, and so on. A feeling of proprietorship 

 must be inculcated in the groom or cavalryman, 

 as thereby he will take great interest in his four- 

 footed friend. Nothing destroys this most 

 essential spirit more than the feeling that horses 

 can easily be replaced. 



178. If not fresh from the stable, a horse will 

 stand a great amount of exposure to cold ; there- 

 fore it is essential that, before he is to be exposed, 

 he should be gradually acclimatised. 



Horses cannot, however, stand heat in the 

 same way. Summer heat will very soon make a 

 horse sick, or even cause his sudden death. If 

 horses are in poor condition, or are not given 

 sufficient water, fever will set in, and become 

 worse and worse ; at nights their temperature 

 will drop generally, nearly to normal, and rise 

 again on exposure in the daytime. Hence, the 

 being kept in a cool stable, quiet and well cared 

 for, will generally cure such cases, with the 

 assistance of a little medicine. The symptoms 

 are not always easy to diagnose, as the horse's 

 appetite does not, as a rule, show much change. 

 (See "Sunstroke," Sec. 15.) 



179. Horses in Camp. Wherever possible, 

 horses should be placed in billet (i.e. in a stable) 

 when on service or on a long march ; thereby 

 they will get better rest and be fit for more work 

 the next day. If a horse has to be picketed, he 

 must be secured in a way in which he will be 

 less likely to cause harm to himself ; next to 

 this his own comfort must be considered. His 

 hind and fore feet should be on the same level. 

 If many horses are picketed together, they should 

 have one hind leg shackled to a heel peg to 

 prevent them from kicking one another. The 

 shackle must be above the fetlock, and on no 

 account below it. If space admits, they should 

 be secured with a strong head-collar and rope to 

 a stout post driven well into the ground, the best 

 form being one with a ring in the top, so that, 

 however much the horse twists around the post, 

 he will not shorten his rope, as he would if tied 

 to a tree. 



The head-rope should be just taut when the 

 horse is standing naturally, and a shackle rope 

 should be pegged directly in the rear of the 

 horse, and should be just taut when the horse 

 is standing with his head over the picket peg. 

 A shackle should be of leather, well dubbed, and 

 should be buckled so that the buckle is outside, 

 tight enough only to prevent it from slipping 

 below the fetlock and causing a sore heel. (See 

 P. 31.) 



180. The sanitation of a camping ground 

 must always be considered ; a gentle slope will 



facilitate drainage. Manure should be removed 

 at once and taken a long distance away, as it 

 attracts flies. Chloride of lime or paraffin oil 

 (coal oil) should be sprinkled about to keep flies 

 away. Fly-sheets or nets should be used in hot 

 countries at night or whenever exposed to flies. 

 In windy weather in camp, hay may have to be 

 fed in hay-nets to prevent it being blown about. 

 Thigh-straps must be placed on all blankets and 

 sheets that are used in camp to prevent wind 

 blowing them up. Sometimes it is necessary to 

 hobble a horse or to knee-halter him, while 

 grazing, if there are no fences around the 

 pasture. The best kinds of hobbles are leather 

 straps with sheepskin lining, rings being 

 attached to which the rope or chain is fastened. 

 Both forelegs, or a foreleg and a hindleg, may 

 be hobbled together. The length of the hobble- 

 rope depends on the horse ; some horses can 

 move very rapidly with even a short hobble-rope 

 on. Knee-haltering is done by attaching the 

 head at the back of the nose-band of the halter 

 (i.e. the lower gullet-ring) to just above one 

 knee, the length of the rope allowing the horse 

 to reach the ground with its teeth. Knee-halter- 

 ing is good, and causes less inconvenience to the 

 horse. 



The space allowed for each horse in pickets 

 should never be less than five feet in width and 

 twelve feet in length. An interval of four to five 

 yards should be allowed all around the lines. 

 If horses are picketed in two rows, they should 

 stand tail to tail, unless there is a prevailing 

 wind in one direction, in which case they should 

 all stand with their tails to the wind. A gang- 

 way of five yards should be left between the 

 two rows, in which saddlery and forage could 

 be kept. 



181. Transport. A few remarks on transport 

 by rail and sea will be of use. Before sending 

 a horse on a long journey, if hard work is 

 required of him on arrival, he must be hard and 

 fit before he goes on board ; he must not be let 

 down in condition. It is essential, however, that 

 horses' bowels are free, and therefore a laxative 

 diet should be given for twenty-four hours 

 previous to going on board. Just before going 

 on, horses should be watered, fed grain and given 

 hay, which will tend to keep them quiet when 

 they get on board. If horses are slung on board 

 with derricks, they must not have been watered 

 for two hours previously, or the large intestine 

 may become ruptured. 



Old horses should be led on first, and young 

 ones will then generally follow. If a horse 

 refuses to go on board or to enter a train car, 

 the best method is to pass a thick rope around 

 his hind legs, behind the stifle, and for three or 

 four men on each side to pull the horse gently 

 forwards. He must not be jerked, so as to cause 

 any fear. Pulling at his head or whipping him 

 will do more harm than good. He should be 



