NCC Warm Up Day

It was clear when we woke up on Wednesday morning that the cold weather in Raton had followed us to Nebraska. Rain clouds skidded across the sandstone bluffs around the fort and a cold wind got the horses kinda snorty. Our first activity of the day was a staff ride through the surrounding hills. This is a tradition at the NCC and it allows horses and men to get acclimated to the local area and learn a little history in the process. The ride was beautiful if a little cold. We only had our thin red baseball jackets to keep the cold out so we pretty much relied on the horses to keep us warm.
We rode along a fence line and saw a buffalo on the other side watching us. He laid down and started to roll around in a dirt bed just like a horse would do. Our horses had never seen a buffalo and were mighty concerned about it. They kept both eyes on the buffalo until we had ridden a sufficient distance away from it. The buffalo didn't seem to be at all concerned about the horses. All the different Army horse detachments participated on the ride. One unit, for some reason, let their riders run up and down the line like they were trying to police the column or something. This activity continued until one of the horses in the line kicked one of them. The injured rider fell off and got kicked again by his own horse. To his credit he never cried out or made a noise...except "thud" when he hit the ground. We eventually made it back to the fort without further incident except for a small ruckus when one of the units tried to cross a creek and found out their horses were not used to water. I didn't know it at the time but this little incident would become a big factor later on. After returning to the fort we attended a "school of the soldier" clinic in which one of the historians discussed and demonstrated how equipment should be put on a horse and which drill maneuvers were correct. We practiced drill maneuvers for a while and then went to lunch. Our lunch consisted of PB&J's as we hadn't been there long enough to figure out where the food was. I did find the food source after lunch in the form of a "sandwich lady" by the USCA Headquarters who was selling sack lunches. After lunch we all went to our favorite training activity, the jumping clinic. The clinic began with the instructor telling us we were all stupid. He was referring to the fact that we weren't wearing helmets but the remark came across as a general indictment. Nevertheless, we all lined up and practiced jumping over various obstacles. My Wonder Horse was engaging in his usual jumping style which requires him to clear a two foot jump by about 20 feet. I have to request reentry procedures on the way back down. I am no longer shocked by this behaviour and have learned to ride it out but not necessarily keep the stirrups on my feet after touchdown.
To make things more interesting Wonder Horse was engaging in a wee bit of bucking after clearing the jump just to make sure I had my seat. I did not notice the other guys in my team experiencing this phenomenon. After we had enjoyed this abuse for a while we put the horses away for the evening and returned to our Victorian cabin to have a beef chub barbecue. We invited the Fort Irwin guys to join us as we would be joining forces during some of the team competitions later. It was then that we learned that we had purchased everything but lighter fluid to start the briquettes. Not a problem though as our resident smoker, Pete, began lighting small twigs and leaves in the barbecue to get things going. We eventually had a roaring fire big enough to cook the giant beef chub we had purchased the previous night. Cooking the chub was like roasting a pig except there were no legs (although there may have been a snout). We cooked up a giant pot of beans and were soon dining like kings...or like some other lower ranking public official such as a dog catcher. After eating as much chub and beans as we could we bid our guests goodnight and stumbled off to bed.

NCC Trip Day Two

.Jay and I got up early to feed the horses at 0500. We tossed a thin flake of alfalfa to each of the horses and checked their water buckets. After we were sure they were all okay and eating happily we went back to the hotel for the complimentary breakfast. I saw a tray of what looked like pancakes and bacon. I put a couple of these little dollar-sized pancakes on my plate and put syrup all over them. After I started eating them one of the other guys told me they weren't pancakes but egg patties. "Really?" I said. I honestly couldn't tell. With syrup on them they tasted like pancakes. After gulping down our pancake-egg patties we went back to the stables and prepped and loaded the horses. As we proceeded north up I-25 we drove through a mountain pass that was completely blanketed with snow. It was beautiful but all I could think of was the wind chill factor in the trailer where the horses were. I stopped the convoy after an hour to check the horses but when I put my hand on their coats they were plenty warm. We continued on until we were out of the snow then started looking for a lunch stop. At lunch time we let the horses out for a little while to graze and drink water. It is important to find a stopping point that has both diesel and grass. We ended up stopping in a place called Chugwater, Wyoming to lunch. It didn't look like much at first but we found that we could tie the horses to a guard rail next to the grass while we ate some delicious gas station food (free bowl of chili with a tank of diesel). The guard rail also functioned as a picnic bench. After lunch we continued up through Cheyenne and then east into the Nebraska panhandle. We made it to Fort Robinson in record time and stopped at the park office to get our keys. We put the horses up in the barn and proceeded on to our "cabin" which was in reality a three-story Victorian style house from the fort's early days. It was a palace and was full of fire places and creaky wooden floors. After the mad scramble for the rooms we jumped back into the trucks and headed into town for dinner and groceries. We went into the grocery store in Crawford about three miles outside the fort. Crawford was named after an officer killed during one of the Geronimo campaigns. Crawford's unit ran into a Mexican unit south of the border while chasing Geronimo and a firefight erupted. The Mexicans accidentally killed Crawford while he was trying to stop the fighting. Anyway, Crawford is a bustling town of about 1,000 people (counting the dogs). We walked into the grocery store and bought $150 worth of food which was probably more than they'd seen in a year. Among the items purchased was a giant two-foot long beef chub that we were going to make hamburgers out of. The chub sparked a great deal of conversation and a new nickname for one of the troopers who picked it out. After that excitement we went to the town's only restaurant for dinner. The town of Crawford will probably survive for another year with the money we spent that night

Traveling to the NCC

It takes two days of driving to get to Fort Robinson, Nebraska from Fort Huachuca. Hard driving. Fortunately for me, my buddy Jay likes to drive. I spent two days sleeping in the back of the truck eating snacks. The other passengers, Pete and Bill, were also taking advantage of Jay's driving fetish to catch up on missing REM time. It was like Jay was driving a truck full of bobble heads. The trip was uneventful for a change. No blown tires or other vehicular problems. Our first stop was in Raton, New Mexico, which I'm told meant "rat" in Spanish. I had found an overnight stable there which turned out to be pretty nice. Unfortunately, it had snowed there that day. Yes, snowed. It was cold and our horses were shivering. Who would have thought we needed stable blankets in New Mexico in September. We double flaked the horses to give them some warmth, closed up the barn doors, and went in search of our hotel. I had booked seven rooms at the Comfort Inn at Raton but as we drove down the only street in the town we saw no sign for the hotel. Frustrated, I called the hotel and the clerk answered, "Quality Inn, formerly known as Comfort Inn." Crisis resolved. They had changed names a week earlier. Go figure. After dumping our bags we went in search of a restaurant to get some chow. We found a Mexican restaurant with a sign that was missing some letters so it read, "Rest rant". Perfect for us. It had big screen TVs in it so we could watch the Dolphins - Colts game. The chow and beer was good so we went back to the hotel with full stomachs and a motivation to sleep.

Cavalry Olympics

We finally returned from the National Cavalry Competition yesterday evening. It was a very exciting trip and the troopers brought home plenty of ribbons. Fort Robinson, Nebraska is a beautiful setting for a cavalry competition. We stayed on the fort in an old historic Victorian era house with three floors and creaky wood floors throughout. There were a total of five different Army teams competing along with the usual assortment of re-enactors. The opening ceremony on the old parade grounds was very colorful and included about 50 horses. I have plenty of stories to share so I will include them as I am able. Until then, enjoy the photo of 49 cavalrymen in a column of fours during the pass-in-review ceremony.

Off To Nebraska

Tomorrow morning at 0600 we hit the trail for a two day journey to Fort Robinson, Nebraska for the National Cavalry Competition. We will be taking seven troopers and eight horses; one horse is a spare. We will remain overnight at Raton, New Mexico tomorrow and continue on to Fort Robinson on Tuesday. Wednesday will be a day to get the horses adjusted to the new surroundings and get a little practice in. The troopers from Fort Irwin are going to join us on a couple of the team events as they did last year. As such, we will need to practice a little with them. The horsemanship and pistol competitions are on Thursday and the jumping and saber events are on Friday. Saturday will be the platoon drill competition and the director's cup competition. The competition will be fierce again this year with Fort Hood, Fort Riley, Fort Irwin, and Fort Huachuca all sending teams. I haven't heard about Fort Carson yet but they usually send a team too. Of course, there will lots of individual competitors as well. It is always a good time and we are really looking forward to it.

Horse Checks

Today was horse check day where we physically examine each horse to see if they have any injuries. Well, Debbie checks the horses, I just hold them to make myself feel useful. Most of them were okay but several had conditions that warranted taking them out of their pens to check for lameness. That is my other role during these checks, I get to run with the horses. That is, I run up the road as fast as I can with the lead rope in my hand while the horse lazily trots along beside me. Debbie watches their feet and how they move and will sometimes see something. Then she'll ask me to watch while she runs the horse but I never see anything. She does the same thing while checking the horse's backs for soreness. She'll detect some strange quiver in a muscle and then ask me if I can feel it. I never do. Feels like a horse's back to me.

Test Driving a New Horse

I tried out a new horse named Duke for the Troop today. We picked him up in Safford a couple weeks ago and have been subjecting him to the grueling Army pre-purchase physicals. He, in the words of our farrier, was the most poorly shod horse he'd ever seen. We put new shoes on him and tried to trim him up right but there was no way to completely correct his hooves in front. To even him up, the farrier put a corrective shoe on the right front. However, the new shoes and hoof trim made him a little lame so we gave him another week off. I took him to the round pen today and had him trot and gallop a little to see how he was doing. He was not showing any lameness but the odd shoe seemed to bother him a little. I then took him into a little riding arena and tried him at different gaits. He was not responding well to neck reining so I tried him with direct reining. I realized that he was not responding very well to that either and was obviously used to a heavier hand. I really had to exert some pressure on the reins to turn him. He was willing to transition to a trot and gallop but seemed unenthusiastic about it. However, since he was so calm about everything I decided to take him out onto the jogging track. He got a little more enthusiastic about galloping once we got out into the open. He is well broke and will make a good beginner horse if he passes his final physical. He lacks physical conditioning, though, and will need to be worked up slowly before we start using him in our training program. He is a surprisingly tall horse and has a narrow back. Duke is unbelievably friendly and gentle enough for a child to ride.