Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1917-07-05
Horse Is Most Pa1npered
Being on Western Front

With the British Armies in France
(by mail)-It would be difficult to find
a more pampered lot Of beings than
the war horses. In the stress of battle
they suffer with the men, but the num-
Der of equine Casualties among the
hundreds of thousands of horses en-
ployed is really very small.
There are veterans among the horses
who have been three or four times
wounded; there are even those who
have suffered v breakdowns
from the shattering shock of shells. III
they were men in khaki they would
have gold stripes of honor upon their
sleeves, but the faithful old horses go
&c back to the front time and time
again asking nothing in the way of
ran or distinction.
What they get instead is the very
best of food and plenty of it, the kind
est of care and the keenest apprecia-
ton of the services they rende WISH
tors to the battle zone invariably eX-
press amaZement at the appearance and
condition of the horses. Just now they
are snug and warm under the self
protection of their long winter coats.
They are fat and strong muscled. They
plod and splash ~contentedly through
h mud in twos, threes, tours or
twelves, dragging guns and heavy
wagons behind them with never the
necessity of a harsh word or a whip
lash from their drivers. The men come
been from the beginning, and there
are still a few left, say that in all that
time they have neve seen an act OF
cruelty toward horse or mule.
One reason for the splendid appear
ance of the horses at the front is the
fact that the n begins to
show signs of over-fatigue or debili-
fafinn ho ic fnGn ont ff cnrN-ion q nd
sent back to q hospital to recuperate.
Occasionally, too, the horses come
down with mud b~listers upon their
backs, with an injured foot that may
not have been noticed in time, or with
some of the diseases that equine flesh
is heir to. 1t is a great tribute to the
veterinary services, however, that most
OF the Ole contagious diseases that used
to decimate the ranks of horses in wal
time, have been e~ffectually stamped
out and no longer give concern. Clan
ders. Tor instance, once a dread Scourge,
is now a thing of the past. None of
the horses in 'rance is infected. Oc-
c~ationally Il case comes with a new
shipment from abroad, u it is quick
ly eliminated.
At the n of two years of the South
African wan fully 80 per cent of the
horses had been affected by the mango
During two years and u half of the
present war, with the numbe of horses
engaged multiplied by thousands, less
than 2 per cent nave been affected
h mules have been even less in
Nolved. AS a matter of fact the mules
are so tough and hardy they seldom
enter into the veterinary statistics.
n hospitals provided for them by
the army must very nearly approach
the horses idea of heaven. 1t is a Joy
to go into one of the convalescen
wards especially at meal times
Sometimes the convalescents stand al
most nose to nose, and IT the horse
across the way gets his hay first, there
is a terrible h~ullabaloo. A particularly
raVenOuS patient now and then will no,
only eat his portion of hay hut thu rope
net that surrounds it. A few nights age
one had such a healthy appetite nc
tried to eat the blanket off his nearest
neighbor.
All the horses in hospital are FED
-four times Il day. The more. debilitatec