MILITARY HYGIENE 947 



can be harnessed with the old one, and thus learn his 

 work. He can be let down lightly by being placed in the 

 lead, or he may be kept under control by going in the 

 centre, or his work may be greatly increased by going in 

 the wheel. 



Draught horses should not receive any riding school 

 instruction ; work in the open is what they require, learn- 

 ing obedience and to go over bad ground, being accus- 

 tomed to strange sights and sounds, and getting shoulders 

 hardened. 



So long as horses join at four years old arrangements must 

 be made to give them nothing but light work for a year, 

 not that their training will take this time, but their limbs 

 are not sufficiently knit for hard work. 



Training in time of war is a very simple process, for the 

 reason that it is impossible ; the most that can be done is to 

 have the horses ridden, to see they are moderately quiet 

 and safe ; it is bad enough to mount a man on a horse that 

 has never heard a rifle fired in its life, without giving him 

 an unmanageable one to ride at the same time. As a 

 matter of fact the hardships of service are wonderfully 

 steadying in their effects, and sober some of the most 

 refractory animals, but certainly every horse ought to have 

 been ridden before it carries a man into action. 



The Sanitation of Camps is an important duty for the 

 veterinary officer. Camps are of two kinds — (1) standing 

 camps, which may remain for a month or a year, and 

 (2) shifting camps, which may only be occupied a few 

 hours. It is the sanitation of standing camps which is all 

 important, especially as military necessity may require a 

 close formation in the vicinity of an enemy, and considerable 

 congestion of a limited area results. It may be accepted 

 as a general principle that the horse lines of a camp under 

 ordinary circumstances should be moved weekly ; the amount 

 of soiling which occurs in that time is considerable ; the 

 ground smells especially after rain followed by sun, and in 

 wet weather the place is a quagmire. It is not the slightest 

 use changing ground while rain continues, but immediately 



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