EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
483 
cross-rafter of fir-poles through the stable, and fastening the 
horses to this instead of to the piquet rope ; though, when 
this was done, of course the horse could neither lie down nor 
eat his hay off the ground. As for the former, it was con- 
sidered for kicking and unquiet horses rather an advantage 
than otherwise ; but, to enable the horses to pick up their 
hay, it was found necessary to liberate their heads, at least 
for the time of feeding. 
With all the precautions and expedients that could be 
adopted at the moment, several accidents, and some very 
serious ones, happened to the troop horses during the early 
days of their encampment ; though afterwards, as the horses 
got used to their novel situation, and became steadied down 
by w r ork, the mishaps became fewer, and of comparatively 
unimportant character. Seven horses received kicks frac- 
turing their tibiae; two had their abdominal parietes torn 
through by the hooks of the piquet posts, one of which had his 
bowels let out, in which condition, trampling his intestines 
down underneath his feet, he got loose in the night and 
galloped some distance over the common ; while others 
received kicks and bites and other injuries, which incapaci- 
tated them for a longer or shorter time from continuing their 
duty. In so far as regards sickness, hardly more, if so many, 
casualties occurred among the horses as might have been 
looked for in their stables in barracks. Two horses in the 
lines were said to have become glandered, and were shot ; 
while another fell sick in a manner to show that he was the 
victim of the worst form of influenza. Still, the horses in 
general — though, from the work they had, nearly every day, 
more than they had been accustomed to, as well as from the 
indifference and occasional scarcity of supply of water, fell 
off somewhat in their flesh, and in some few cases lost their 
condition — maintained excellent health, and were, with the 
exception of some lame ones, and others that were saddle- 
galled, in capital trim, at the expiration of the term (about a 
month) of their encampment, for an expedition in earnest. 
One remarkable change the horses experienced was, that 
their hoofs, from constantly standing upon soft and humid 
ground, grew and expanded a great deal. 
The grand object of instituting the encampment being that 
