The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1899-06-22
MILITARY FARM HORSES.
Two Er-ArtilIery Equines That Have
to Be Guided According
to the Code.

Horses in the artillery are required
TO know just three things. When they
know these three pieces OF information
they are called battery broke, and they
are relieved from all obligation to know
another thing during their careers.
The first item in the education Of the
artillery horse is that when he is stand
ing still he is to stand still, regardless
of everything, until he gets the next or
der. The next point is that when he is
ordered to go, then go he shall for all
there is in him. The third point is, that
when halted he shall swing around IN
the direction from which he has come
and stand stock still, and that heis the
prettiest of all, for it goes to the tune of
"battery front into action" When
horse in the artillery knows those
three things he's battery broke" and
he never needs to know any more. II
there is need of few other bits OF mis-
cellaneous information the horse looks
to the artilleryman TO know them. Z.
The simplicity of all this is what
raised hob on the farm. The command
ing officer of the farm had bought
pair of condemned horses at an army
sale. Fine, big, heavy beasts they were,
and there is seldom too much the mat
ter with the horse when the army comes
to sell him, so there is many good bar
gain to be had in that way so long as
one doesn't mind the ~. 81 and the
condemned brand on his bit of stock.
This farmer maybe didn't know the
l. 10
make sure, and there was nobody at the
sale to tell him that these We're battery
broke" horses that knew only three
things and would never know more nor
less.
The farmer had out his pair in big
field, where he was busy about some of
the tasks which keep farmers busy at
this time of year. They were hitched
up to a good big farm wagon, which
took up about as much room as the
caisson and timber did in the light bat
terry in which these horses had served.
but it didn't begin to weigh anything
like as much, and it was just easy for
those two horses. All went well, so
long as it was a question of using the
Al 81 itS>t thOSC Iol SCS AiGNl' L TIC 1Itli
was a big one, and they were stopped at
one end of it. There they stood. The
farmer chirruped at them to follow him
along the row he was setting out. When
that was without result he yelled Get
up" with trimmings. The order was
not military, but the trimmings seemed
natural; they reminded the horses of
fha ~ llnry- Sill hn nrflar, for hn frr
ward march had not come and the
horses were too well trained to bulge.
At last the farmer came running up
with whole lot of almost genuine ar
tillery language and grabbed the whip
and dashed the horses. He did not hurt
them-they were too tough for that
but he did convey the impression that
the time had come to bring their second
idea into play. They started for the
other end of the field full tilt, as they
had been taught to SO under all circum-
stances, and with the fine scorn of what
may be in the way which characterizes
the artillery. Along toward the other
end of the field it seemed to strike them
that things were not altogether as they
used to be in the old battery; there
were no drivers to keep the pace up and
to use language. But they found
farm road which worked them around
the field nearly to where they started.
This brought them back to the farmer,
and the way in which he was swearing
made them feel natural once more.
Therefore when he got close enough to
them to enforce his order, although
"whoa." was not quite the same thing
as halt" they wound up in fine shape:
they swung the farm wagon clear
around with good imitation of battery
front into action. But the wagon was
so much lighter than the piece to which
they were used that damage result ed
| The contents of the wagon were shot
out upon the advancing farmer and left
! him buried under heap. The wagon
body was hurled far away through the
air and came to grief by striking the
trunk of n tree, the wheels went off on
! independent careers. and most of the
/ harness came to grief. But the horses
! stood shock still awaiting the next or
/ der. They had run through the list of
! their small accomplishments and they
wer content, for they were battery
/ broke. IN Y. Sun.
/
| Prehistoric Man n CannihaI
! According TO DIR MatippLa of pro ,r,,,