d tear of the kit, but also
because with lighter weights we can undertake in the same time more
exercises, covering a greater area, than would otherwise be possible
without knocking up the horses. Much may be used in defence of this
procedure from the point of view of the training of the Leaders, but
the dangers to the true training of the troops themselves for War
must not be overlooked, and practice under full War service conditions
must thus ever remain the keystone of our whole educational edifice.

But it is not only the training in galloping which suffers from this
practice of riding light. The preparation of the horses as regards
endurance suffers equally, for patrols and long-distance rides are
generally undertaken with stripped saddles; it is only for manoeuvres
and the larger tactical exercises away from the garrison that marching
order is carried. To me this system seems hardly rational. Rather, it
would appear to me, must such sudden increase in the weights on the
horses tend to break them down, and experience confirms this view, for
the first day's marches in the manoeuvres in marching order tire out
the horses to a quite disproportionate degree.

We can never eliminate this evil altogether, for the attempt would
entail either marching order all the year round, or the limitation of
practical exercises to certain periods of the year only, both or
either of which would conflict on the one hand with the necessity of
saving the horses as much as possible, on the other with the needs of
the military training of the men; but a gradual increase in the loads
carried and distances covered seems well within the scope of a
practical policy.

The Company Commander, who wishes to get his men fit for marching,
increases quite gradually and systematically the weight in the men's
knapsacks, till these are scarcely noticed as a hindrance by their
wearers, and similarly one could arrange in the Cavalry. In each
period we should begin with stripped saddles, progressing onwards to
the full kit; but the inspections of tactical units, and the final
inspection in individual combat, should fundamentally be taken in full
marching order always, and horses should be prepared gradually for the
full weight carried in the manoeuvres.

I believe such a system would not only bring about a considerable
improvement in the training for War both of men and horses, but would
secure us from many disappointments by insuring in the Leaders a