During the Great Patriotic War a KSPM (a horse gas mask of small size with filter canisters) mask of 1943 was designed to protect the respiratory organs of horses. It was a rubber mask with a layer of cloth on the outside and two charcoal filters on the sides.

The first horse gas masks entered into service in 1928. The last model of this breathing device was developed in 1943. It was worn on the horse according to the “Instructions for the use of the horse gas mask.” The horse could breathe purified air for four hours on contaminated terrain.

Horses underwent special training to get used to wearing gas masks for extended periods of time. In the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army the program for the horses ran for 8 days, provided the horses had already been trained for standard work. Thus, on the first day the horse spent 30 minutes at rest, pacing and trotting in a gas mask. And by the eighth day of training, the horse was supposed to walk 25 km in a gas mask in about three hours.

The KSPM horse gas mask was produced in the 1930s and 1950s and was one of the first examples of a fully-functioning gas mask for horses with a charcoal filter. The gas mask kit included a neck strap, rubber bands and a cloth bag. The mask was fitted with a snaffle bit with special carabiner clips.