205 
BREECHING EOR WAGON HORSES. 
BY 
LIEUTENANT J. A. HOBSON, R.A. 
The breeching at present in use in the Regiment was devised before 
the present system of taking out wagon horses in action was intro¬ 
duced, and the process of buckling and unbuckling it not unfrequently 
causes delay, which would be undesirable in action, as drivers and 
horses would probably be under fire whilst hooking-in and unhooking. 
The following is a short description of a method, which has been tried 
in a Field Battery, R.A., of altering the breeching at present in use, 
so as to accelerate unhooking and hooking-in. 
Three short straps, three or four inches long, are fastened, one to 
the off tug of the off-wheeler, and two to the near tug of the same 
horse. These straps are permanently fastened to the tugs, as shown at 
the point c. At the other end (b) is a dee. The near-side tug is not 
shown in the rough sketch, but the straps are fastened to it in a 
similar position, the only difference being that there are two of them; 
each with a dee at the other end. 
The breeching of the two wheelers, instead of being buckled on to 
the dees on the shafts, is buckled on to the three dees at the end of 
these short straps at B. Two iron stops are fastened underneath the 
two shafts ; the back of the stop being about 4 feet 10 inches from 
the splinter-bar; the bottom part of the stop itself being about 
7i inches long and sufficiently deep to allow the tug to pass easily 
between it and the shaft. 
When the strain comes on the breeching going down hill it pulls 
against the back of these stops, and not against the dees on the shafts 
as at present; but if the stops are placed as above, the pull will be in 
the same direction as with the ordinary breeching. 
To unhook, it is not necessary to unbuckle any of the breeching of 
4. YOL. XX. 26 
