THE HORSE IN WAR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 20, 25 January 1919, Page 1

THE HORSE IN WAR.

A BIG~ BATTLE FACTOR. Though there is a general impression that the motor truck and aptpino-, bile have superseded the'horse armv, this is not at all the case,a£*_

. cording to the New York Herald. ; Man’s most useful beast of burden, “as an important place in the Amwicnn armies when at the front, and thorn sands of horses from the - South and , West were sent constantly to France. , The American horse played an important part in winning the war, and when all is said - and written ha will.' be accorded his proper place in the history of the conflict. T r Before being put into active work at the front the horse. receives as stream ’.our"and. vigorous a training'as' does the recruit who has nd knowledge of military mctnoas. The horse for several months goes through a course df education which will school him to lace barbed wire and rush through any! entanglement irrespective of lacerated legs and flanks. After he has beetle - accustomed to have a man mount ‘tap* idly on hie sensitive back he is 'taught f,o kneel with his rider. He is 1 ajrt> taught to pull up in his own length from the ground while he ia being * used as a cover for his rider, ; snipes over his side, ' - ; v The most difficult part of the training is to have the horse become famish liarised with the sword. In the- 1 Beat*' of combat a cavalryman usually aima his sword in order that' his fu® ,-bXSSC, will b® at his opponent’s hot?e; -Tlt.he succeeds in striking the horsey eyetty though it be only a glance blow, • I3w? animal, unless properly trained, at once become panic-stricktn * udi; .stampede., '; .„ r \ * ' After a horse becomes accustomed his rider he will readily perform A*. most difficult and surprising feats. On the Western front a British brigade was known to go through three Imefc. cf bayonets and then through a barbedwire entanglement. A Canadian troop charged two linos o£ German macKina guns and rifles, wheeled, and then. rode through them a second time. Ip the ; retreat of the Germans the his bit in keeping the Huns on the run. ■ ■ ■■■.).