500 
SADDLERY AND SORE BACKS. 
additional weight, of a stout blanket, is more than compensated for by 
its many advantages. As regards the fifth objection, that is the 
liability to become saturated with wet, the present Director-General of 
the Army Veterinary Department, writing on the subject of sore backs 
in South Africa, says :—“ Another objection, and, I think, the only one 
that requires seriously to be met, is that the blanket, when on the horse 
during the night, may be rolled on if he is down, and that it may, if 
the weather be wet, thus be saturated or partly covered with mud. . . . 
This looks a formidable business, but it is only so in appearance. Even 
if the blanket does get wet and muddy it is easily dried again.” De¬ 
ferring to the many advantages of the blanket this officer continues :— 
ff We found, in the 17th Lancers during the Zulu campaign, the follow¬ 
ing to be the advantages of the blanket. It furnished a much-wanted 
warm covering for the horse at night. Horses often fall away in 
condition very rapidly at first during a campaign, so much so that the 
saddles which fit them well in barracks will become much too large, 
and consequently a prolific source of sore backs. A numnah has very 
little effect in compensating for this reduction of condition ; but the 
blanket I recommend can be doubled as often as necessary, and so the 
saddle by this means can be made to fit.The men of the 
17th Lancers were constantly obliged to fold their blankets, and saddle 
in the dark; but I do not remember our attributing any sore f backs 3 
to wrinkling or bad folding.If the nights are cold, I con¬ 
sider a good large blanket equivalent to an extra feed of oats per diem 
in saving expenditure of animal heat, and, in addition, there is the 
gain in comfort to the horse.I recall to mind many in¬ 
stances where, a sore back having occurred with a numnah, a blanket 
was ordered, and the injury gradually got well without the horse’s 
work being stopped.” 
The above remarks are the outcome of actual personal experience 
in the field, and go far to substantiate what has been already said 
with reference to the superiority of the blanket for active service. 
Not only can the blanket be folded in various ways to suit nearly all 
conditions of backs and saddles, but by varying its thickness at 
different points a gall can be so protected from saddle pressure 
that the horse, which would otherwise be non-effective, can be ridden 
with impunity. The only real objection that I see to the use of 
the blanket is the one I have already alluded to, that is in the case of 
a horse rolling in it in wet and muddy ground. Being saturated it 
would have to be folded and placed upon the animal’s back in this 
condition, and its weight would be necessarily increased. However, I 
do not consider this objection to be one of very serious moment, and it 
must be remembered that any other arrangement of saddlery equip¬ 
ment would suffer in the same way under similar conditions. 
Sore backs may be divided into injuries to the withers and injuries 
to the back proper. Injuries to the withers occur from the front arch 
of the saddle or the edge of the felt numnah pressing upon the part, 
and are caused either by the arch being unduly wide and allowing the 
saddle to rest on the top of the withers, or by its being too narrow 
and pinching the sides. In either case it is obvious that the saddle 
