THE HORSE OF THE FUTURE.
T N building warships we now consider carefully what work
the vessels will be wanted to do, and then design accord- ingly. We do not set a battleship to do a destroyer's work, or expect a fast cruiser to carry enough stores to take it round the world. In designing our horses for war (the phrase is not inexact, for horses can be bred to order very precisely) wears not equally practical. There are two main types required,—dranght horses and riding horses. Of these the draught horses are, as Lord Raglan said on Monday night, about as good as can be, and we have any quantity of them, supplied largely by the great omnibus companies.
They are put to the work for which they were intended, sub- stituting waggons or guns for omnibuses or vans, they come into the Service in hard condition, and are admirable in all respects. In the Remount Department we have up till now tried to combine two things,—a horse which will carry a rider, and a packhorse. This animal, "contrived a double debt to pay," has broken down under the stress of war. In future it is certain that wherever our armies are campaigning in semi-wild countries the horse will have to carry his rider only, while a spare horse, or something equiva- lent, takes rations, fodder, equipment, and other impedi- menta. This makes a reduction in the standard size of the soldier's horse natural and almost inevitable, for, as Mr. William Day said in "The Racehorse in, Training," really good big horse is probably better than .a really good small one; but as a rule you may get fifty good small horses for one good large one a good big horse may beat a good little one over a short course, but I think at three or four miles a good little one would beat the best big one I ever saw." If this is perhaps rather too abstract a view to take of these very practical questions, the lessened cost of small horses, and the greater ease of feeding them, grooming them, and mounting them, are all points in favour of reducing the size if there is no counterbalancing loss in stamina and courage.
If recent reports based on the lessons of the war are com- pared with the views held by very practical writers previous to or at the beginning of hostilities, the evidence in favour of the small horse is almost unquestionable. Lord Kitchener says in a telegram of December 11th: "English horses arriving are still too heavy ; well-bred weight-carrying polo pony is the ideal required for all mounted troops who carry little on the saddle." To make the meaning of this clear, it should be remembered that the maximum height of a polo pony by the latest. rules is fourteen and a half hands. Into this size modern breeding has packed enough strength to carry a heavy rider, stamina to go through the severe exertion of the game, handiness to make the pony so quick on its legs that it can do this without risk to itself or its rider, and often a high degree of intelligence. Lieutenant-Colonel Birkbeck, Assistant Inspector of Remounts to the Commander-in- Chief in South Africa, has reported separately on every class of horse in use in the war. The whole is qualified by this signifi. cant remark: "If in a perfectly open country, such as most of the Free State has been, cavalry have not been able to come to close quarters with an enemy mounted on ponies (and heavy men too), surely the days of shock tactics may be con- sidered over Granted this, then the raison d'are of the heavy man and horse has gone too, and I think the results of this.campaign prove the need for a radical change in our mounted troops. A light man, armed with a rifle and mounted on a hard, wiry, and enduring cob, is the cavalry soldier of the future."
The man will easily be got, and the rifle. But the reports on all the animals assembled at the world's horse fair in South Africa show that there is among the horses an embarras de choir, which will remain until our Government fix on some definite standard for the animals they mean to use. The English horses of all kinds hadthe great advantageover the other imported varieties that they were in good condition when they started and corn-fed. The grass-fed Australian and American horses could not stand the change to corn, horses' digestions being of the delicate order, and grass un-
. obtainable in the African summer. But the English riding :horses are condemned as "too long on the leg; to stand cam- Taigning a beast must be compact and short-legged." The Canadian animals were also too high. They were "regular barouche horses, high on the leg, slack, though with some quality." "It was my regret," Colonel Birkbeek remarks, • " that I could not afford to sell them to the Rand magnates as carriage horses." Those from the United States were good, and the Australians "most disappointing " ; but the writer is evidently " off " with horses altogether. He next turns to what he calls cobs, which in ordinary war correspondents' phrase are termed ponies, and include those from Basutoland.
"Nothing can surpass the South African cob for m,ounted infantry work. They are hardy, active little beasts that re- quire not care, live on the scantiest rations, and on the veld they are as sure-footed as goats at the irregular paces, a very slow canter and a shuffling walk. The Basuto pony is teat of all." Irish cobs and English polo ponies have both done very well, the former being mostly issued to the cavalry ; iuid nothing *but good is spoken of the United States and Canadian cobs, and those from Australia are far better than the horses.
All this comes as marginal comment on certain, sug- gestive pE, pers written by Sir Richard Green Price, Sir Walter Gilbey, aad others before the Report was published. There has long been a strong feeling on the part of those not engaged in racing as a pastime or business, nor in farming Mid breeding draught horses, that we were and are off the proper line in horse-breeding. Our Shires and Suffolks are "unde- niable." - We can also produce in any quantity the kind Of animal which can win a short, quick race before it is mature, the highZred, leggy thoroughbred. For the latter everything has been said that can be said; but he does not become the immediate sire of a " handy " horse of any kind, while the large carriage horses are of no use for riding. Even the hunters led by the thoroughbred sires are often too high, and not compact enough. Moreover, these large horses cannot be reared on natural food only. The yearlings which have to race at eighteen months have their growth artificially forced, which causes them to go to pieces later. At present, in order to obtain hunters, these racing thoroughbreds are mated with ordinary mares, and the result is -very much of a chance. If a class of she with two thoroughbred crosses were used and mated with mares of a kind more or less bred to type, we might obtain a real breed of hunters or fairly large riding horses of good bloods and special aptitude. But these we do not now possess. It is clear that the same sire which produces a racehorse is not needed to produce a good cross- country riding horse, nor would the best racing blood ever be availake, if only on account of the cost, for such .44, purpose.
If the large horse will not be required for cavalry in future, this is perhaps mainly a question for country gentlemen. It remains to be seen how far this country can supply Lord Kitchener's ideal, — the polo pony of fourteen and a half hands, or something equivalent. Fortunately there has arisen such a demand for these animals, and such high prices are paid for the ideal animal, up to £200 or 2250, that there is every chance that a very large supply may be obtained. The Show at the Agricultural Hall this week was devoted on the earlier days to the Hunters' Improvement Society, and on the last partly to polo ponies and other animals suitable for light cavalry or mounted infantry. One of the ponies shown was wounded at Omdurman, and on another the late Captain the Hon. R. De Montmorency won the Victoria Cross in the Soudan.
The great object of every one Connected with pony. breeding should be to reach the end in view by definite and certain means. At present the production of good polo ponies is rather uncertain work, but in time the type will probably be established. Sir Walter Gilbey considers that fourteen and a half hands is the lowest height at which we are likely to find strength, speed, bottom, and activity combined, but the use of pure racing sires is about the last thing which is likely to produce the ideal pony. The size of the racing thoroughbred is a result of generations of artificial breeding, while that of the pony approaches rather to that of the half-wild horses. Something is lost even in the Arab if it is bred up over the normal height of fourteen and a hale hands.
Sir Richard Green Price, whose son, writing from South Africa in 1900, said "The ponies have fairly outlasted the bigger horses in this campaign," predicted more than a year ago that the pony, being easy to mount, easy of transport, of good constitution, and offering less target to the enemy, would, when not overweighted, be the exact requirement for
our mounted infantry. At that time the War Office had sanctioned the formation of a pony regiment for the district
adjoining the New Forest in Hampshire. His opinion was that the type of pony now aimed at by the Polo Pony Society was the right class. In that Lord Kitchener entirely agrees. But it is doubtful if this class will be got by the means nine reCOlminended by the Society,—namely,by,using thoroughbred
usually of racing blood, which have teen: accidentally. dwarfed. It Seems more Probable that if those in the New .Ores were developed a little in size, and the mares mated with Arab sires, the desired animal might result. Welsh ponies always tend to increase in size when removed to richer pastures, and to have larger offspring, and so do New Forest ponies. But the most encouragingpoint for the .future breeders of larger and better ponies Is that everywhere in England and Scotland, though horse-breeding may noP pay,. pony-hreeding does. It is the same whetherin. the New Forest, Or on Exmoor, or in Wales, or in Shetland. Prices steadily rise, and there are seldom enough to meet the demand. • .•
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