The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1914-05-29
SCARCITY OF REMoUNTS
WOULD HAMPER INVASION

Scarcity of cavalry remounts might
prove serious in case of campaign
of any length by the forces of the
United States in Mexico. Captain W.
S. Valentine, commanding the Fort
Reno (Okla) remount depot, recent
ly received an order from the War
Department for 1900 horses for the
Mexican service. He lacked 500 of
the required number and was COM
PEELED to go into the open market to
get them.
If there should be further demand
for cavalry horses, the situation
might become embarrassing. In
peace the horse equipment of the reg
ular army is 10000, supplied at the
rate of about 200 a year. A war foot
ing would raise the number to $4,000,
to be followed by a new issue every
four or six months, making total
consumption of 100000 to 100000
horses a year.
The Government is perplexed with
it's cavalry horse problem. Three or
four weeks ago there was a shortage
of more than 1000 horses, which the
remount depOts at Fort Reno, Fort
Keogh, Mont, and Fort Royal, Va,
had not been able to overcome.
The cavalry type of horse has for
years been disappearing in the United
States. When men now grown were
boys the saddle horse was bred
throughout the country. But farmers
no longer want the light horse, and
are now breeding horses that can pull
heavy loads, not only on the farm, but
also in the cities The draft horse
brings more money, and is more cas-
lily raised than the saddle horse.
Not until the Boer War did the
United States army officers awake to
the fact that the cavalry horse was
disappearing so rapidly as to threaten
the efficiency of the service. Great
Britain ransacked the United States
for the light type horse and sent ship
load after shipload. to the Transvaal.
Gen. ]. B. Aleshire, then Quarter
master General, proposed that Con-
Congress obtain the use of abandoned
military posts for army remount de-
pots. Fort Reno was the first eStab-
lished and the largest, having about
10000 acres, of which half are used
farm purposes.
1t was believed that such depOts
would insure the adequate number of
horses, and by providing permanent
market at good prices for horses of
the desired type, might induce far
mers to resume the breeding of the
saddle horse. This hope has not been
fulfilled.
The average length of service of a
cavalry horse is seven to eight years,
and in past years most cavalry horses
bought were about seven years old,
the farmer getting three years of
their best service. 1t is estimated
that SO per cent is added to the
length of a horses service if he is
when four years old, when he will
cost much less thanabroken harse
seven years old.
Uulike infantry or artillery, cavalry
cannot be improvised during the
course of a campaign. Even trained
horses are not at once equal to the
demand made during a campaign.
they require time to become accus-
toned to service conditions. If great
eXertiOns are demanded of them at
the start, they will break down. I'm
trained horses are unsuited for
movements under closed order they
are unsteady, refuse to leave the
ranks, and cannot be sufficiently con-
trolled to enable the trooper to use
his weapons.
The training squad at Fort Reno
is composed of about forty men,
mostly farmers and former cowboys.
Preference is given enlisted men
qualified for the work. The horses
are taught the three gaits of walking,
trotting and galloping. Each horse
is handled so gently that in time it
may be mounted from behind or eth
er side, will not kick and will move or
halt instantly when commanded.
After a horse has been "gentled,' as
it is called, he is forwarded to his
troop for training in military evolu-
lions,