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UNCLE SAMS ARMY HORSE HOME. Description of the Work and Stock at the Fort Reno Training Grounds. The experiment of establishing at Kort Reno. Okla.. a rem.. unt depot for the purchase and training! of horses for the different branches of army service is now under wav. This is the only remount depot in the United States, and if it is succesful others will be established in different parts of the country. The experiment is due to General J. B. Aleshire. qnarteiinasfer-aeneral. win. bettered la it and talked for il during II. e •naiiy years he as in regular s.r I.-.- as a eavalrv otlie.-r. Iuropeau countries have 1. ng had such departments lor th.-ir armies, even to the extent of breeding hnrnts. The purpose of the rtmeaul depot is to get the ! .-• and longest service from army horses at the least cost. The average length of service of a cavalry horse, for instance, is from seven to eight years, and mast cavalry liorses are alN.ul -even years old when purchased, though four years i- lie-age at which preferably they should beads service. This difference is due to the fact that after a horse is broken at the age of about tour year--, the breeder wants to keep him during the three or four years of his greatest strength and usefulness, and not until the horse is seven or eight ran old is he placed on the market. At the remount input It is estimated that fifty per cent, is added to the length of a horses per vice if he is bought when three or four years old and that an unbroken horse at this age may lie bought for much less money than a broken horse seven or eight years old. The remount depot at Kort Reno has a present capacity for 1.300 horses. whi h may be increased Indefinitely. It is situated u a tract of beautiful land containing nearly lo.ono acres, well adapted for the maneuvering of horses. The old barracks buildings have been chanced into stables, and ill addition two new staid.- ive been built. The depot was opened in April l:i" and tie-first horses received in the following .Tulv. Because of his knowledge of eipiitatini Captain L. Hardeman of the cavalry service was sent from the quartermaster-generals deiartment a 1*1 put in charge of the depot, assisted bv Lieutenant W. P. Ennis of the First lield Artillery. The spectacular feats of tie bronco buster on western ranches and in wild west -how- bare no place in the work that is hakkg don- it the remount .1. ot. If possible, uu horse i- e»ei net mitie.i to know thai theft is »ncfa 1 thing as sucking or pitching, the idea Irsing ; train him. ui l break him. Gentleness is employed at all ti nes. The irerag* con-hoy .eins usually by ropiMV. !- .•:- !;-tiitf a - -ctuei bit in his month, ilmlifint his beavj saddle -• eurely. and then springing astride the trig. item d animal with a ki vi, a dig of two sharp spurs ami .1 stJi ng cut of a sadrt. The horse is ridden until exhausted or his spirit broken, and ilus method Is continued until he becomes amenable to saddle, bridle and rider. The belief is common that the western horse is tetiirally wild and vicious, but it is not accepted by Captain Hardeman, who points to Montana range horses at tM remount depot that have been made as gentle as the driving horse of an old farmer. The violent throwing of I saddle ou the back of a young norse frightens him. and his instinct is to rid himself of the strange object and his natural stay of doing it Is by bucking. At I-ort Reno a young horse is haltered and aa effort made gently to lead liiiu. He is pelted and Caressed to gain lis confidence. He soon grows p CCUS touted to the halter and finally the bridle. His legs are stroked, and in time his trainer i-able to handle the horses feet. Then a blanket i-placed gently on his back, this gives wav to the saddle and the horse is taken to his stall, where he stands saddled for bonis at a lime. Next conies the mounting of the rider. Unaccustomed to weight in the stirrup or a man on his back, the horse is inclined to siiy. The trainer puts his foot Into the stirrup many times before mounting. Once in the saddle and the horse, no longer fearful of danger, the rider then tea. lies obedience to the bridle and the three gaits required of every army horse, walking, trotting and gallop. but. Theory and practice cannot always be made l!e same, even at an army ri mount depot, as a liatur ally vicious haras i- found occasionally and ■ g.io.1 many are spttBed before they are received at the depot. Riders are thrown. Just as they are in the range country, and oo-asiouallv an intractable home is subdued by hard ridine. Ior vicious horses iutended for the artillery ser vice a kind of merry-go-round is ased. Heavy timbers are fastened together In the shape of the letter A. the apex of which is attached to a heavy stake sunk firmly in the ground, and on the ends of the side timbers an- wheels tak.-n from a gun carriage. The fractious horse is tied to one of th -side timbers, the crossbar of the letter serving as the inner shaft. The outer shall swings on a bolt, with one end free, and is used to push the horse against the other shaft, alter which the free end is bolted into place. The tugs are then hooked into heavy lins gad g strong kicking strati drawn over the horses back. If he refuses to move forward a mule is liit.-h.-.l to the merry-go-round and away they go. The horse runs in a circle, with a driver in a seat behind him. The requirement that army horses shall be bought by contract has been lifted for the rein. .unt depot and Captain Hardeman authorized to huv in the open market. No horse less than three yean old b bought and a three-year-old must not be b-s than fifteen hands high and weigh not less than N."VO iH.uiids. Four years- is the minimum age at which a haras can 1k pad into active army service. A total of !MM horses have Ix-en bought, of wlib-u COO are now at the depot, the others having been Shipped to the different garrisons. The horse-, mane thorough or half thoroughbred, came from Montana. Kentucky. Missouri. Colorado Texas and Oklahoma. The Oklahoma horse is seldom ile-iral.le. because of Ms small size, due to breeding the old time rang pontes. The Missouri horse is looked upon as the l est that eoines to the depot. He has more soliditv and strength than the Kentucky horse, which has a breedy api* aran -o. but lacks endurance. Then is no decrying the Kentucky horse, however. The lilnegrass thoroughbred and his close kin are discernible at a glance among the hundreds of horses in the .orral-. There are a number of strikingly beautiful Kentucky horses at Kort Reno and .1 number are being prepared for service at West Point The depot has a hospital where all injured or si.-k horses are treated by a veterinarian I i-temper is a common disease and i- resisted by tie injection of the Pasteur lymph for this ailne-.i Immediately upon his arrival this ivmph is injected into each horse. It seems to have les- merit 1- 1 preventive than as a curative, and for the latter seems to lie almost a specific. Civilians are employed as riders at 0 1 moat • together with board ami medical service lln-u-are men lroni North Carolina. Tennessee Missouri Oklahoma. Montana. Colorado. Kansas and Call for -Bin, and several days ago two from Vermont puli.-.l off their bats in Captain Hardemans olHce and a-ke.l for employment. Each man. after proving his knowledge of badling lorses. is put in charge .d ten burses. The men ride at will over the prairies often in groups, an I seem to find much pleas are in their work There is chance foe promotion to stable boas with better pay. There is no fancy riding of the circus kind, laeh troop captain usually has his own ideas of what n eavalry basse Should know and do bv wav of drill preparation, and tl is feature of a horse* edu.aii.11 is left lo the li.Ki!. captains and th.-ir drillmasti-f-s. Should the experiment St l-.-i 1 Keuo i.i-ov.- a smi-e.-s-. other remount depots are to he established in different stales as a nutter of eeouomj in freight epenses. the cost or -hipping burses I rem Port Reno to the Atlantic coast, for instance, belM great,
