Jittery Horses

Although B Troop exists primarily for military ceremonies, we go through "event seasons" each year. We've just come out of what we call the "parade season" and have just started the "ceremony season". Since most military personnel rotate to new assignments during the summer when their kids are out of school, most change of command ceremonies occur in the summer. This gives everyone time to move from one location to another before school starts again in August. Our heavy ceremony schedule won't hit until June, but yesterday was our first retirement ceremony of the new season.

The first ceremony of the season is usually the toughest since the horses have gotten unused to the marching band, flags, and other distractions found on the parade field. Yesterday, was a milestone. Probably our worst performance in many years. We neglected to bring an "anchor" horse--that is, one that will stand on the right side of the line and hold the others in place. As a result, we could not hold the formation for more than a few minutes at a time. The horse on the end would move off the line and every other horse would start spinning. At various points during the ceremony we had all five horses spinning in circles like someone had loosed a bunch of giant spinning tops onto the field.

Fortunately, the horses were able to get through the "pass in review" portion of the ceremony without killing anyone. During this portion of the ceremony we march past the spectators. For some reason, the marching band always marches directly toward us as we pass in front of the reviewing party. This maneuver traps the horses between the crowd and the hated, horse-eating, marching band. I had images in my mind of my horse starting to spin as I marched past with the guidon staff in the salute position causing the unfortunate decapitation of a senior officer. Fortunately, we marched past without incident.

Since we survived the pass in review we then lined up for the post ceremony pistol charge. Four of the five horses we were riding were blazing fast so we were looking forward to a good time. Our acting commander put us into a skirmish line for the charge and tried to advance us from walk, to trot, to gallop per the manual. Unfortunately, my horse was having none of that. When the commander commanded us to go to a trot, my horse apparently heard "charge" and was off to the races at warp speed. There was no holding him. We were moving so fast that my hat brim flopped down over my eyes and for a few moments I was blind. I solved the problem by lifting my head which caused the brim to flop the other way--it looked stupid but at least I could see where I was going. I knew there was a sprinkler head sticking up somewhere on the left side of the field so I started moving my horse toward the right. The commander, on an equally fast horse, closed the distance and rode up on the right side. That is the moment captured in the picture you see above by Ty Holland. The horses were probably moving at about 35 mph although it seemed a lot faster. The thrill of the charge made the previous hour of fidgeting and spinning seem more tolerable. It is amazing how a good charge can change your perspective on everything.