508 
SADDLERY AND SORE BACKS. 
knees, the horses looking wretched and wanting food, with the very best grass up 
to their knees, and yet not a single man was dismounted. The troops which had 
been there for a long time were always dismounted, and had off feeds at the 
slightest possible halt, even if only five minutes. That not only rests the men 
and gives them an opportunity of looking at the girths, but eases the horses in 
every possible way. I think there is a great deal of good sense in invariably 
dismounting the men whenever there is the slightest opportunity for doing so. 
Major F. A. Yorke, R.H.A.—I think there is one cause of sore backs and 
collar galls which has not been referred to, and that is what I might call fussing. 
Sometimes men in charge of horses go round, in misdirected zeal perhaps, but 
because the pannels are hard, and because the collars have not been given up 
for some time, this is done when very often leaving well alone will save galls. I 
always think it is a good thing to remember what an old Sergeant-Major of a 
mounted battery once said, “ Which is the easier to do, walk about in an old boot 
or a new one?” and very often I think that collars are touched up and the stuffing 
of saddles ripped up unnecessarily. 
Lieutenant J. F. N. Birch, B.H.A.—With regard to the German blanket, 
I should like to say that I was visiting a German cavalry regiment this year, and the 
Colonel, whom 1 had every reason to believe, told me that all through the last 
manoeuvres he had nothing but this blanket, and lie had not a saddle gall in the 
regiment. Of course, that blanket (pointing to the blanket on the model) would 
be no good at all. 
And one thing which I should like to know is why we cannot have a lighter 
saddle. That saddle there weighs 32 lbs. without even the shoes on, with ab¬ 
solutely nothing on; but if you go to any saddler in London he will make you a 
saddle of 14 lbs. Of course, our military saddle cannot be so light as that; but 
I take it that there is a tremendous difference between 14 lbs. and 32 lbs. 
Major Horton {Inspector of Saddlery )—Colonel Curzon and Gentlemen, 
Colonel Walters has mentioned my name as if I had come to the lecture prepared 
to explain certain points in these saddles ; but it is not so, I had no such inten¬ 
tion. However, as I am well acquainted with the subject, and as you kindly 
invite me, I will endeavour to say a little to interest you on this important 
question. 
First in reference to the blanket. The saddle blanket which we have here was 
not originally intended for a horse covering in lieu of the field blanket, although 
it is now to be so used. We must remember that the authorities in providing 
stores cannot advance with the rapidity of our thoughts and changing opinions. 
From present experience were a decision to be arrived at to-day, and were stores 
in accordance provided, the authorities would not, I think, be prepared to throw 
those stores away so soon as opinions changed on the pattern of that article. 
I had the honour to be the Secretary of the Saddlery Committee of 1884, of 
which General Sir Frederick Fitz Wygram (who was then Inspector-General of 
Cavalry) was President. Several kinds of blankets were tried under his direction 
on the various field-days. The Committee’s report was the outcome of practical 
experience and many trials ; in some cases four lines in the report represent 40 
days’ work. It may be interesting to add that the Veterinary Department, of 
which our lecturer to-night is an able representative, have always advocated a 
very heavy blanket. It has been thought by many that they did not consider the 
question of the saddle, they simply wanted a covering for the horse; while, on 
the contrary, the other side thought a very heavy blanket under the saddle caused 
the animal to sweat considerably, that it placed the saddle too high, and that it 
did not afford the same means of varying the folds that a lighter blanket offered. 
With a very heavy blanket a deviation of a quarter of an inch of the points of the 
