Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-01
The War Horses.

It would be difficult to find a mere paInpered lot of beings than the war horses. In the stress Of battle they
 g suffer , with h, the men: men. but the number dreds of thousands of horses employed is really very small.
 There are veterans among the horses who have been three or four times dounded; there are even those who
 have suffered nervous breakdowns
 from the shattering shock of shells. If they were 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 distinction. =
 What they get instead is the very
 best of food and plenty of it, the kind
 est of care and the keenest apprecia-
 tion of the services they render. Vis- 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 protection of their long winter coats. They are fat and strong
 muscled. They plod and splash con- tentedly through the mud in twos. threes, four or twelves, dragging guns
 and heavy wagons behind them with never the necessity Of a harsh word or a whiplash from their drivers. The
 men come to love the horses. Officers who have been with the British armies 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 tine fact that the moment one begins to show signs of over-fatigue or debili- tation, he is taken out of service and sent back to a hospital to recuperate.
 down with mud bIisters upon their backs, with an injured foot that may not have been noticed in time, or with some of the diseases that equine flesh veterinary services, however, that most of the old contagious diseases that used to decinate the ranks of horses in war time, have been effectually cern. Glanders, for instance, once a dread scourge. is now thing of the
 past. None of the horses in France is infected. Occasionally a case comes with a new shipment from abroad, but it is quickly eliminated.
 At the end of two years of the South African war fully 90 per cent. of the
 horses had been affected by the mange. During two years and a half of the present war, with the number of horses engaged multiplied by thous- andS, less than two per cent have been affected. The mules have been even less involved. As a matter of fact the mules are so tough and hardy they seldom enter into the veterinary statistics.
 The hospitals provided for them by the army must very nearly approach
 the horses idea of Heaven. It is joy
 to go 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 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. few
 nights ago one had such a healthy
 appetite he tried to eat the blanket off
 his nearest neighbor.
 All the horses in hospital are fed
 four times 8 day. The most debili-
 tated ones are fed five and six times.
 When they are particularly run down
 and in danger of being mistaken for
 sort of bone-yard hat-racks, the pa