we have only to consider the contingencies of service in the cavalry to come to a conclusion that the officer or man who begins a campaign on a well-trained horse has many chances in his favour against him who enters it riding an indifferently-trained animal; and no more striking instance of this can be brought forward than the circumstances of the prince imperial’s death in zululand. the horse in this case was ridden by an excellent horseman, but it was well known to be awkward to mount, with the result that, when suddenly attacked by a rush of zulus, the prince was unable to mount and get away.
but the chance in the rider’s favour92 is not the only consideration; the work which a well-trained, well-balanced, equably-minded horse will do, and192 the accidents of all kinds, leading to disablement and time spent in the sick lines, which it will itself avoid and also allow its master to help it to avoid, are well exemplified in any day s hunting in a rough country. there is the so-called unlucky horse, who never goes out without hurting himself or his master. this unlucky horse is associated in our minds with a narrow forehead with a bump low down on it, a rapidly shifting ear, and a small eye showing too much white.
the really ill-tempered horse is not fit to mount a cavalryman, whose life may depend on the behaviour of his horse; though here it must be confessed that some horses with very bad characters have been trained by real masters of the art to be good and reliable animals.
not long ago the ideal laid down in training a horse for cavalry work was to make him as “clever across country as a good hunter, active and handy as a polo pony, and reliable as a shooting horse.” nor is it advisable to lower that ideal. major noel birch in his excellent book, modern riding, tells us “the ideal is an excellent one and seldom impossible if the training is scientific.”
a lack of imagination prevents the soldier, who has not undergone the vicissitudes of active service, from quite grasping the situations which cavalry work may bring about for him, since, whilst acting as a scout, any cavalry soldier may be called upon to engage in personal combat, to swim a rapid river, again to leave his horse standing alone in the open193 whilst he creeps over a ridge to reconnoitre a valley, or to ride for his life or freedom over stiff fences or big ditches. à propos of this, a story is related of seydlitz. he had been telling frederick the great that a cavalryman should never be taken alive. one day the king was riding with him over a bridge, and in order to try and prove him wrong, gave an order to the advanced guard to face about and close one end of the bridge, and to the next files coming on similarly to close the other end. he then asked seydlitz what he would do now. seydlitz put his horse at the parapet and leapt over it into the stream. this was a high trial for the manners of the horse as well as the determination of the man.
undoubtedly a good swordsman on a perfectly trained horse should account for any three men of ordinary ability mounted on average horses. napoleon said that “two mamelukes could make head against three french cavalrymen, but that one thousand french cuirassiers could easily beat fifteen hundred mamelukes.” one showed high individual training of man and horse in single combat, and the other collective training as a troop or squadron. both are difficult of attainment, and both point to considerable trouble, forethought, and knowledge on the part of the trainer.
in the days of the professional soldier the training of the horse was probably at a higher standard than at present, because it was made plain to every man’s mind that a good horse meant honour, profit, and safety to him. there was, therefore, as much194 competition for a horse which was likely to train well, and for a trained horse, as there is nowadays for a finished hunter or polo pony trained on similar lines.
in all ages there have been some men who could do wonders on horses quite unrideable by others, but the exceptions are not to the point. we have to consider how to train horses in a manner suitable to cavalry work.
in the first place, concurrently with his physical development, a point requiring the closest attention, the squadron horse must be trained to answer to certain conventional aids, so that any man in the squadron who applies these will find the horse answer implicitly to them. now, let any one who wishes to study the aids exhaustively, and set up a line of conduct in the training of the horse for himself, turn a fresh young horse loose in a riding-school or enclosed manège, and keep him on the move, with a whip, if necessary. let him note how the horse bears and uses his head, neck, leg, forehand, and haunches, as he bends and turns. the most correct aids are those indications by the reins, weight of body, legs, whip, and spur which a rider applies, so as to produce the natural preliminary attitudes for the flexion, pace, or movement desired.
if the observant horseman follows this line, he will find that he must make a rule, first, not to apply unnatural aids, and secondly, not to apply more than one aid at a time in the early stages of instruction of either man or horse.
now take for instance the case of a horse which turns on his shoulders at a sharp gallop; it will be195 noticed that he stops immediately after turning; but if, on the other hand, he turns on his haunches at the gallop, it is with a view to going on in his new direction at the same or a faster pace. therefore the rider will do well to collect his horse on the haunches as he turns at the gallop, if that is the pace at which he wishes to continue in the new direction. whereas if he turns, meaning to stop, he will pull one—say the left—rein, and (in the later stage of the training) add the aid of the drawn-back left leg to circle the horse’s quarters round his forehand.93
such will be the outcome of his observations on the loose horse in the manège, and following this system he will fix in his own mind, with the assistance of the book, a list of natural aids. the fact is, that nature has taught the horse to act in such a way as to utilize the mechanism of his head, neck, body, limbs, and even tail to the greatest advantage in his movements. we note these and adapt them to the aids, which we can apply by means of our mechanical devices, such as the reins, and by our natural devices, such as the legs and the weight of the body.94
habits of long standing have accustomed horsemen196 to apply, often quite unknown to themselves, certain aids to which their horse answers. they are often incorrect, slovenly, or not to the best advantage of horse or man, but their owners are satisfied, and often with a very inadequate repertoire. but when it is a question of fighting on horseback, we want to get a lightning-like system of aids, so that we may get where the adversary least expects us, or wishes us to be, and kill him. the man with experience in riding, a quick eye, a blood-horse under him, which he himself has trained, can “play with” one or two, or even three, adversaries who have not these advantages.
undoubtedly since 1902 steps have been made towards an improvement in the training of the squadron horse. there are fewer “shooting stars,” that is, horses who bolt out of the ranks, and fewer horses who refuse to leave the ranks; the horses go better across country, and are, generally speaking, suited for campaign riding. under the old canterbury system much time was spent with a view to showing up a good ride of haute école animals, whilst the new system aims at training a horse which will go well in the ranks, and will be generally useful on a campaign, either in single combat or for a scout’s riding, or for work in the ranks.
197 the horse is now trained a great deal in the open, whereas under the old system it was trained almost entirely in a school or manège, and not in the open. whilst by no means underrating the value and convenience of a riding-school, there is little doubt that the old system made the horse a stupid animal and quite unable to look after himself or his rider in a rough country.95 under the new system the limited intelligence of the horse is exploited to a considerable degree.
whilst officers of continental cavalry spend considerably more time than english officers in the training of their remounts, this is to some extent counterbalanced by the opportunities which the latter have of riding to hounds over difficult country, pig-sticking, and playing polo. for the mêlée the latter is a splendid training, whilst the two former give an officer an eye for country, and a decision in crossing it, unobtainable in any other fashion.
after estimating the instruction and advantages gained by cavalry officers taking part in these and other sports, which are really a preparation for and the “image of war,” it may be reasonably asserted that the british government by no means gets the worst of the bargain.96
198 at the same time it is undoubtedly a slur on any cavalry officer that he should be unable to train a remount. if he is not a rich man, it is well worth his while to learn, so as to train his own polo ponies and hunters. many officers do so most successfully. scores of horses, cast as unruly animals, are, by the aid of some of our riding-school methods, quickly brought to hand, and turn out most useful and temperate hunters or polo ponies. a comparison of military and civilian horsemanship is not a desirable theme, but it is surprising how many of the horsemen of the nation, even those who ride to hounds and between flags, are profoundly ignorant of all-round horsemanship and horse-training. the writer recently counted only four horses, out of some twenty running in an important race at punchestown, a right-handed course, which passed the stand with the right leg leading. the four who were leading with the right leg gained at least four or five lengths at the next fence, which is on the turn.
very few six-year-old hunters answer to their rider’s legs, or are really nice horses to ride. a bending lesson every day for a month in a good military rough-rider’s hands would do them an immense amount of good.
one of the recent innovations which has done most to improving our squadron horses in cross-country work is the introduction of the free-jumping lane for remounts: thanks to which horses get used to jumping, and regard it as fun instead of a penance accompanied by jabs in the mouth.
199 another most important factor in the training of remounts is the system of long reining. the colonel of a regiment, in which the horses were particularly well trained, assured me that he considered this proficiency was due principally to long reining. his system was to take a couple of non-commissioned officers, whom he found were getting too fat, and let them do all the long reining. when i saw them, neither of the long reiners were much too fat; both, from long practice, at often as many as fifteen or twenty remounts per diem, were such adepts that, in their hands, the remounts, as yet almost unbacked, had learnt nearly half their lessons. the value of this system no doubt depends largely on the operator. there may be something also in the adage, “who drives fat oxen should himself be fat.” the patient-minded man is an asset in this work.
a suggestion recently made that the reins should be carried from the bit to a pulley at the highest point of the pad, and then vertically to another pulley on the side, and so to the operator’s hands, is full of common-sense, as it ensures the horse holding his head right whilst there is control of the hind quarters.97
a system of giving prizes for the best-trained remount encourages a very deserving class of man in cavalry regiments, and evidences to all that the commanding officer is taking an interest in their work; the danger is that the men sometimes confuse circus tricks with legitimate training for campaign200 riding. if the commanding officer gets on the three or four best-trained horses before awarding the prize, and generally keeps an eye on the progress of the remounts in training, it will have a marked effect.
above all, rough methods, shouting in the riding school,98 and any attempt to hurry training should be discouraged; a horse takes a little time to learn in good hands, but it should be remembered that most of the gymnastics which he has to learn involve training muscles and sinews to an unnatural extent, and that this must be done with a weight on the horse’s back which nature did not contemplate.
if there is one thing more important than another in the training of a squadron horse it is that he should be taught to walk well, quickly, and freely. by constantly placing the fastest walking horses at the head of the rides, and teaching the men to ride with a fairly loose rein, this is soon effected. the result in a regiment where this has been consistently done is surprising.
once placed in the ranks the squadron leader should not lose sight of the horse, but watch his career. there is a key to every horse’s mouth, so it is said; certain it is that, whilst one squadron commander will see his horses tossing their heads, poking their noses, and going with their jaws set against one side of the bit, without in the least knowing what is the matter, another officer would201 in a short half-hour have loosened the curb there, adjusted a nose-band or added a martingale here, and have discovered an injured jaw in two other cases. for the latter he would order his farrier to make a carrago nose-band, or would improvise a string bridle with ten or twelve feet of small cord, so that the horses could go on with their work.
let us take an instance, then, of the actual value to the state of these two squadron commanders. in one case the horse becomes unmanageable from pain, develops bolting propensities, injures one or two riders, and is perhaps cast and sold for ￡5 as vicious. the value of the horse (￡40 by purchase at four years’ and ￡60 for two years’ keep, etc.) is ￡100. in the other case the mouth is healed and the animal does eight or nine years’ good service. the value to the state of an observant, skilled horse-manager as compared with an indifferent one is some ￡500 per annum. on service this value may be multiplied by 5 or 10.
