648 A MANUAL OF VETERINARY PHYSIOLOGY 



Roads outside Cities and Towns. 



Ratio of 



Body Weight to Load. 



Walking pace . . . . . . . . i to 2*5 



t .L4-- (two wheels .. .. .. 1 to 2*0 



Trotting J fourwheels 1 to 2-3 



Roads in Cities and Towns. 



Ratio of 

 Body Weight to Load. 



Walking pace . . . . . . . . 1 to 3*5 



t U.J-- (two wheels 

 Trotting J fQur wheds 



I tO 2'2 



i to 25 



For loads in excess of the above, the hours of labour must be 

 reduced, and horses of sufficient substance employed : 



Minimum Body 

 Weight of Horse. 



Where the ratio exceeds 3*5, but does not exceed 4*0 15 cwt. o qrs. 



» „ , „ -4 4'° » t> 4'5 l6 >> ° » 



„ 1 „ H „ ; 4*5 » » 5'° l6 ». 2 „ 



i> >> >> 5 ^ »» » 5 5 -w " 2 ,» 



For as long as observations on draught have been made, the fact 

 has been noted that two horses working side by side do not pull 

 the sum of their individual efforts. This has been attributed to such 

 causes as not working in exact rhythm, and, if in teams, to loss 

 arising from being too far from their work. These are the chief 

 sources of loss, but there is another, not, perhaps, so obvious. Horses 

 are very human in some of their failings, and one is an inclination 

 in double harness or in team not to take their full share. The 

 question cannot be further considered here, but carriers and con- 

 tractors have a special scale for pairs and teams, which is less than 

 what each individual horse is capable of drawing. 



Weight a Horse should Carry. — This question is one especially 

 affecting the vital interests of mounted troops ; there is a great 

 difference between the total weight and the effective weight an animal 

 can carry. As in the case of draught, the question of weight is largely 

 influenced by that of pace. Generally speaking, the weight an animal 

 can carry bears some proportion to its own body weight, but this 

 rule appears not to apply to the diminutive breeds of horses. The 

 Burmese pony carries a soldier in campaign kit whose feet are within 

 a few inches of the ground. A Korean pony does his thirty miles 

 a day in a roadless hilly country, carrying 160 to 200 pounds. 

 It was stated in 1807* that a Shetland pony would carry a 12-stone 

 man forty miles in one day with ease. Lawrence, in i8io,f stated 

 there was a country postman, working between Glasgow and Edin- 

 burgh and riding 16 stone, who carried his ' northern pony ' in his 

 arms to avoid paying toll. The South African farmer, standing 

 over 6 feet in height, rides a lightly -built pony remarkable distances, 

 either at a canter or walk. Our own Exmoor and Dartmoor ponies 

 afford similar instances of endurance. Facts somewhat similar to 

 these suggest that as the horse became bigger his spine became less 

 fit to carry weight. At no time is a horizontal spine a weight-bearer. 

 In proportion to his weight a man can carry far more than an 



* ' The Complete Farmer.' f ' Treatise on Horses,' 



