uitable distances between the several bodies;
otherwise there is a continuous hurrying up or checking of the
rearward detachments, which strains the horses to the very utmost.

One must always arrange for the halts necessary for the horses, water
them whenever opportunity offers, and never continue a movement to the
complete exhaustion of the animals. Well-timed periods of rest
increase the collective power of endurance of the horses most
materially, and as the training improves, the demands made upon them
can gradually be raised.

To bring this greater improvement into harmony with the military
requirements of the situation, next in importance to an intelligent
execution of a rational marching system comes a wise economy of forces
with regard to the performance of detached duties and patrolling. It
is particularly with the Divisional Cavalry that the lavish assignment
of orderlies and messengers to the leaders of the other Arms and to
the Infantry outposts has to be kept in check, and it must be insisted
upon that the men thus allotted should be returned punctually to their
commands, and not be employed in duties for which they are not
intended.

Thus one finds Generals who use their messengers as patrols even when
special patrols have been entrusted with this duty; others who keep
the detachments assigned to the outposts long after the outposts
themselves have been relieved. In all these things there is a
tremendous waste of energy, which must be all the more injurious the
smaller the proportion of Cavalry which can be detailed to the
Infantry Divisions.

It is a special duty of every Cavalry Commander to resist this
tendency to the utmost of his power.

Apart from the regulation of the marching column and the economy of
forces above referred to, a rational treatment of the rearward
communications, particularly with the Independent Cavalry, will go far
to maintain the troops in efficiency, and is also from the strategic
point of view an important part of the Leader's duty. The daily
despatch of numerous requisitioning detachments to great distances
weakens and diminishes the troops to an inadmissible degree, unless it
is managed with a wise foresight and on a rational system; often on
great marches it will be altogether impossible. Then the horses must
manage with what they find at their halting-places for the night. In
the case of great concentration this will be altogether insufficient.
Short rations reduce t