HORSING AN ARMY

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 697, 22 August 1914, Page 2

HORSING AN ARMY

THE WORLD'S SUPPLY ALL NATIONS ACTIVE Whatever doubts may be entertained as to the probable result of the present blaze in Europe, there can scarcely be 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 as it iB reasonable to suppose they are in the possession of the deadliest instruments of war. And it is here that supported of the turf are likely to score largely against those who regard the statement that horse racing improves the standard of the blood horso as mare flapdoodle. As horse racing countries, and believers in the "blood" horse as the best pcsaihle foundation upon which to breed the most suitable remounts, Austria-Hungary, Germany, France and Russia are only slightly less known than Britain. For many years continental countries, almoßt without exception, have drawn upon the resources of England for those strains and changes ot bloud which were best calculated to keep at a high pitch the standard of the race, and while this has been done systematically and without any regard to expense, for Continental buyerß have long been tbe best customers of English and Irish breeders, experts who have studied the question have expressed the opinion that the army has receiv ed less attention in Britain than in the other countries concerned in the war. Whether this indictment is justified results will perhaps show.

THE REQUIREMENTS The number of remuuntß required by an army in tha fields, of course, enormous, and some idea of it may be gathered from the statistics which were compiled in connection with the Boer War, says a Sydney writer. According to one account, jio preparation for providing the necessary horses was made when the Boer War started The English Army required about 495,000 animale, of which 369,000 were horses and the remainder mules, and they were drawn from practically all corners of the earth. It is stated that of the total number the United Kingdom supplied only ,72,000 horses and 170 mules, while 126,000 horses and 31,000 mules were obtained in South Africa, 82,000 horses and 7000 mules in the United States, 30,000 horses in Hungary, 25,000 in the Argentine, 20,000 in Australia,and 12,-000 in Canada, while Spain, Italy, Cyprus and other places supplisd rcules. But enormous as was the cost of these purchases, the British Government is said t) have got by no means value for it. Naturally in such a mixed lot of purchases, many of which had to be acquired on the shortest notice, the percentage of "crocks" was not small. The British Government horse capers in various parts ol the world an opportunity they W3re not likely to meet again in a hurry, and it was too good to mips. As to for the losses of horses in the Boer War, they were quite abnormal. But if the occasion had been one in which the smart practitioner was satisfied to Bink his cl.verness and return the best possible value for money, the losses would still have been out of proportion, for the all sufficient reason that only a comparatively small number of the horses were hard-trained and fit for to go to war. As affording an illustration of the stupendous wastage. P. Maurice, in his "History of the South African War," says—"Of 5900 horses which left Bljmfcntein, only 3470 survived the march, 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 of a convoy the troops rode fifty horse 3 to death." From all that can 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 besfr\ineans of providing the necessary number of trained and able horses for the British army, in case of war, engaged the attention of experts in England, but, according to the Review, "there was »io other country in the world in which horse-breeding had been so mismanaged by Government." As a means of solving the problem, it was suggested to the British Government that the remount system, which, under worse conditions had worked wonderfully in France, Germany, AustriaHungary, Russia, and other Continental countries, be adopted in England. Those countries profited by their own mistakes of earlier years, while England stood still. Taking Colonel Callwell'a figures, the total number of army remounts required within a few weeks of the order for mobilisation in Britair would be about 60,000, and that subsequently from 3000 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 real want, THE PRUSSIAN SYSTEM

During the Franco-German war, the German army used 220,000 horsep, ad lost 14,595, of which 1723 were missed, and the balance were killed or wounded. One of the reason for bo small a lobb 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 600,000 horßes, of which 75,000 will havß to be bought. The remainder are u?eJ in the regular military sen-ice, and their steady training fits for their share of war.

Ibo Prussian remount, system, perfected by the late Ccunt Lehndorff, is said t«i be the most thorough and sensible in existence, and having been more or less adopted by Russia, France, and Außfria-Hungary, is interesting at this particular time. It has for its main points the selection of the vp-y best stallions, the prohibition by law of the use of unsound

and unsuitable stallions, and assisting the farmers by placing at their disposal the Government stallions—for some of which enormous sums were paid—at a nominal fee. The Prussian army is said to buy every year about 11,000 remounts, and a further 1000, bred in Prussia, go annually to the armies of Saxony, Bavaria and Wurtemburg. So gigantic are these operations that the Prussian Govern ment owns altogether about 3578 stallions. The principal stud is that of Graditz, where only English thotoughreds are bred. They are raced and tested for stamina before they go to the stud, and there are about 25 other studs. Mounting the German army being regarded as the first essential to its maintenance, money has been expended lavishly towards keeping the class of stallions particularly nigo. The English or Irish bred Ard Patrick, Galtee More, Athos, Bill of the Play, Red Prince 11., and some others are included; while the fact that at least fourteen high-class French sires are also there, as well as some Russians, indicates that Germany doea not permit her hatred for England, Russia and France to bar the way to the improvement of her remount system. In addition to;purchasing largely, the Prussian Government adds about £175,000 annually for the improvement of the national horse-breeding towards the total expenditure, which reaches within the neighbourhood of £400,000. The actual cost is not, however, anything like t at amount, for the various sources of revenue in connection with the Prussian Government studs total as a general thing well over £200,000 annually. In Aus-tria-Hungary the remount system is also very complete. The Government studs contain about 5000 stallions, al[ of which are kept to serve farmers' mares, and there is in operation in that country a scheme by which the army can be supplied within 24 hours from private stables with 300,000 cavalry, artillery and mounted infantry horses "fit to go to the front." France, it is said, would not find it necessary to go beyond its own borders for any of the 650,000 horses it was calculated to require at the time of mobilisation. From the registers kept the French authorities were some time ago of opinion that no trouble would be experienced in getting tne full complement. Horse expenditure is an enormous item, but freely given in Continental countries, and the various amounts would, if they could all be ascertained, dwarf the £40,000 paid annually in Britain for the same purpose. Time alone will tell iE England has made complete arrangements for horsing its army. Some time ago Colonel Seely, Under-Secre-tary for War, stated "that while England was not so ready as it ought to be with regard to light cavalry horses, it was less unready than other Powers." It was hoped to see secure an improvement in the quality of horses bred by farmers and others, and there was ample room for this, providing the right sort of mars was used, for upwards of 800 suitable stallions were at the disposal of owners in England and Ireland. 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 tje English markets. Lord Annaly, a bitter opponent of the system, in speaking at a horse show dinner, said that there was a shortage in England of the class of animal , suitable for army remounts, and the chief reason for this was that agents of foreign Governments were allowed to buy many of the country's best mares and young stock. It was shortsighted policy, even if sellers got a little more money, and was a case of killing the goose which laid the golden egg. Ri3 Lordship suggested some form of legislation to check the Bending of valuable brood mares out of lthe country, but the advice fell on deaf ea/s. If it should be proved that England is less ready in its remount system than any of the Continental countries which she has fed, someone must have blundered. Since the figures given in this article were compiled Italy has had its little war. It drew largely on Aus-tria-Hungary and several other countries for its home supply; but probably not to an extent sufficient to materially weaken the resources o£ the Power concerned.