The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1917-02-20
WAR HORSESARE
WELL CAREDFOR
Pampered Lot Are Chargers Of
Allied Forces On the West
Front H..

fRy The AnsociAted PrVss.l' DV

(By The Associated Prtss,)
WITH THE BRITISH ARMIES IN
FRANCE, February 1s-It would be
1ifieult to find more pampered lot of
beings than the war.horses. In the
stress Of battle they suffer with the
men, but the number of equine "eaSual.
ties" among the hundreds of thou
sands of horses employed is really very
small ....
There are veterans among the horses
who have been three. or four tmesl
wounded; there are even those who
have suffered nervous breakdowns from
the SCATTERING shock of shells. If they
we're men in khaki they would have
gold stripes of honor upon their sleeves,
but the faithful old horses go back to
the front time and time again asking
nothing in the way of rank or distinc-
ton. 49, o..
What they get instead is the very
best of food and plenty Of IL, the kind
est of care and the keenest apprecia.
ton OF the services they render. Wis
itors 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'pro'
lection of their long winter coats.
They are fat and strong muscled. They
plod and splash eontentedly through
the mud in twos, threes, fours 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 to love the horses. Officers who
have been here from the beginning,
and there are still a few left, say that
in all that time they have never 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 moment one begins TO
show signs Of over-fatigue or debilita.
ton, he is taken out of service and
sent back to a hospital to recuperate.
Occasionally, too, the horses come down
with mud blisters upon their backs,
with an injured foot that may not have
been noticed in time, or with some of
he diseases the equine flesh is heir to.
II is a great tribute TO the veterinary
services, however, that most of the old
contagious diseases that used to
decimate the ranks of horses in war
time, have been effectually stamped out
and no longer give concern. Chambers,
for instance, once dread scourge, is
now thing of the past. None of the
horses in France is infected. Occasion
oily a case comes with a rev shipment
from abroad, but it is quickly elm
mated. v.a|. ,.s If .s.#
AT the end of two years of the South
African war fully ninety per cent of
the horses had been affected by the
mango. During two years and a half
of the present war, with the number
Of horses engaged multiplied by thou
sands, less than two per cent have
been affected. The mules have been
! even less involved. As matter of
fact the mules are 80 tough and hardy
they seldom enter into the veterinary
statistics. rSH gm @E G.
The hospitals provided for them by
| the army must very nearly approach
the horse 5 idea of Heaven. 1t IL a
| Joy TO 90 into one of the convalescent
wards" especially at meal times.
| Sometimes the convalescents stand al
most nose to nose, and if the horse
across the way gets his hay first, there
is a terrible hullabaloo. A particular
ly ravenous patient now and then will
not only eat his portion of hay but
the rope net that surrounds it. a few
| nights ago one had such a healthy APP
petite he tried to eat the blanket OF
his nearest neighbor.
| All the horses in hospital are fed
four times q day. The more debilitated
,mes are red hNe and six times. When
they are particularly run down and in
danger of being mistaken for sort of
bOne-yard hatracks, the patients get
nothing but cooked foods, and they
fairly revel in them. They have tonics,
too, and it is remarkable to see the
improvement in their condition that a
few weeks work. The diet for debil-
tiles" consists of oatmeal Cruel, lin
seed cruel, boiled turnips, and scalded
oats. Later they get crushed oats and
chopped hay, and almost before they
know it are in the convaleseent ward.