Last Wednesday we finally have the change of command ceremony for Fort Huachuca's commanding general--Major General John Custer. We were short handed, as usual, and could only field five riders. With an important ceremony such as this, it is important to select horses that you know will behave themselves. However, with several horses out with injuries, I had to make a choice between Apache and Cochise.
When Apache is good he is fantastic but when he's bad he is a nightmare. Apache can destroy an entire formation when he's having a bad day. Cochise, however, will often try to back out of the line when he hears the marching band or cannon fire. With three generals on the field there would be lots of cannon salutes (15 to be exact). Both horses like to paw the ground during ceremonies and both horses are high strung. It came down to a evaluation of which horse had the potential to disrupt the ceremony the most. I decided that Cochise was the safer of the two.
Cochise, while a great horse during the charge, does not stand well on the end of the line. I decided to wedge him in between two other horses, Chili and Journey, in hopes he wouldn't move much. It was a good plan except there was some personality problem with Journey. Journey kept trying to bite Cochise and eventually kicked him in the right rear leg. Because the ceremony hadn't begun, I quickly dismounted and checked Cochise for lameness. Detecting none, I mounted up again and moved Cochise to the end of the line. Journey, instantly calmed down and we had no more problems.
Cochise, to my disbelief, stood calmly through the entire ceremony (about an hour and a half in length) including the 15 gun cannon salute and the passing of the dreaded marching band. I was very impressed with him. In fact, all the horses stood well during the ceremony. Perhaps they knew it was the General's final ceremony.
After all the lengthy speeches, we finally lined up for the pistol charge. Cochise is a very fast horse but controllable. We went into a skirmish line to prepare for the charge and I held Cochise in check although he was eager to go. I saw a couple of other horses depart the line before the charge command (as often happens) but still Cochise stayed on the line. When the charge command was finally given, I let Cochise go. It was like releasing the brakes on a fighter jet launching from an aircraft carrier. Because we were already behind a couple of the other horses, I had a rare opportunity to just let him go with no restraint. It was awesome. Cochise went into hyper drive as I popped off all my rounds while emitting loud "eehaws" on the way up the parade field. Regent, another fast horse, was well ahead of us and his rider brought him into a left turn to try and bring his speed down and avoid hitting the gazebo at the end of the field. Unfortunately, this put him into my lane so I had to deploy the brakes early on Cochise to prevent a collision. However, Cochise responded promptly to the bit and we came to a gentle stop well short of the other rider.
It was one of our better ceremonies. I had been worried that if we had a bad performance that there would be inevitable comparisons to the battle of the Little Bighorn. However, this time the horses were on their best behavior. I went so well that the next day one of the colonels shouted his appreciation to me as I was driving on post. At last, Custer and the U.S. cavalry were able to put together a good ending.
Mission Accomplished!!! Well done, you.
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