National Cavalry Competition Part III

The Brits and Aussies posting their colors at the closing ceremonies

The day began with the closing ceremonies for the NCC. The plan was to raise the colors and then parade past the reviewing stand once, then circle around again to stop in front of the crowd. The Wonder Horse was particularly agitated. He just about destroyed the whole ceremony. If it wasn't bad enough that he was spinning around and moving out of formation but he got the horses next to him worked up as well.

After this fiasco was over, we set up to perform a mounted drill demonstration. We did it at a trot because we were in an open field and we didn't want any horses getting lose and trampling spectators. Someone elses horse did get loose (the rider had ground tied him) and went rampaging across the parade ground with his bridle dragging behind him. He eventually ran up against a fence and bloodied his nose. Our vet subsequently treated the horse and it was okay. Otherwise, our performance was uneventful. Apache was good because it was something he was familiar with.

The final event of the competition was the Bolte Cup event. It is a multiple weapons course with numerous jumps and obstacles. The riders who finish in the top five places in Level 3 events are invited to participate. However, one of our Level 2 riders, Pete Criscuolo, had done so well he was invited to the Bolte Cup along with our Level 3 rider, Jay Hizer. I volunteered to be an assistant judge in the competition and got a first hand look at the course. The course was, as the designer stated, "evil". It started with a series of difficult jumps combined with saber targets, then it required the rider to dismount and fire at a target while keeping his horse from moving, then the rider remounted, drew his pistol and engaged a series of balloon targets interspersed with jumps.

The level of riding skill required in this event is daunting. Our first rider, Jay Hizer, had a good run and finished with only two faults. Under normal circumstances this might have been enough to win but our second rider, Pete Criscuolo did even better. Riding a horse, Monte, that he had never really practiced on or ridden much at all until this competition, he managed to complete a flawless run. He did not miss a single target or knock down a single jump. As a result, Pete became the first rider from Fort Huachuca to win the Bolte cup and perhaps the first rider to ever complete the Bolte Cup event without a fault.

Needless to say, we were all ecstatic that Pete had done so well. Last year in Nebraska, Pete hadn't had much luck with the NCC events so it was particularly satisfying to see him come home with so many honors this year. It just goes to show you that when you combine the right man with the right horse, anything can happen.