the field artillery journal - Fort Sill - U.S. Army

IN THE FIELD
in the minds of our people. Why continue to advertise it by
marching in the face of the church-going, God-fearing,
peaceful communities of the country side who usually devote
this day to the practice of their religion?
Some commanding officers appear to be satisfied if the
average day's march of the itinerary is from twenty-one to twentytwo
miles; they evidently forget that on the days when long
marches of from twenty-five to twenty-eight miles are made
weary horses become much exhausted on the last six miles.
It is well known to horsemen that the endurance of the
horses of a battery as a whole must be judged by the strength of
its weakest team. The weakest team should be capable of doing
twenty-five miles per day for a period of four or five days
without showing undue exhaustion under fair conditions of
roads, water and forage. No horse should be taken along with a
battery if it is at all doubtful that he is fit to do his full share of
the work.
From time to time severe tests have been made with the
object of determining the endurance of military animals in the
field. The result of these tests from any point of view proves
nothing except that at their conclusion the majority of the
animals are practically exhausted and do not fully recover from
the strain for several days. In time of need animals must be
forced to the very limit of their endurance and that limit is as
dependent upon the horse sense and horsemanship of the
officer in command as it is upon the condition of the animals
themselves. It is probably true that one officer may be capable
of doing fifty miles a day for three days and still have his
battery in fighting shape while another handling the same
battery under similar conditions would go to pieces on the road
before one hundred and twenty miles had been accomplished.
From this it may be gleaned that endurance of battery horses is
as dependent upon the officer as it is upon grade, condition and
conformation of the animals themselves.
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