304 REMOUNT SYSTEMS OF FOREIGN ARMIES. 



exacting work, are transferred to the train or sold to infantry 

 officers at low rates. 



The average number of years that horses are retained in 

 service is: cavalry, 12; artillery, 13; mules and draft horses, 

 15 years. 



METHOD OF SUPPLY AND SPECIFICATIONS. 



All animals are bought in the market, none are raised on 

 government farms. 



CAVALRY. 



Horses are bought for the remount service of the cavalry 

 by boards sent out in the spring from the different remount 

 depots. The regiments are also authorized to buy horses 

 between 4 and 8 years directly, provided it is established 

 that they are raised in Italy. 



The cavalry remount depots are under the direction of a 

 colonel in the cabinet of the minister of war. 



In the matter of getting suitable horses much is left to the 

 judgment of the horse board, and the specifications are very 

 general in their nature. Horses bought for the cavalry may 

 be mares or geldings, of any color, between 2 and 3 years 

 old, showing the requisite breeding and conformation. Lan- 

 cers' horses should be from 15^ to 16 hands high; light- 

 cavalry horses from 14^ to 15^ hands and weigh about 880 

 pounds. 



These horses as soon as bought are sent to the raising- 

 depots, where they are kept until -i^ years old, when they 

 are sent to the regiments. At these depots they are not 

 seriously trained, but only handled and given sufficient exer- 

 cise to keep them in good health. The training is all done 

 in the regiments. There are six of these raising depots, four 

 on the peninsula and two in the islands. 



A good number of English thoroughbred stock is bought. 

 In the islands they get a strain of Arabian blood that has 

 come down from ancient times. 



ARTILLERY. 



Horses and mules for the artillery must be mares or geld- 

 ings, of any color except gray, between 4| and 8 years old, 

 must weigh about 1,100 pounds, and must have a good dis- 

 position, and the breeding and conformation necessary for the 

 service in view. Horses for field batteries and horse batteries 



