THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
289 
MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR. 
Regiment of Artillery, 
The maintenance of the hricole is easier than that of the collar, the re¬ 
placing of parts liable to get damaged is easier in the breast harness system 
than in the collar system. 
7 th Regiment of Artillery, 
The seams which unite the doubled leather of the body of the breast 
strap became rotted in a short time by the sweat with which they were 
saturated, and in consequence the repair of the breast straps became much 
more costly than those of the collars. 
The Commission considering the difficulty of remedying the defects of the 
breast straps, concludes that the collar is preferable to it in respect of 
strength. 
* * * 
15^ Regiment of Artillery, 
The two systems of harnessing give like results in all the circumstances 
of service, but at the same time, slight superiority remains due to the breast 
strap, in respect of the number of galls which have been of easy cure, and 
which never for an instant prevented the horses from being put to. 
The system of harnessing with bricoles presents certain advantages which 
cannot be gainsaid and of which the principal are the following: its 
simplicity, its lightness, its lower price, finally, the facility with which it is 
fitted, which permits one single pattern of breast strap to adapt itself, so to 
speak, to every kind of horse, whilst with the three sizes of collars in use in 
the service, it is only at the cost of constant care and with great difficulty 
that one arrives at finding collars suitable to the particular shape of each 
animal. 
In consequence, the Commission concludes unanimously that the harness 
with breast straps should be preferred for field artillery. 
Eor siege equipment the Commission is of opinion that the collar should 
be retained, founding this opinion principally (in the absence of trials pushed 
to extremes and in very difficult ground saturated with rain) on the opinion 
of postmasters and agriculturists. 
Opinion of the Colonel Director . 
The marches which the Commission has performed have afforded long and 
difficult slopes to be overcome, the heat was extreme and the dust distressed 
the columns. The loads drawn have been generally very considerable, 
(one mortar and bed weighing 4500 kilos, fifteen 36-pr. guns and 22-pr. 
howitzers weighing 3600 kilos, eight 30-pr. guns of 3600 kilos, &c., 
&.c., &c.). 
