BREEDING ARMY HORSES. 71 



would be the purchase of forty thoroughbred 

 sires, not speedy enough to win great stakes, 

 but sound, staying, useful horses, " likely to 

 get hunters," at an average of £500 apiece. 

 The best racing action is not what is required 

 for cavalry sires ; a somewhat higher and 

 less raking stride, with quicker turning power, 

 being safer over rough ground, and generally 

 more useful for manoeuvring purposes. 



But the efficiency of the German cavalry 

 is no new thing. Frederick the Great had 

 the best in his day, and won by means of it 

 some of his greatest victories, as Kesseldorf, 

 Rossbach, and ZorndofF. His light horses he 

 drew chiefly from Poland, but mounted his 

 heavy dragoons on stouter animals from North 

 Germany. The amount of horseflesh used 

 up when the great German army takes the 

 field is enormous. Its loss during the war 

 with Erance was computed at nearly a million 

 and a half. Yet their system seems always 

 to maintain a sufficient supply. It began 



