Riding the Wonder Horse

Since I couldn't use Apache in the demo due to his runny nose, I elected to use him in a ceremony the next day. His nasal discharge had gone away and the vet check didn't reveal anything serious. Probably just a summer cold.

I saddled him up and rode him to Brown parade field with the rest of the guys. The ceremony was big but there were only five of us riding. Four of the five horses were blazing fast: Regent, Cochise, Sabre, and Apache.

The horses stood pretty well accept for Sabre who was fidgety and even started bucking slightly while in line. Apache shook his head a lot and pawed the ground but was better than normal. Even Cochise stood pretty well accept when his rider would lower the guidon, then he'd try and back up a little. From our perspective, there was a lot of movement but the crowd probably didn't see much going on due to the distance.

Things started to get ugly, however, once we began the pass in review. Sabre was acting up and Apache was feeding off of his energy. Just as we were passing the crowd, Apache backed up into Sabre which caused both horses to rear up. Sabre's rider lost his balance and when Sabre got back on the ground began to spin. His trooper slid off and hit the ground but not too hard. Sabre took off running up the field and then back down again. Each time he passed the crowd they would applaud. The narrator announced us as "B Troop-minus" as we passed the crowd. It was a funny military reference indicating we were not at full strength.

The cannon crew caught Sabre and his rider was able to mount up again and join us just as we formed up for the charge. I elected to not draw my pistol until after we began the charge as I wanted to control Apache with both hands to make sure he didn't rear up or spin prior to the charge. It worked well but once we began the charge, it was clear I would need both hands to stop him again. Regent was in front and he is a fast horse but it was all I could do to keep Apache from passing him going up the field. As we reached the end of the field, I began to see-saw the reins to slow the beast down. He came to a stop finally, but it took all my strength. I never drew my pistol.

After we collected everyone up again we went and stood in front of the crowd to pose for photos. We all had a good laugh at the expense of Sabre's rider since he didn't get hurt. We decided that Sabre was doing the missing man formation or was perhaps checking out the ground prior to the charge to make sure it was safe. In any case, no one was hurt and the crowd loved it.