Backs. 
Police. 
Cells. 
Defaulters. 
Landlords. 
570 MARCHING AT HOME AND ABROAD. 
in, and see that all is correct, Shoeing-Smiths, Collar-Makers and 
Saddlers should go round their sections during the afternoon, to do 
anything that is required of them, and the former will report all 
casualties to the Farrier. At about 4 o’clock the C.O. will go round 
billets with the officers, the Sergeant-Major, Farrier and senior Collar- 
Maker, in small towns it is easy to visit all, and I always made a point 
of doing so myself, but in very large towns, and especially in the 
suburbs of London, the billets are so scattered that to miss some of the 
extreme outlying ones might be unavoidable. All casualties should be 
pointed out to the C.O., also anything wrong as to stabling or the 
accommodation of either horses or men, and he will then adjust it. 
I generally made a point of seeing the landlord and of having a chat 
with him, sometimes there might be a little trouble to be smoothed 
over, but in most cases this was easily done, I generally found all very 
willing to please, and in parts of the country where troops rarely go, 
they were delighted to have them and féte them. The Sergt.-Major 
should warn the hour for parade, and arrange any changes in horses 
as he goes round and the Pay-Sergeant should pay the billets. If the 
Farrier notices any horse at all off, he should administer a ball as laid 
down, and see that all small chafes and sores are dressed. 
The sectional officers or subalterns should instruct the men, when the 
saddles are removed, to wisp the backs well over, or beat them with the 
palms of the hands for five minutes, and then quickly dry them to pro- 
mote circulation and prevent lumpsrising ; if the horses can be racked 
up so as not to roll, it is better to leave the saddles on till after the men 
have had dinners, and groom the rest of the body first; the N.C.O.’s 
should examine and feel every back carefully daily, reporting any ten- 
derness at once to the officer in charge; swellings often occur from 
overtight girthing, especially at the mid-day halt when watered and fed. 
An oyvertight girth is a very painful thing to a horse. 
I recommend before marching that a dealer’s halter be purchased for 
each horse (I carried them rolled and folded on the near side), they 
save a deal of cleaning of head-collars and head-ropes, and the men will 
be much pleased. The Sergeants should report to the Sergt.-Major 
again at roll-call at head-quarters. 
In case of any disturbance (very rare), or if there be any men or 
prisoners to be confined, the police will take charge of them, and look 
after them carefully. I remember in 1880 an old gunner in “C” 
Troop at Blandford, who had slipped his head-collar, and was creating 
a disturbance, and whom we had to put in police-cells with a cut head. 
Poor Cumming, afterwards surgeon in the Guards, since dead, and (the 
orderly officer) myself went to see him, popped a couple of stitches in 
his head, gave him a drink (an emetic), and left him; in the morning 
the kindly constable’s wife told me that the poor man felt so sick that 
he could not eat a couple of new laid eggs she had given him for break- 
fast. A pair of handcuffs or two should be carried on the road. 
Billeting is not too popular among landlords, especially in much fre- 
quented routes, such for instance as Woolwich to Okehampton, they 
get too much of it and the pay is not good, but in places where few 
troops pass through, the landlords are most kind, and- the men and, 
