962 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



must have been in excellent condition for it to have come 

 off so hghtly. An Artillery officer* who went through the 

 Corunna campaign, records that his battery marched in 

 mid-winter 34 miles through deep snow over the mountains 

 without halting a minute, and that for 145 miles not an 

 hour's halt was made during any day, merely resting a few 

 hours at night. These horses must have been very fit to 

 have undergone this exertion. The only casualties Captain 

 Wall speaks of were sore shoulders from badly-made collars. 



Here is a final example of what conditioned horses are 

 capable of doing. In the campaign of 1866, the 5th 

 Cuirassiers of the Prussian Army marched 200 miles in 

 seven consecutive days, often bivouacking in heavy rain ; 

 they came in contact with the enemy at Tobitschau, 

 charged their artillery, drove back the cavalry support, and 

 captured 18 guns, 400 prisoners, and 157 horses. 



Sore Backs. — The next heavy source of loss is sore 

 backs ; these have always accompanied every army that has 

 taken the field, though strange to say no attempt has been 

 made to record the number. 



The causes generally operating in the production of sore 

 backs have been fully dealt with at p. 811, what we have 

 to inquire into here, are the special causes in operation in 

 military service. These causes may thus be classified :— 



1. Uneven or irregular pressure on the back. 



2. Want of condition and loss of muscle. 



3. Dead continuous pressure, and want of balance in the 

 weight carried. 



4. The saddle resting on parts of the back not intended 

 to carry weight. 



A military saddle has to be made very heavy and strong 

 in order to carry the weight placed on or secured to it- 

 Every part of the saddle with the exception of the flaps is 

 capable of producing injury. But it is only fair to say if 

 no portion of the saddle was capable of producing injury, 

 yet a proportion of sore backs would occur from dead 

 continuous pressure. 



* Capt. Wall, P-rffj^j^^ ^^yj^j^^^^fif^InstituUon, vol. xiv. 



