Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1914-12-03
HORSE ENJOYS COMBAT
sTEED AS EAGER FOR BATTLE AS
Is HIS RIDER.
Also Knows the Call OF the Bugle, In
Many Gases Better Than the Soldier
Who Is Supposed to Guide
Him Into Action.

It will probably surprise the public,
said retired colonel of hussars, to
learn that a cavalry horse usually en-
joys a battle at least as much as his
rider, and displays as much courage
in it. He will chafe and stamp with
Impotence while waiting for the order
to charge, and at the signal will dash
forward ike a greyhound released
from the leash. full of fire and fury,
and often noighing mildly At the mo-
ment Of contact with the enemy he
will rear, striking and biting savage
ly at the opposing horses and tram
ping down the infantry.
When his rider falls he will dash
along with his fellows and crash as
CALAMITY into the foe. In the famous
charge of the Light Brigade scores Of
riderless horses swept down the val
ley Of DEATH" laundering through the
smoke onto the Russian guns, and gal
loped back to safety with the shat
tered remnant of the brigade. Five
horses raced neck and neck with
Lord Alfred Paget, who rode in adj
vance Of the line, SO eager were they
to get at the enemy!
And not only is the well-trained
charger as brave as his rider; he is
often as intelligent. He knows the
bugle calls just as we'll and answers
them as promptly. In fact, cases are
proved in which a horse has put his
RIGHT MI hn iCf1 M
order, and has gone faultlessly through
maneuvers in spite of the efforts of
his mistaken master to make him do
the wrong thing.
No, the process of training is neither
long nor difficult The first step is to
accustom the horse to the sound Of
firing at close quarters. With this OBJ
ject he is put on the ground with legs
tied, and while in this position, a pis-
tol is fred close to his ears, over his
back, between his legs, and SO on, un-
til his fear is overcome. After few
such lessons it is safe to mount him
with a bride furnished with a curb
bit, and under this control he is taught
to stand still while pistol or carbine
is fred from his back-the latter nat
urally coming last, as both hands are
required in using this weapon.
Then follows saber practice on SIM
liar lines, until the horse is as indif-
ferent to the whirl and slash of G.
sword above his head as to the explo-
sion of a carbine above it. Within a
few weeks the horse not only loses all
traces of nervousness; he really en-
joys the experience and enters enthusi-
astically into it. In battle the cavalry
horse faces even a greater risk of
death or disablement than his rider,
although the gallant animal rarely gets
any of the laurels Of war. His dan
ger. however, is by no means SO great
as it was.
In the eighteenth century $50
horses fell in battle to every 100 men;
from 1900 to 1866 the proportion had
fallen to 120; and in more recent
wars the ratio has been approximate
ly 112 horses to 100 men. In some
charges, however, the proportion has
been greater, as in that of the Light
Brigade, in which 80 more horses
than men sacrificed their lives.
But while the war horse seldom gets
credit for his prowess and devotion,
there have been, happily, few cases
in which he has shared his masters
glories-among them Lord Roberts
pretty little Arab, Volonel, who car
ried him in the famous march from
Kabul to Kandahar, and round whose
neck, at Queen Victoria's express
wish, he hung the Kabul medal, with
four clasps