The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1907-09-04
TRAINING HORSES FOR WAR.
Fourfooted Regulars Have to Take
Lcnq Course of Lessons.

lcng Course of Lessons.
! Germany needs 100000 horses for
cavalry and artillery to put her colos-
sal forces in the field; France re-
quires probably 100000, and even
| Great Britain needed as many as $780,
900 in South Africa, while she was
| fighting the Beers
Although in England in peace time
mounts only two-thirds of her cavalry
her horse bill amounts to about $780,
600 year-a figure which may be
multiplied by four or five for the Ger
| man army.
| In most countries omnibus, farm and
domestic horses are registered as be-
| ing available in time of war for mis-
cellaneous service, and for this any
| thing from $4,000 to $150,000 a year
may be paid by military nation.
France spends upward of 100000 a
| year on horses for her great armies.
AS general rule, says a writer in the
Circle, the recruits are five years old
and cost 5000 each
| NuNdliy Nhul SNo way iiohi hitNN''
to sixteen hands in height, and sharp
| rules have been laid down about their
| shape, action and treatment There
are regular schools where the raw four.
| legged recruit is trained. His educa'
tion embraces the fearless swimming
of deep and wide rivers.
1t is extremely interesting to see a
thousand four-legged recruits drawn
up in ring around the Instructor,
who opens TIE proceedings with a
sharp shot from an army revolver.
| The animals are taught to gallop fear
lessly up to line or square of infan-
| try, who are blazing away with their
rifles, of course loadede with blank
cartridges.
Lastly comes a charge upon bat
teries of quick-firing cannon. 1t Is
worth noting that when smokeless
powder came into general use it was
| found that thousands of horses which
woud face without flinching the smoke
| Of guns using black powder baked
and SHE'D at the sinister flash and
roar of cordite and melinite.
There appears to be as much indi-
viduality among horses as among
| men. Some take the flash and report
very quietly, and are passed on to
more severe trials, while others rear
and try to bolt in abject terror
The riding masters intrusted with
hn n1Y pf thncn n
cially selected for their quietness,
kindness, self-control and patience,
united with courage, firmness and the
absolute confidence born of tried and
consummate horsemanship. Horse
and man are trained together in the
various armies.
| The French cavalry recruit goes
through no fewer than 112 separate
lessons in revisons before he is con-
sidered fit to get upon his horse, which
is trained simultaneously. Bots are
taught to swim burdened with full
equipment; both are thoroughly ac.
customed to all sorts of startling nois-
es, from the crack of a revolver to the
cdl-SJllIliuB lOdI VI pawn u dl tlllciy.
Besides the riding school training,
there is also field work across coun-
try with steeple-chasing, jumping over
hurdle, and even over the dinner ta-
BILE, where a silver set feast has been
spread. Not so much as a folded nap
kin must be displaced by the flying
leap of the cavalryman right over the
table. One part of the chargers edu-
cation shows him how to lie PROSTATE
on the field of battle and shield his
rider from hostile bullets, as the latter
crouches behind the faithful creature.
So perfectly are cavalry horses
trained that every great war beholds
the curious spectacle of riderless
horses galloping to the charge in per-
feet line. Thus at Balaklava the front
rank of one regiment was composed
almost entirely of riderless horses,
their masters having been dropped by
the Russian sharpshooters.