970 VETBEINAEY HYGIENE 



question at p. 793, but as affecting Army horses and losses 

 in the field it presents the most important aspect, for a 

 regiment of cavalry minus its horses is not of much use, 

 while if their animals have gone over to the enemy they 

 may be invaluable. 



The two most common features connected with stampedes 

 are that they generally occur in the dark, and almost 

 invariably as the result of a sudden noise, which may vary 

 in degree from a heavy thunderclap to a single rifle shot. 

 But any sudden noise, whether they can recognise it or 

 not, may produce the same effect. A regiment has stam- 

 peded through the men suddenly cheering. There is one 

 feature common to all stampedes, and that is the horses 

 are under no control at the time it occurs. No one has 

 ever heard of the horses of a regiment stampeding with 

 men on their backs, and this fact tells us the steps which 

 should at once be taken to try and cut a probable stampede 

 short, viz., the men should at once stand to their horses ; 

 this is easy enough in a bivouac, but much more difficult 

 when the men are in tents. The trumpet call for ' feed ' 

 has been sounded with success for a small party of 

 runaways, but if these measures succeed they will be 

 phenomenally lucky ; as a rule the horses go off in one 

 mass, as if the whole thing had been carefully arranged 

 beforehand. 



Line gear cannot be too good or too secure, and especially 

 should this be looked to in wet weather, when pegs are 

 easily drawn. A body of horses which has once stampeded 

 is very liable to a recurrence until the affair is forgotten. 



Total Losses. — An examination of the total losses likely 

 to be experienced by an army in the field, led us some 

 years ago to place it at 20 per cent, every three months, 

 and though this was enormously exceeded during the late 

 war in South Africa, we are not inclined to regard the 

 estimate as seriously wrong. It might be safer, perhaps, 

 to say that one quarter of the entire number of horses 

 engaged will have to be replaced every three months, and 

 in spite of the South African figures, we believe this 



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