SUPPLY OF HORSES ADAPTED TO THE ENGLISH ARMY. 429 
more important customer, but having entered into or fore¬ 
stalled competition to some degree as a breeder. Of the 
royal establishments of brood-mares formed some years back, 
some have of late been abandoned, and others restricted or 
threatened with dissolution, probably from the results pro¬ 
duced not answering expectation ; and the Government 
seems more and more disposed to rely on the general market 
for a supply, and to encourage it by a steady system of pur¬ 
chase rather than by direct subsidies. 
' The following information, condensed from an official 
report on the Remount System in the French Army, may 
afl’ord some useful hints for our own consideration. In 
France, as among ourselves, the general insufficiency of the 
supply is complained of, and an explanation found in the 
fact that the price of the horse has not risen in the same pro¬ 
portion as that of the bullock. 
On this point Count Roche Aymon wrote as follows in 
1828:—‘^Before 1791, 400 or 500 francs was paid for a 
Limousin horse two and a half years old, and a pair of oxen 
were sold for from 300 to 400 francs. Nowadays these oxen 
are sold at from 700 to 800 francs each, and horses four or 
five years old sell for 400 or 500 francs and it is remarked 
that if these figures are not quite correct, yet their propor¬ 
tions are preserved in the returns of actual commerce. 
There is, therefore, more advantage in producing horned 
beasts than riding-horses. 
The insufficiency of the supply is no new' complaint, since 
in the time of Colbert one hundred millions of pounds were 
exported to pay for horses, and proportionally as much since 
that period. 
The deficiency is by no means equally distributed between 
the different classes required for the use of the army; for 
W'hilst artillery horses and mules for draught, finding always 
a steady market, independent of the Government, for home 
use or even for export, are always in fair supply without any 
special encouragement (and, indeed, in spite of the attempts 
made to foster other breeds exclusively) of riding-horses, 
such as are required for light cavalry, there never is much 
choice. The French generally are not a riding and driving 
community like ourselves, therefore the number of saddle- 
horses there bred will chiefly depend on the encouragement 
given by the requirements of the army, and on the sufficiency 
of the price there paid to meet the average cost and risks of 
the breeder. Much stress is therefore now laid by some of 
their authorities on regulating the Government demand, and, 
if possible, announcing beforehand its probable extent. It 
