Evening star., 1941-02-02
Army Will Spend
A,OOO,OOOfor 1000
Horses for Service
Artillery and Cavalry
Mounts Are Necessary
In War Machine
Ry PAT ZONES.

through Its QuartermASter Corps, Is
preparing to spend millions of dol
lars for horses TO make its military
power greater than ever in history
Fallacious. say Army experts, is
the idea that there is no place in
military ranks for the man who
can straddle bucking broncho and
ride until his mount becomes as
gentle as lamb.
Wrong, also, they add, is the be-
lief that the horse Is thing of the
past, that no potential Jeb Stuart
or Phil Sheridan today could rise
to immortality on his horseman-
ship.
Through the realization that
there still will be place for a good
artillery horse or cavalry rider, nc
matter how mechanical becomes
the warfare of the present age. the
United States Quartermaster Corps
will buy between April l and July l
around 1000 horses and will pay
more than $4000,0O0 for them.
This Item, of course, will be only
minor part of the S1.886 900 .OOO
budget Maj. Gen. Edmund B. Gre
CORY, quartermaster general, must
supervise for the present fiscal year
but there will be no other purchase
whether an ultramodern tank OF
a fine new line of officers boots,
that will be made with greater
care.
Best Mounts In History.
The men whose task it is to buy
horses say the United States cav
airy is better mounted today than
ever before They lay this to a
better grade of horses from which
to choose and they, in turn, explain
that the Federal Government itself
deserves credit for this condition
When the World War ended, Amer
lea began peacetime prepare tions
to have a more plentiful supply of
mounts than was available in 1917.
seven hundred stations were scat
tered over the country in keep of
farmers, rsnchers and other per-
sons interested in the development
OF better horses. No charge was
made for the loan of them: no
promise was given that the Govern
fr1ent would buy the colts they
produced.
Today the Army Remount Service
sthis plan has been named. is
considered financially successful.
During the last year, it is claimed,
more than 100000 was spent in its
execution, but foals produced were
given an estimated value of $780,
900.
: Great care is taken in selection of
stations. Officers assigned to the
seven remount areas into which the
Nation is divided travel by auto
mobile from 10000 to $4,000 miles
annually.
So rigid are requirements that
only 70, or 1873 per cent, out of 361
stations inspected last year were
bought. Of the 291 rejected 159
lacked quality, substance or con-
formation and SO has poor legs or
feet.
10000 Horses Procured.
Since last July 10000 Cavalry
horses have been procured in addi-
tion to a large number of draft
horses and mules. This was an in
crease from a total of 10000 in the
service two years ago and along
with the boost in the supply of
animals the remount personnel has
been raised to 42,500
Each horse is given a period of
processing just as thorough as that
prescribed for the greeneSt rookie.
They are trained by the thousands.
Before l94l is over the strength of
the cavalry will have been more
than tripled.
In their search for an ideal cavalry
horse experts keep their eyes open
for deep-bOdied animals on strong
legs with short cannon. They must
be from Is hands and l inch to IS
hands and 2 inches high. They must
be sound, have refinement and
breeding and must show plenty of
substance. The United States Cav
airy wants no weedy, fine -boned
horses.
A majority of the animals used in
the Army come from west of the
Mississippi. The reason for this is
that farmers and ranchers in the
East cannot raise them to the age
level required and make a profit out
of them on the price the Federal
Government will pay which aver
ages $165 for horses and $3.50 for
mules.
The Army as a rule will permit
about 5 per cent of its horses to
be 3-year-olds. In the present
emergency, however, it prefers ami
mails years of age or older be-
cause they are more easily trained
and because they fit in better with
the emergency arming program.
There is still another character
istic the Army experts look for in
their quest of cavalry riders. No
peculiarly marked horse will be ac-
cepted, mainly because they are
too easily spotted in battle. The
choice markings are chestnut, black,
brown or bay.
Germans Using Horses.
Recent events have proved that
the time has not yet come when
horses can be discarded, when ma
chimes can make their way into
difficult places to which only horses
now can go. The QuartermaSter
Corps says that the German Army
at the present time is using more
horses than it did in the first World
War. That is one thing that spurs
on the present horse-buying cam
paign. And there are certain other
details which serve as an accelera-
tor:
Students of military tactics ad-
hasted their glasses during the Span
ish Civil War and asked themselves
A they hadn't been too haSty in
marking off horses as a fading
item of modern warfare. The fight
ing In that conflict proceeded over
rough, mountainous country, instead
of settling down in trenches. Mech
anized forces we're slow in their
movement, but mounte dtroops came
up on time.
Then occurred the campaign oi