344 REMOUNT SYSTEMS OF FOREIGN ARMIES. 



to know better than any orders could teach them the require- 

 ments of a horse for the military service. 



The following rules are made for guidance of the boards : 



Purchases for the military service are made only of geld- 

 ings fully cured from effects of castration, and of mares not 

 in foal ; the horses must be of French origin, free from blem- 

 ish, with mane and tail uncut, and must have the conforma- 

 tion and quality requisite for the arm of service to which 

 they are destined. 



A board is authorized to pay a higher jDrice to a seller who 

 presents a young horse — especially one coming 5 years — 

 bridled and saddled, broken to the three gaits, and uniting 

 the conditions of a good military horse. 



Height. — The height must be as follows: 



Cavalry : Hands. 



Cuirassiers -.- 15^ to 16^ 



Dragoons 15 to 15^ 



Light - 14ito 15^ 



Arillery aiid train 15^ to 16 



Infantry officers. 14^ to 15^ 



Mules 14itol5i 



Age. — Horses over 8 years old will not be bought. Officers' 

 horses (all arms), cavalry horses, and horses for the horse 

 artillery of independent divisions of cavalry, are bought any 

 time after October of the year they reach 3 years of age. 

 Sometimes, by permission of the minister, a few of these 

 horses may be bought after July. About 10 per cent of the 

 horses annually bought are 6, 7, or 8 years old ; the rest, 90 

 per cent, are 5 years or under. 



Artillery horses, except tho-e just mentioned, must be over 

 4 years, and are bought after January 1 of the year in which 

 they reach that age. 



The boards are authorized to buy thoroughbred horses 

 after the 16th of November of the year in which they reach 

 2^ years, provided the seller gives a certificate that the ani- 

 mals have been trained. These thoroughbred horses are 

 divided as equally as possible among regiments, and are 

 intended for officers' mounts. These animals, if mares, are 

 sent direct to the regiments; if stallions, to a depot to be 

 castrated, Where they remain till healed, after which they are 

 sent to the regiments. 



Ordinarily the horses are sent as bought to the depot, where 

 they are kept under observation (never more than twenty 



