Demo Riding

Now that our cavalry riding school is finished we can concentrate on our own training. We have gone back to Wednesday night musters and are concentrating on preparing for our cavalry riding demonstration next month. Fort Huachuca has an annual, week-long event in June during which they induct deserving people into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame. It is a pretty big deal and, of course, B Troop performs its riding demonstration as part of it.

Those of us who've been riding for a number of years know the routine fairly well but we have to bring the new troopers up to speed as well as our new horses. I've never ridden the Wonder Horse in the demo so I've been riding him frequently to get him ready. Surprisingly, he is pretty good at it and really seems to enjoy it. He tends to rear up a little prior to a charge and is a regular juggernaut once we get started but, otherwise, very responsive to cues and precise in his movements.

In the first part of the demonstration we split our column into two files and double back and ride through each other's files. It is very important to maintain the correct speed and distance between the horses in order to avoid a collision. The distance between horses in the same file is supposed to be two horse lengths at the gallop but the more experienced riders typically cut that down to one and a half horse lengths--about eight feet. Tonight I was partnered up with one of our most experienced riders, Pete, who slowly reduced the distance on each pass until finally I was facing a five foot gap to ride through. I aimed Apache at the tail of the horse in front of Pete's horse and spurred Apache through the gap. Apache passed so closely behind the other horse that he had to lift his head to avoid contact.

We conduct a couple of charges at the end of the demonstration--one with pistols and one with sabers. The arena is 400 feet long so we can get up a pretty good head of steam. Apache loves this and gets very excited as we are forming up our skirmish line. He rears up slightly when the charge command is given and then, realizing he is a little behind the other horses, launches himself forward at warp speed. He isn't out of control though and holds his lane very well. The problem is that the commander's horse likes to buck during a charge which causes the commander to slow down. Apache moves at about 40 miles per hour in a charge and a sudden traffic jam in front can make things a little hairy during the rejoin. Fortunately, horses are as interested in avoiding a collision as we are and will usually find a way to avoid contact with another horse. You just kind of keep your weight centered, avoid harsh reins, and hope for the best. It almost always turns out okay.