Small Horses in Warfare

The best authority on the breeds used by the Arabs of Northern Africa is probably General E. Daumas, who held high commands in Algeria and was for a time the French Consul at Mascara. The Chasseurs d'Afrique are mounted on Barbs, and thus the capabilities of these horses were of practical importance to this officer; moreover, he took a very keen personal interest in all matters relating to the horse, and spared no endeavour to inform himself concerning the breed of the country in which he resided. Hence the description in General Daumas' book, The Horses of the Sahara: with Commentaries by the Emir Abd El Kadr (1863) is accepted as the standard on the Barb.

[2] The Barb, there is no possible doubt, is of pure Arab origin: in the seventh century, when the Fatimite sect of Mohammedans held sway in Egypt, numerous Arab tribes migrated to Africa and gradually spread over the whole of the northern portion of the continent; the horses they brought with them spread in like manner.

The letters of the famous Emir to General Daumas, containing categorical replies to questions put by the latter, show that the Barbs possess endurance in a very remarkable degree. Their average height is nowhere mentioned in this work, but they are, as we believe, somewhat smaller than the Arab in his native country and in India. There is a suggestive hint of their small size in a remark by General Daumas: he says that inexperienced horsemen with their spurs "sometimes prick the animal on the knee-pan and so lame him if the wound be deep." Assuming that the average height of the horseman be 5 feet 6 inches, and making due allowance for the "straight-legged" seat of the cavalry man, the General's remark points to a horse certainly not over 14 hands.

In answer to General Daumas' enquiry as to the amount of work a Barb can do, the Emir replies:--

"A horse sound in every limb and eating as much barley as his stomach can contain can do whatever his rider can ask of him. For this reason the Arabs say, 'give barley and over-work him,' but without tasking him over much a horse can be made to do about sixteen parasangs (equal to about fifty English miles) a day, day after day. It is the distance from Mascara to Koudiat Aghelizan on the Oued-Mina: it has been measured in cubits. A horse performing this journey every day, and having as much barley as it likes to eat, can go on without fatigue for three or four months without lying by a single day."

The Arabs on their razzias, or cattle-stealing expeditions, of necessity travel with as little encumbrance as possible: on such expeditions, which may require twenty or twenty-five days' rapid travel, each horseman carries only enough barley to give his mount eight feeds. In some parts of the Sahara green food is never given; frequent watering is recommended by all Arab horsemen.

An Arab of the Arbâa tribe gave General Daumas full particulars of a ride he once undertook to save a highly prized mare from the hands of the Turks. In twenty-four hours he rode her eighty leagues, and during the journey she obtained nothing to eat but leaves of the dwarf palm, and was watered once.

More directly bearing on our present enquiry are the particulars furnished by Colonel Duringer of the weights carried in most of the expeditions by the horses of the Chasseurs d'Afrique. These details were ascertained by the Colonel at the moment of departure of a column:--Horseman, 180 lbs.; equipment, 53 lbs.; pressed hay for five days, 55 lbs.; barley for same period, 44 lbs. The man's own provisions brought up the total burden to about 350 lbs. English = 25 stone! Daily consumption of hay and grain would reduce this colossal burden gradually; but the horse would never carry less than 16 stone 9 lbs. at the end of his journey, starting with the load described.

As regards forced marches of comparatively short duration, Colonel Duringer states that

"A good horse in the desert ought to accomplish for five or six days, one after the other, distances of 25 to 30 leagues. After a couple of days' rest, if well fed he will be quite fresh enough to repeat the feat. It is no very rare occurrence to hear of horses doing 50 or 60 leagues in twenty-four hours."

PONIES IN MOROCCO.

Mr. T. E. Cornwell, who has had twenty years' experience of travel and residence in Morocco, gives the ponies in common use in that country a high character as weight carriers and for endurance on scanty food; they are also very sure-footed. These horses he describes as Barbs, very hardy with thick shoulders; they average 14 hands 2 inches, rarely attaining a height of 15 hands. They generally receive a feed of rough straw in the morning and a ration of barley, from 6 to 7 lbs., at night; they are watered (when water can be obtained) once a day. Grass can be had at some seasons of the year, but the horses, being tethered during halts, cannot graze, and as the task of cutting grass would entail delay it is never used.

Mr. Cornwell, a 14 stone man, has ridden one of these ponies for thirty-two consecutive days, with only one day's rest, covering an average of thirty miles per day.

General Maclean, who for a long period was the "Kaid" or Commander-in-Chief of the Sultan's forces in Morocco, once tried the experiment of stabling his horses instead of picketing out in the open, which is the usual practice. The experiment did not answer, for on his next expedition every horse died; shelter for a period had no doubt rendered them susceptible to maladies brought on by exposure at night. These ponies could be purchased at a figure ranging from £8 to £11 per head. An export duty of £3 10s., which is levied on every horse sent out of Morocco, must be added to these rates by foreign purchasers.

Mr. Cornwell states that an infusion of English blood does nothing to improve these hardy Morocco ponies. Blood horses from England have been imported and crossed with the native mares, but the produce have always been leggy and less capable of continued hard work than the native breed.

PONIES IN EASTERN ASIA.

The pony commonly used in China is bred in the northern part of the country. According to a writer in Baily's Magazine, immense droves of ponies run on the plains three or four hundred miles from Pekin, and the breeders bring them down every year for sale in the more populous districts. They average about 13.1 in height, and though in very wretched condition when brought to market, pick up rapidly on good food. They are usually short and deep in the barrel, have good legs and feet, and fairly good shoulders. Speed is not to be expected from their conformation; but they can carry heavy weights, are of robust constitution and possess great endurance.

The Burmese ponies are smaller than the Chinese, averaging about 12 hands 2 inches, a thirteen-hand pony being considered a big one. They are generally sturdy little beasts with good shoulders, excellent bone and very strong in the back; sound, hardy and enduring, capable of doing much continuous hard work under a heavy weight on indifferent food. Like the Chinese ponies, they are somewhat slow, but they are marvellous jumpers.

Before the annexation of Upper Burma in 1885 the lower province was dependent upon the breeders of the Shan Hills and on the breeders in independent Burma for its ponies, as the export of stallions and mares was forbidden.

Since the annexation the Indian Government have sought to improve the native breed by the introduction of Arab pony stallions; the superior size and good looks of the "Indo-Burman," as the cross-bred is called, are, the writer understands, steadily leading to the disappearance of the pure Burmese. The half-bred Arab has much to recommend him over the pure Burmese pony in greater docility and speed; but these advantages appear to have been gained at some sacrifice of weight-carrying power and endurance.

Captain M. H. Hayes, in The Points of the Horse, states that the ponies of Sumatra, averaging about 12 hands 2 inches, are the strongest for their size he has ever seen. He describes them as "simply balls of muscle," and notes the beauty of their heads, which would seem to distinguish them as a breed from the ponies found on the mainland. The Corean pony is the smallest of Eastern breeds, but his extraordinary weight-carrying power makes him a marvel: averaging about ten hands in height and slight of build, he is nevertheless able to carry a full-grown man, on a saddle secured over a pile of rugs to atone for his small size, and to do a long day's work under a burden wholly disproportionate to his inches.

PONIES IN AUSTRALIA.

The Australian "mail-man," or mounted postman, whose duty it is to distribute and collect letters at the remote and scattered "stations" far from railway centres, prefers small horses for his arduous work, which demands endurance and speed. Thus they are described by "Australian Native" in the Field of June 11, 1892:--

"The mail-man's riding horse is of an entirely different class [from the pack horse which carries the bags], and is probably best described as a 'big little' animal, or a symmetrical, typical English three-quarter bred hunter of 16 to 16.2 focused into 13.2 or 13.3, with slightly higher withers, which gives the appearance of a somewhat low back."

"Bearing in mind the character of mail-men's duty, it becomes evident that of necessity their horses must possess combined stamina, high courage and speed. The stamp described have these qualities in a marked degree, and, in addition, their natural paces of jog--not an amble--and daisy-cutting canter not only enable them to get over the ground with great ease to themselves but also to their riders. Moreover, these small animals are not readily knocked up, but when they do get stale and leg-weary through extra hard work on little food, a few days on good grass is sufficient for them to regain their vitality. In Australian parlance, they are 'cut-and-come-again customers,' and unlike big horses, which, when they knock up, knock up for an indefinitely long period.

"The smartest stock horses, those in use for drafting cattle, are also small, handy and well up to 12 stone, and as their prices are the same as mail-men's nags, from £4 to £8 per head, the evidence in favour of small horses for utilitarian purposes, and also on the score of economy, preponderates. Would such small animals, withal tough and wiry, be suitable for light cavalry?"

The answer to the concluding query is undoubtedly "Yes."

PONIES IN AMERICA AND TEXAS.

The ponies of North-West America are famed for their powers of endurance, which are the more remarkable in view of their make and shape. These animals are without doubt the descendants of stock introduced by the Spaniards when they invaded Mexico early in the 16th century; the offspring of these Spanish horses in course of time spread over the whole continent.

Colonel Richard Irving Dodge remarks, in his work Our Wild Indians (1882), that the horses introduced by the Spaniards must have been very inferior in size, or the race has greatly degenerated; as compared with the American horse, the Indian pony is very small. As the subsequent observations of Colonel Dodge prove, these ponies, if they have lost size have lost absolutely nothing in working qualities; they have become adapted to their conditions of life and have probably gained in hardiness of constitution and endurance. He writes:--