TRAINING A WAR HORSE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 310, 19 September 1918, Page 9

TRAINING A WAR HORSE

NOT AN EASY MATTER,

You cannot just buy an animal and put him into a.cavalry brigade. Tlio real war horso has quuo n. long education bol'oro Jio is proficient, an education almost as scveru and certainly as comprehensive as that of the recruit wlio ultimately ndes him into battle. It was in no small way due to tlio mettlo of tho horses they iodo that Lord French was able to say of tho iSntisli cavalry at tho first battle oi the Marno that they wero able to do as they liked with the enemy. The wellbred cavalry horso possesses a. higblystrung nervous system, but when proyierly trained ho will iaco barbed wiro and even rash an entanglement when put to it, regardless of lacerated legs and Hanks. But Jiis education is begun carefully, or he may bo ruined by a low careless lessons.

His education must not begin too soon after being brought to camp or his legs will not stand tlio strain, and the h'rsi step is tlje most important. If ho is terror-stricken, or if his temper _is arou&ed, ho may nover get ovor ibe incideut. Hβ is walked around free from the leading rein, and alter ho has boen accustomed to have a man mount rapidly on "his sensitive baclc ho is taught to kneel with his rider.

This is an elaborate lesson. Tho firststage consists in getting him to bend his forelegs slightly before lie geta to tho stage of lying', down on side. He has to be taught to pull up in his own length from a gallop, to stand steady while his rider fires from his back, and to lie still oik tho ground while he is being used as cover for his rider, who snipes over his side. One of the most difficult things required of a war horse is to get familiarised with the eword in u'guting from his back. ' Hero tho greatest caro is taken or Jie may bo frightened at first and never recover his nerve. In real warfare it is a common trick for a cavalryman to aim his first blow at. iiis opponent's horse.'. This is especially the oaso with lancers, for no horse will stand after being pricked on the nostril or lip. It is a peculiar fact, however, that when a horse knows his rider well he will face blows if. properly handled such as would not usually bo expected of him. A brigade has been known, for instance, to go through, three lines of bayonots an then through a barbedwiro entanglement, trampling everything underfoot as if it nore straw. Within tho last year there was a caso of a Canadian troop who charged two lines of German macliine-guus' and rifles, wheeled and camo back at thorn again, and rodo through them for the second time, leaving a- trail oi dead and wounded Huns as a punishment. Seventy-live per cent, of tho men who started on that charge were casualties— but practically alf the Huns wore tfead or dying. And the horses stood it well, bless them.