Handbook for Light Artillery

by A. B. Dyer

HOW OBTAINED, DESCRIPTION, ETC.

Horses are obtained from the Quartermaster Department. Submit requisitions, generally in triplicate, stating the color desired, and whether the horse is for lead-, swing-, or wheel-team.

The artillery-horse must be sound, free from vicious habits, a square trotter, well broken to harness, and must conform as nearly as possible to the following description: A gelding of uniform and hardy color; in good condition; from fifteen to sixteen hands high; weight of the lead-horse not less than 1050 pounds, and that of the wheel-horse not more than 1300 pounds; from four to eight years old; full-chested; shoulders sufficiently broad to support the collar, but not too heavy; full-barrelled, with broad, deep loins; short-coupled, with solid hindquarters; feet sound and in good order. Long-legged, loose-jointed, long-barrelled, and narrow-chested horses, as well as those which are restive, vicious, or too free in harness, are to be rejected.

SELECTING HORSES.

Care must be taken not only that they possess the form and qualities necessary for the work they are likely to be employed in, but also that they are docile and easy-tempered and sound. Form differs according to breed, and upon it depends the fitness of the animal for draught or saddle purposes. For either purpose a horse should walk and trot well. Horses with deeply scarred backs (or, if for harness, shoulders), or which show signs of having been much cut with the girth (girth-galled), should not be selected, if avoidable. If for riding purposes, the withers should be neither too high nor too low, and the shoulders oblique; forearms long and muscular; chest moderately wide and deep; ribs well arched behind saddle and continued close to haunch; loins broad; hindquarters long, wide, and muscular; tail set on as near the level of the croup as possible; limbs from knees and hocks downwards short, wide laterally, with the tendons and ligaments standing well apart from the bone, and distinctly defined. Neither beneath knee nor hock should they be narrow or abruptly tied in; knees wide in front, hocks sideways. Pasterns not too long or oblique, inclined out or in, nor yet too upright; hoofs black, if possible, and circular in shape; wall smooth and even from coronet to ground, and not marked by horizontal rings; heels well spread; soles concave and strong; frogs well developed, sound, and firm. The foot in progression should be placed evenly on the ground, neither toe nor heel coming too markedly in contact with it. Coarse-bred horses, with hairy legs and large, flat feet, should never be chosen. Fore limbs should be examined for broken knees, splints, sprains of tendons and ligaments (indicated by thickening, and, if recent, by tenderness on manipulation), ring-bone (an uneven deposit of bony matter around the lower end of the pastern), side-bone (ossification of the elastic cartilages on each side of the foot toward the heels), sand-crack in hoof (usually in the inside quarter of fore foot), chronic laminitis (manifested by horse putting heels first to the ground, convex soles, walls hollow in the middle in front, bulging at toe, and made uneven by rings on surface), navicular disease (usually shown by contracted heels, very concave soles, lameness, and digging toes in the ground during walk or trot, wearing the shoe more at point of toe than elsewhere, extending limb forward and elevating heels while at rest), corns (a bruise of sole at the heels, only to be discovered by removal of shoe and paring sole at this part).

Hind limbs should he examined for spavin in hock (a bony tumor in front of inside hock, best seen by standing at animal's shoulder and viewing this part of the joint in profile; compare both hocks in this way, and if there is any inequality, and the prominence be hard, it is almost certain to be spavin; lameness or stiffness of the limb is generally present), sprain of tendon inside hock (marked by a swelling inside point of hock), curb (a sprain of ligament at back and below point of hock, seen as a more or less prominent convex swelling on looking at the hock sideways), sprain of back tendons or ligaments (as in fore limb), ring-bone (as in fore limb).

The eyes should be healthy; examine them by moving the finger smartly near the eye, but without touching it, when the animal will wink if it be not blind; for careful examination, inspect the eye in sunlight, then cover with hand for a few seconds to ascertain if the pupil contracts and enlarges; to examine interior of eye, employ a lighted candle in a darkened stable.

Examine head behind ears, withers, back, and shoulders for bruises; nostrils for glanders (if there be any discharge); turn round suddenly and back the horse to discover if there is sprain of back, and if hindquarters are moved firmly and promptly. Inspect skin for mange and ringworm, heels for grease and cracks, and coronets for fistulous wounds.

Have him ridden very rapidly for a couple of hundred yards, stopped suddenly, and then place ear in rear of left shoulder to listen if the heart beats properly, and also near the nostril to hear if his breathing is all right.