Fort Lowell Again

It has been a long time since I posted on this blog and it is time to start again.  There are too many interesting things going on in the cavalry world.

Yesterday, B Troop participated in Fort Lowell Days as we do every year.  It is an event held at Fort Lowell Park in Tucson, Arizona as part of an effort to promote the history of the old Army post and the surrounding neighborhood.  Fort Lowell has an interesting history both before and after it was shut down in 1891.  It was from this fort that Captain Samuel Marmaduke Whitside rode out and established Fort Huachuca in 1877.

Anastasia putting a sidesaddle on Journey.

B Troop brought six riders and three cannoneers to put on a historic presentation at Fort Lowell.  Our stable call was at 0600 and we departed Fort Huachuca at 0700.  Arriving at Fort Lowell at about 0830, we unloaded the horses and began setting up our arena.  Four of the troopers headed over to the San Pedro chapel to provide a saber arch for a procession into the chapel, but they were back at about 1030.  Meanwhile, the artillery crew and I set up the portable arena for the riding demonstration.

Upon returning, Ruger spooked for some reason and broke free from the trailer and ran around the field for a couple minutes with all his campaign tack still on.  He circled the trailer two or three times and then came to a stop next to the rest of the horses as if nothing had ever happened.  He broke the strap on his leather halter, but otherwise nothing else was damaged.

One of our lady riders rode around the park in sidesaddle, wearing a period authentic dress and let people know that we were about to start our demonstrations.  She looked fantastic and soon a sizable group came to watch us.

After lunch, the cannon crew gave a great presentation on the procedures for firing our 1840 mountain howitzer.  The rest of us untied the horses from the trailer and held them while the cannon went off.  None of the horses spooked, but it is better to have a man hold the horse, so it is less likely to panic then if tied to something.

The cannon crew getting ready for their demonstration.

After the cannon demo, we put on a mounted drill demonstration in our arena.  The crowd enjoyed it and then we set up some jumps and targets and gave a saber and pistol demonstration.  All the horses did pretty well.  Blade was fired off of for the first time in years, but did well.  Blade had developed a dislike of gunfire at the Picacho Peak re-enactment a couple years ago and we have been slowly getting him accustomed to the sound ever since.  He protested a little at first, but eventually became OK with it.  We had fitted him with earplugs to make it easier for him.

We finally finished around 1500 and headed back to Fort Huachuca.  The horses were all drenched in sweat as they still have their winter coats and it is much warmer in Tucson than at Fort Huachuca.  We got all the horses taken care of and unloaded all the equipment and cleaned weapons.  We signed off the arms room at 1840 and sat on the porch and discussed the day for a piece before heading home.  A long, but successful day.