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HORSES AS HEROES OF WAR. Thoroughbreds at the Front Get Best of Food and Excellent Care — Many from This Country. It would be difficult to find a more pampered band of beings than the war horses. In the stress of battle they suffer with the men. but the number of equine "casualties" among the hundreds of thousands of horses employed is small. There are veterans among tic horses which have hosa wounded three or four times: there are even those which have suffered nervous breakdowns from the shattering shock of shells. If they were men in khaki they would have gold stripes of honor upon their sleeves, but the faithful old horses go back to the front time and time again, asking nothing in the way of rank or distinction. What they get instead is the best of food and plenty of it, the kindest of care and the keenest appreciation of the services they render. Visitors to the battle zone invariably express amazement at the appearance and condition of the horses. Just now they an- snug and warm under the self-protection of their long winter coats. They are fat and strong-museled. They plod and splash contentedly through the mud in twos, threes, fours or twelves, dragging guns and heavy wagons behind them with never the necessity of a harsh word of a whiplash from their drivers. The men come to love the horses. Officers who have been at the front from the beginning—and then are still a few left — say that in all that tim a they have never seen an act of cruelty toward a horse or mule. Diseases Stamped Out. One reason for the splendid appearance of the le.rses at the front, is the fact that the moment one hsajhas to show signs of over rathrae or debilitation he is taken out of service :md sent back to a hospital to recuperate. ffosslsaaWj. too. the horses come down with mud blisters npon their backs, with an injured foot that may not have been noticed in time, or with some of the diseases that equine flesh is heir to. It is a great tribute to the veterinary services, however, Mart most of the old contagious diseases that used to decimate the ranks of horses in war time have been effectually stamped out and no longer give concern. Chinders. for instance, onr-e a dread scourge, is new a thing of the past. None of the horses ii, France are infected. Occasionally a case comes with a new shipment from abroad, but it is quickly eliminated. At the cud of two years of the South African war fully ninety per cent of the horses had been affected by the mange. Dating the present war, with tiie number ol horses engaged multiplied by thousands, less Hsu two per cent have been affected. The mules have been even less involved. As a matter of fact, the antes are so tough and hardy they seldom enter into the veterinary statistics. The hospitals provided for them by the army must nearly appioaeh the horses idea of heaveii. It is a joy to go into one of tie convalescent "wards." espeeially at meal times. Sometimes the convalescents stand almost nose to nose, and if the horse aero.- the way gets his hay first there is a terrible hullabaloo. A particularly ravenous patient now and then not only will cat his portion of hay but tilt rei e net that surrounds it. Fed Four Times a Day. All the horse in hospitals are fed four times a day. The more debilitated ones are fed live and six times. When they are part icularly run flown anil in danger of being mistaken for a sort of boneyard hatrack. the patients get nothing but cooked foods, and they fairly revel in them. They have tonics, too, and it is remarkable to see the improvement in their condition that a few weeks work. The diet for "debilities" consists of oatmeal gruel, linseed gruel, boiled turnips and scalded oats. later they get crushed oats and chopped hay, and almost before they know it are in the convalescent ward. The operating rooms with their big beds spread ■poo tin concrete Poors are as cheery and immaculate as if intended for human beings. For all except the most minor eperattsM an anaesthetic is administered. "The horses take the chloroform remarkably well." said the officer commanding one of the hospitals. "I think we have lost but one patient in the last six months." "Patient" seems a most appropriate designation for the horses. Tl.ey are pictures of patieme until they reach the stage of convalescence. Each patient has a little aluminum tag a ml a hospital chart which tells his age. color, where In- came from, what he shall have to eat and drink and take, when he shall have a nice hot hath, and various notations as to his condition and behavior. There is a personal touch about the treatment of the horses, which in itself bespeaks the esteem in which they are held. Walking about tiie wards the " . C." had a kind word or two for his patients. It seemed a particularly human thing to do. And he patted most of them and called many by name. A Glass Eye for One. "This old charger," he said of one. "is a great raverita in the hospital. He has been one of the bravest of tin- brave, has lost an eye in battle, and so we call him Nelson. I am going to send to Paris and get him a good glass eye before he goes back to the front, so none of the other horses will have a chasm to swank it over him. It wont really be a glass eye, because they are made of a composition not so fragile. The horses do not mind the artificial eyes at all and they look awfully well in them." So thorough is the work of the veterinary service that if a patient develops a contagious disease, all the horses in the unit from which he came are called in for disinfection and examination. So successful is the work that eighty -two per cent of all sick cases and "casualties" are returned to active service. "If we wan dcaliug with human beings." said the officer commanding, "we could run the percentage up to the nineties. But unfortunately in dealing with horses we have at times to weigh their cases in the scales of pounds, shillings and peace. In other words, we have to decide whether it will pay to save the animal. Is he too old to be of much service when he is cured, or will the course of treatment be so long and expensive as to outweigh the value of future usefulness V In striving for war efficiency and the highest potentiality of horses power, all these things must be considered. It is the old, old story again of the survival of the fittest. There is no other way." Some idea of the number of American horses "doing their bit" in the war can lie gained from the fact that forty per cent of all admitted to the hospital coine from the United States.
