Care of Leather and Riding Equipment
Published by the Cavalry School Academic Division,
Fort Riley, Kansas
1941
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Origin Tanning Classification Section II - Agents for Cleaning and Preserving Leather
General Cleaning Agents Preserving Agents CHAPTER 2
Section I - Care of Leather Equipment - General
- Service Requirements
- Equipment in Storage
- Equipment in Service
- General
- New Equipment
- Use of Repaired Equipment
- Equipment in Service
- Storage of Leather Equipment
SECTION III - Care of Other Riding Equipment
- Metal
- Wood
- Horse Covers
- Saddle Pads
- Saddle Blankets
- Cinches or Girths
- Use of Ammonia
CHAPTER 3
- General
The Cavalry School
Fort Riley, Kansas
August 1, 1940
Foreword
In our Cavalry a few officers have been interested in the scientific care of leather equipment but generally speaking interest in this important matter has been of a routine character. Commanders are frequently urged to condemn leather issued from stock as unserviceable because it is unsightly through lack of proper care. By scientific methods this same leather can have its beauty restored and its useful life prolonged. To teach the student officers and noncommissioned officers the proper method, a practical course in the care of leather and riding equipment has been introduced at the Cavalry School with the hope that the knowledge and interest acquired by the student will spread throughout the service.
This pamphlet has been prepared by First Lieutenant James 0. Curtis, jr., of the Department of Horsemanship, the instructor who conducted the course. In it are embodied the ideas and experience of many officers.
ROBERT C. RICHARDSON,
Brigadier General, U.S. Army, Commandant.
The Cavalry School
Fort Riley, Kansas
August 1, 1940
To the cavalryman, the care and preservation of horseflesh is a duty that in the last analysis amounts almost to a fetish. Above and beyond his love for horses and his interest in their well-being, the cavalryman knows that his life, the reputation of his arm, and the fate of his country may depend upon the application of his knowledge of horsemanship and horsemastership. He knows that in war the supply of remounts is definitely limited, for horses cannot be bred and raised by rapid production methods. He overcomes this great disadvantage, or does his best to do so, by exercising every possible care to conserve animal strength, and rightly so.
Regarding the care of the other items of his equipment, the same thing to a greater or lesser extent is also true. Certainly, his arms, - the pistol, the rifle, and machine gun, - are well cared for, as, habitually, is his clothing, for he has been taught and trained, and has been allowed sufficient time to care for them. Paradoxically, however, this does not seem to be true in one very important respect, - the care and preservation of his leather equipment. Why this is so, is not known. From any viewpoint, (money value, preservation of being, personal comfort) leather is an important item of the cavalryman's equipment. Like horseflesh, good leather cannot be supplied by rapid production methods in a national emergency, nor has any satisfactory substitute been devised for it in all categories. Experience has also proved that forces operating in the field are only as efficient in combat as their equipment is serviceable. Therefore, it behooves every cavalry commander to exercise all available means to maintain the leather equipment of his organization in its highest state of serviceability. As a step forward to the accomplishment of that end, this pamphlet is devoted.
All unit training programs should provide adequate time allotments for instruction in, and the care of, leather. It is the responsibility of organization commanders to utilize such time to the end that recruits are properly instructed, and that others put into practice the best available knowledge in caring for and preserving leather equipment.
DORSEY R. RODNEY,
Colonel, Cavalry,
Assistant Commandant.