MILITAEY HYGIENE 965 



is neglect or ignorance, and these are preventable. Beduce the weight, 

 this is the panacea for sore backs, this is the secret of efficient 

 cavalry.' 



Among the causes of sore back which are tabulated at 

 p. 962 is want of balance in the weights carried, and the 

 fact of the saddle bearing on parts of the back not intended 

 to carry weight. At p. 816 we have dealt very fully with 

 the question of blade bone and loin pressure; a troop 

 horse carries 22 lbs. 6 ozs. over the scapula, and nearly 

 13 lbs. behind the saddle. On the near side of the horse 

 is carried 16-| lbs., on the off side l^ lbs. 



So the tendency of all this weight in front, plus the side 

 bars of the saddle resting on the blade bones, is to impede 

 the movements of the scapula more and more ; while the 

 fact that more weight is carried on one side of the saddle 

 than the other, necessarily causes a heeling over with 

 greater pressure on that side, and destroys the even distri- 

 bution of weight. 



It is obvious from what has been said in this and previous 

 chapters, that nothing should be carried on the horse but 

 the man, his rations, and his arms. This would mean that 

 a light saddle would be sufficient for the purpose, while 

 whatever is required for the comfort of the man must be 

 carried in some other way, and the only other way suitable 

 for cavalry is by means of a second horse. 



In future campaigns the cavalry which have a second 

 horse for each man will be the victorious cavalry. Every 

 officer in the field has a second, sometimes a third charger. 

 The horse that carries the impedimenta to-day carries the 

 rider to-morrow, and so it must be for the men ; every man 

 must have two horses. There is nothing new in this sug- 

 gestion ; it was always so in the days of armour, even when 

 it became much lighter. Cruso in his ' Military Instruction 

 for the Cavallerie,' 1632, tells us that the cavalier had ' a 

 boy and a nagge to carry his spare arms, and oat, and sac, 

 and get him forreage.' The word ' sac ' here means some- 

 thing corresponding to our valise, for in the ' Souldiers 

 Accidence,' published by Markham in 1643, it is described 



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