124 ANIMALS USED IN WAR. 



by armament, and the great influence which Cavalry and 

 Mounted Men-at-Arms has had on the breeding of horses in the 

 United Kingdom and the Continent of Europe generally, is 

 most interesting; and were it not too long a subject, and perhaps 

 beyond the scope of the present work, it would have been 

 instructive to recount the achievements or failures of animals 

 which, as Major-General Bird says, lent such decisive power in 

 battle. 



In speaking of the merits or otherwise of the Cavalry horse 

 one must not forget the man. Courage and endurance in the 

 one must find like attributes in the other, and if success is to be 

 achieved the man must be a good horseman and a good rider, 

 in other words, they must be one machine or implement of war 

 suitably combined for offensive, which is the real function of 

 Cavalry. The success of Cavalry of ancient days — of Alexander 

 the Great, of Hannibal, of Cromwell, of Gustavus Adolphus, of 

 Frederick the Great, Marlborough, Napoleon, and right down 

 to the present day has been in a large measure due to this 

 factor of combination, and so it will be as long as Cavalry exists. 

 Hence it is that our Army authorities attach so much import- 

 ance to our Equitation Schools and the regimental training of 

 man and horse together. 



Note as against this the most unsuitable combination of man 

 and horse in the Feudal times, where both were so heavily 

 encased in armour that they could not move out of a walk ; 

 where the knight, though trained from his youth up in the 

 use of arms and most proficient in them, was yet often so 

 indifferent a horseman and so heavy with armour that he had 

 to be tied to his mount. " Monstrelet writing in 1416 remarks 

 on the astonishment which certain Italians created amongst 

 French men-at-arms because they could actually turn their 

 horses at a gallop." (History of the Army, by Honourable J. 

 Fortescue). And by the same token King Edward III, The 

 Black Prince, and King Henry V, consistently won their 

 battles at Crecy, Poictiers, Agincourt, by splitting this unwieldy 

 combination, ordaining that their men-at-arms should fight on 

 foot as opposed to the French men-at arms who sat on their 

 horses — to suffer discomforture by the terror and unmanageable 

 ness of their mounts caused by showers of arrows from the 



