ARMY HORSES

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2230, 17 August 1914, Page 7

ARMY HORSES

THE PROBLEM OF SUPPLY ENGLISH EXPERIENCE POSITION ON THE CONTINENT. The shortage of suitable horses- for military service in New Zealand is not by any means an isolated instance of the ktiid. On the contrary, the problem of providing their armies with horses and afterwards maintaining a 6Upply of remounts is one that has in the past been acutely felt by some of the Powers and not the least by Great Britain* Dealing With tho subject in a comprehensive way an Australian newspaper remarks that whatever doubts niay be entertained as to the probable result of the present blaze in Europe, there can 6oaroely bs any difference of opinion with regard to the important part to be played by the horse. In this respect most of the nations concerned ought to be quite as strongly fortified sis it is reasonable to supposei they ate in the possession of the deadliest instrument of war. And it is here that supporters of the turf are likely fe-^tlS^^* B4 t1K,89 . *ho ***& the stattinsnt that horse racing imprwea liapdSle bo ™ *■ "*" S OO ««* belw?h« J™^ 0 upon which to breea m most suitable remounts. Austria i„*.us ma known than Bnetries, almost .without oiception ho.™ h6 **™«a oTWknd tor. those strans and changes of IS p^wtrA ß ' Elatedto 2 , -K iß ¥* been done Systematic forContmental buyers have long been the best customers of Engl sh and Irish n^£?, CXporto who have, staged the Sfte haV ! tte opinion that wFth c ?i Ted l eS3 attention in BngWte" ID th6 ,B,tM countries concert fa i, B f fl^ WM - i t fa *' this fi&Mt to justified results will perhaps show. Boor War Statistics. The number of remounts required br "Jfy * tll 6 field is, of coiLeTenoi mous, and some idea of it may bo gathered from statistics which wew cVmpiled in connection with the Boer War. io cording to one account, no preparation tor providing the necessary horses wa» made when the Boor War started. The r ?^, re ?'i' ab °ut 495,000 anithe remainder mules, and they wera drawn from practlctlly all comei of fto oarth. It fs stated that of the total Miv'wih Unlted supplied 126,000 horses and 32,000 males were obtained in bouth Africa, 82,000 horses and 7000 mules in the -United States, 30,000 horses in Hungary, 26,000 in the Argenhne. 20,000 n Australia, and 12,000 it. Canada whilo Spain, Italy, Cyprus, and other places supplied mules. But enor mous as; was the cost of these purohases, tile British Government is said'to have Eot by no means value for it. Naturally, in euoh a, mixed lot of purchases, many of whioh had to be acquired Oh the short, est notice) the percentage of Crocks" was not small. Tho British Government's position was one which gave smart hers* capers in various parts of the world an Opportunity they were not likely to meet again in a hurry, and it was too good to miss. .As for the losses of horses in the g°?r War, they were quite abnormal. But if the occasion had been one in whioh thß smart practitioner was satisfied to 6ink his cleverness and. return the best possible value for money,"the losses would etill have been out of proportion, for the all-sufficient reason that only a comparanumber of the horses Were hard-trained and fit to go to war. '■'.'» , Stupendous. As'affoTding an illustration of the stupendous wastage, 8. F. Maurice, in his History of the South African War," fSys:-"Of SDDO horses whibh left Bloemronton, only, 3170 survived the marob and 950 had actually died or been destroyed on the way. After a heavy rain, dead horses floated down the river at the rate of more than 100 an, hour; While In the capture ef a convoy the troops rode CO horses to -death." .From all that oaa be read, none of the Continental countries engaged in the present war are likely to be hampered 'in that way. After the Boer war, the best means of providing the necessary number of trained and able horses for the British Annv, in case of war. engaged the attention oi experts in England, but, according to the Eenen'," "there was no other country in the world in which horse breeding had been so mismanaged by the Government/" As a means of solving the problem, it was suggested to the British Government that the remount System, whioh, undei worse conditions, has wetked wonderfullj in France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and other Continental countries, be adopted in England. These countries profited by their own mistakes of earlier years* while England stood still. Taking Colonel Callwelrs figures, the total number of army remounts required within a few weeks of the order for mebilisation in Britain, would be about 60,000, and that Bubseqnentliy from 8000 to 5000 remounts would be necessary monthly. This, in the light of the Boer war experience, and the needs of other countries, must surely be very much below the reil want. ■ /' • During tho Franco-German War, the German army used 220,000 horses, and lost only 14,595, of- whioh 1723 were missed, and the balance, were killed-, or wounded. One of the reasons for this small loss is to be found in the fact that the Germans used only .well bred and trained" horses. According to the /'Review," Germany In the present war will require 000,000 horses, of which 475,000 will have to be bought. The remainder are used in the regular military SPrvice, and thoir stexly training fltn them for their share of war. Prussian Remount System. The Prussian remount system, perfected* by the late Count Lehndorft, is said to be the moat thorough and sensible in existenoe, and having been more or less adopted by Russia, Franco, and Austria-Hungary, is interesting at this particular tune. It has for its main points the selection of the vory best stallions, the prohibition by. law of the uso of unsound and unsuitable stallions, and assisting tho farmers by plaoing at their disposal tho Government stallions— for some of which enormous sums were paid—at a nominal fee. The Prussian army is said bo buy every year about 11,000 remounts, and a further 1000, brfed in Prussia, go annually to the armies of Sosony, Bavaria, and Wurtehiburg. So gigantic aro these operations that tho Prussian Government owns altogether about 3578 stallions. The principal stud is that of Graditz, where only English thoroughbreds ora bred. They are raced and tested for stamina before they go to the stud, and there are.about 25 other studs. Mounting the Germany army being regardod as the first essential to its maintenance, money has been' expended lavishly towards keeping tho class of stallions particularly high. The English or Irish-bred Ard Patnok, Galteo More, Athos, Bill of the Play, E«d Prince 11, and some others are included; while the foot/that at least 11 high-class French sires are .also thero, as well as some Russians, indicates tho' Germany does nnt permit her hatred tor England, Russia, or France to bar the way to the improvement of her remount system.. In addition to purchasing largely, tho Prussian Government adds amout JilK,000 annually for the improvement of the national hor6c-breeduigi towards the total expenditure, which reaches within thb neighbourhood of £400,000. The actual cost is not, however, anything like that amount, for the various sources of revonuo in i> ' >: ' ; ''" with tho Prussian GovermCnt 6tuds total as a general thing well over .£200,000 annually. In Austria-Hungary tho remount System is al6o very complete. The Government studs contain about 5000 fetallions, all of which are kept to serve farmers' mares, and there is in operation in that country a scheme by which tho arlnj can bo supplied within 21 tDura {rem private stables with

' 800,000 cavalry, artillery, and mounted horses f'llt to go to tho front,'' French Resources, Trance, it is said, would not find it necesasry to go beyond its own borders for any of the 650,000 horse? it was calculated to require at the 'time of tho mobilisation. From tho registers kept the Ernch auhorities were eonio time ago of opinion that no trouble would be exSerienced in getting; its full complement, [orse expenditure l is an enormous item; but freely given in Continental, countries, and the various amounts would, if they could all be ascertained, dwarf the JBW.OOO paid annually in England for the same purpose. Time alohe will tell if England.has made complete, arrangements for horsing its army, V Some time ago Colonel Seely, Under-Secretary for War, stated "that while England was not so ready as it dUffht to be with regard to light cavalry horeeSj it was less Unready than other Powers." It was hoped to Secure ah improvement in the duality of horses bred by farmers and others, and there was ample room for this, providing the right sort of mare was nsed, for upwards of 800 suitable stallions woro at the disposal of owners is England and Ireland. A Fatal Mistake. Many authorities in the horse world have never wavered in their opinion that it was a fatal mistake for England to permit foreign Governments •to exploit the English markets. Lord Annaly, a bitter opponent of the system, in speaktag- at a horse show dinner, said that there was a shortage of the class of aniraal suitable for army remounts,' and the chief reason for this was that agents <> . .ore. -.= Government were allowed to buy many of tho country's best mares and young stock. It was shortsighted policy, oven if sellers got a little more money, and was a case of killing ths goose whioh laid'the golden egg. Hit Lordship suggested some form of • legis. lation to check the sending of valuable bivou mares out of the oountry, but the advice fell on deaf eats. If it should be proved that England fa less ready it its remount system than any of the Continental countries which she has fed, wmeone must have blundered. Since th< hirures sriven in, this article were com' piled Italy has: had its little war. II drew largely on Austria-Hungary ant 1 several other countries for its nofflo Sup ply; but probably not to an extent eufflc lent to materially woakeh the resource.' of the Power concerned.