664 
REPLIES TO QUESTIONS. 
posure, but condition and management, which enables horses to 
withstand the variations of temperature that is the cause of 
coughs, &c. ; therefore instances, particularly facts of casual- 
ties, should be received with caution, whether horses be 
taken from stables or previously picketed in the open air. I 
recollect instances of the same horses that had been at picket 
bearing much better exposure to worse weather, in the 
fatigues of General Sir J. Moore’s retreat, than they did 
in better weather, when disembarked, after having been four 
months on board of ship ; but in this case they were out of 
condition, (though in good order as to flesh,) from want of 
exercise, in the other they were in condition from previous 
marches through Portugal and Spain. 
10. No. 
1 1 . The contrivance would prevent in degree, what, I 
consider, of little importance, being only an occasional oc- 
currence. 
12. With stables. 
13. I do not know about states, but natives, ( vide para- 
graph 15.) 
14. This depends on the nature of the disease ; for in- 
stance, if horses had the mange, and the predisposing cause, 
being out of condition, sooner under stables ; but for farcy, 
better in the open air, and as far as regards the prevention of 
glanders. For recovery during inflammatory stages of dis- 
eases, stables are necessary. 
15. The statements required would not lead to any direct 
conclusions as to the best treatment of cavalry horses in this 
country, which should be founded on principle, and the 
practice varied thereon, according to local circumstances. 
The subject embraces more than could be thus elicited. I am, 
therefore, under the necessity of supporting my opinion by 
further observations. 
That horses are preserved in health in the open air is gene- 
rally true ; and that comparative condition, i. e. more or less 
hard flesh, may be obtained under systems both of stabling 
and exposure, I am fully convinced, from my own observa- 
tions and experience, because, it is an event dependent only 
in degree on stables or exposure. Condition is a relative 
term, but, in the abstract, that state of body that enables an 
animal to undergo exertion without fatigue, and, as regards 
the cavalry horse, the more condition the more ability to 
undergo the fatigues of a campaign, particularly in this cli- 
mate, where ordinary exertion produces fatigue ; to perform 
extraordinary exertions, therefore, the highest possible con- 
dition is necessary. 
