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While the short-lived Cavalry Bureau failed to accomplish much, it set a precedent for future remount programs.
purchased, their efforts came to nothing. Few cavalry officers inspected horses before purchasing them. As a result, the agency continued to provide the Union Army with unfit horses.
Despite its many flaws, the Cavalry Bureau did make one notable contribution to the war effort. During 1863, the agency constructed two remount depots near Washington D.C. and St. Louis, Missouri. The sprawling facilities were supplied by nine smaller sites and could house up to 12,000 horses. Although the Cavalry Bureau itself became defunct in mid 1864, these depots remained operational until the end of the Civil War.
While the short-lived Cavalry Bureau failed to accomplish much, it set a precedent for future remount programs. Fifty years
after the Civil War, the Quartermaster Corps determined that the country wasn’t producing enough lightweight riding horses to meet the needs of the cavalry. The main problem was that farmers were largely only breeding heavier horses. “In the corn belt and in the irrigated section of the West,” a 1911 government article read, “the draft horse is becoming the farmer’s horse almost to the exclusion of horses of the light type.”
The Army responded by establishing
the Remount Service in 1908. This time,
the agency built seven major facilities in Colorado, Idaho, Virginia, Kentucky, Wyoming, Texas, and California. At first, these depots simply processed horses that the government had purchased from stockmen. However, experts quickly realized that
“the military needed a formal breeding program to obtain the type of horses it sought.” Finally, the Army decided to take matters into their own hands. Starting
in the 1910s, the Remount Service began obtaining stallions who seemed likely to produce athletic, intelligent offspring. These approved sires were then loaned at nominal fees to agents (stockmen who agreed to breed them to their mares). Under the terms of the service, the Army reserved the right to buy their stallions’ offspring if they deemed them fit for service. This agreement benefitted both parties. While the Army was able to bolster their cavalry, breeders earned a sizable amount of money – about $165 by the mid 1920s – per horse they sold. Moreover, agents were allowed to keep the horses that the military didn’t use. Due to the convenience of the program, many private operations,
including major Quarter Horse farms
like the King Ranch, Burnett Ranch, and Waggoner Ranch, used remount stallions.
The Remount Service also had a positive impact the quality of American bloodlines. Because the agency sought well-bred
stallions, owners of “high class registered Thoroughbreds,” were encouraged to include their horses in the service. A number of former Thoroughbred racehorses were soon admitted into the program. In 1922, the owners of Henry Of Navarre, a Belmont Stakes winner, Horse of the Year, and future Hall of Famer, donated him to the Remount Service. Twenty years later, Sir Barton, the first winner of the American Triple Crown, stood at depots in Virginia and Nebraska.
Unfortunately, even though the Remount Service was infinitely more effective than
the Cavalry Bureau, it still had its share of problems. For one, the horses that the military purchased didn’t always receive adequate training. “Once a horse quit bucking,” a veteran from Fort Robinson remembered, “we’d call them well broke and gentle. Some of the cavalry and artillery didn’t quite agree with that classification, but that’s the way they were issued out,” he continued.
During the service’s heyday, approximately 18,000 mares were bred to government stallions each year, producing 12,000 foals.
A number of top Thoroughbred racehorses were admitted into the program including Sir Barton, the first winner of the Triple Crown.
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