Learn to Ride


"To add to the job, we were presented with gas masks for the horses. The mask was a flannel-hood arrangement saturated with hexamine, and had a pad inside which fitted into the animal's mouth like a bit. The hood covered the horse's nostrils and almost reached to his eyes.

Along came instruction in adjusting respirators on horses. We were told of the value of horses, how scarce they were, and informed that a horse was worth four men. Our government could get a soldier by sending out a post card, but the procurance of a horse was not such an easy task. So, in the case of a gas attack, the mask was first to be put on the helpless animal-the man being a secondary consideration."

- Sergeant Howard L. Fisher, 306th Field Artillery, 77th Division

 

British cavalryman and a horse wearing gas masks

British cavalryman and horse wearing gas masks.

The War of the Nations Portfolio (New York: The New York Times Co., 1919), 154.

(image 18 of 45)

United States
ca. 1914-1918
101 x 72 cm