Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Last summer B Troop was tasked to do a photo shoot for the upcoming Cochise Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering. The theme was "Cowboys in Blue". The idea was to tell the story of how soldiers leaving the Army often became local ranchers. I immediately set out to find a suitable young trooper to represent the Army in this photo shoot. Well, it turned out to be two photo shoots so I selected two troopers to fill the bill. Unfortunately, one of them had to drop out at the last minute, so I had to fill in instead.

The photos were shot out at Brown Canyon ranch, not far from Fort Huachuca. I did one set of photos and trooper Shawn did the other. I personally thought that Shawn made for a better photo as he is younger and more cowboy looking. The photo sets included shots of us in uniform and in cowboy gear to show the transition from soldier to cowboy.

I'd pretty much forgotten about the photos, but recently advertisements for the Gathering started appearing everywhere. I was happy to see that Shawn's image was used in the advertisements, confirming my belief that he made a better cowboy model. I did appear in the web site for the event but otherwise not in any of the advertisements.



As the date of the Gathering grew closer, Shawn and I were invited to attend the opening night and bring our spouses. They wanted to introduce us as their "models" and asked us to come in uniform. As Debbie and I walked into the Buena Performing Arts center, we were handed a program which bore my sinister image on the cover (which you can see above). Well, I thought that was pretty bad but it gets worse. Somebody converted the photograph of me on the program cover into an oil painting which was proudly displayed in the lobby. I went and found it and was very uncomfortable as if looking at a painting of myself was somehow narcissistic. But wait, it gets even worser still. When I later skimmed through the program, I discovered that they had also converted the photo into a "custom-crafted collectible commemorative Cloisonne pin, belt buckle, scarf slide, and bola set." Can you imagine?

I always wondered how celebrities felt when they saw their image marketed on items of merchandise or on billboards. I think I must not be cut out to be a celebrity, because I'm feeling a little embarrassed by this. At least my image hasn't appeared on underwear yet.

Horse Conditioning

Photo by Ty Holland

I realized today that we have a lot of horse training to do. I have three that need to be reconditioned and several more that need training of one kind or another. Last night I had a riding school class for the new recruits and we worked on lead changes. We had all kinds of problems. Not because the students didn't understand, but because the horses were not cooperating. I tried to demonstrate lead changes on the Wonder Horse who refused to take up a right lead--except once--grudgingly. Likewise Kidd and Journey were not playing nice and I'm not sure what Cochise was doing. Cochise would take the correct lead every time but was otherwise not responding to cues. Of course, the 45 mph wind gusts may have had something to do with the problems we were having.

Today I debated trying to work with the Wonder Horse and lead changes--which is what I really wanted to do--or do some conditioning work with Charlie. I decided to save Apache for tomorrow and work on Charlie today. Charlie has what the mil vet calls "body wall defects" which look and feel like hernias but apparently aren't. They are supposedly common after colic surgery. It feels like little bubbles on his belly along where the incision was. I have decided to improve Charlie's muscle tone before allowing him to do the heavier work so his "body wall defects" don't turn into real hernias. I may be overly cautious in this but it can't hurt.

As always, Charlie starts out slow. I'll walk him around the track one time then push him into a trot. Charlie's initial trot is one that is designed to expend as little energy as possible. You can sit it for hours if you needed to but you won't get anywhere very fast. After a while I pushed him up to a slow canter and then brought him back into a trot. I try to work on his down transitions as much as possible because he has trouble with those once he gets fired up. Sure enough, after working through a series of gait changes he started to get a little riled. He gets irritated when he decides he wants to gallop and I make him trot or walk. Then, when I go back to a canter, he starts to "gallumph." A term I use to describe an intentional, excessive rocking of his back during a canter designed to bounce me out of the saddle. "Gallumphing" is Charlie's way of getting back at me when I won't let him do what he wants. It is similar to a child stomping his feet. Of course, I take him back down to a trot and then try again until he canters nicely. It takes a few tries but eventually he gives in and plays nice. Hopefully, some of the other troopers and ladies will help Charlie by taking him on some trail rides to strengthen him as he still looks like a horsehide bag of potatoes. We will need him full up again by summer so we need to get to work.

Ruger Arrives

Our new recruit from Florida finally arrived last night. His journey across America was delayed by terrible weather that was affecting the entire continent. He arrived two days late, but he arrived in good health. Naturally, the delays meant that he arrived right in the middle of the Super Bowl game I was trying to watch. The transporter didn't want to come all the way down to Whetstone, so we had to drive up to Benson to meet him at a truck stop along the interstate. The driver told us he would be there at 1845 so we timed our departure to arrive at the same time. Miraculously, we arrived at exactly the same time--right at 1844.

We made the transfer fairly quickly. Ruger wasn't sure about getting into our little stock trailer after having traveled across country in a fancy rig, but he got in without too much trouble. Twenty minutes later, we had him in his stall at the house. Debbie fell in love with him immediately. She tried to make a statement too the effect that she wouldn't fall in love with him but had already admitted defeat by the time she finished the sentence. Ruger is a very cute horse. He is very friendly and has good manners. Not at all like a cavalry horse. But, no doubt, that will change in time.

New Recruit

While our vet was vacationing in Florida last month, she came across a hard luck case involving a horse. The owner was sick with cancer and couldn't keep the horse. A friend took the horse but couldn't afford the stable costs and needed to get rid of the horse. The horse, named Ruger Golden Acres, could be ours for free if we could transport it to Arizona. Ruger is only three years old and green broke, but otherwise met the criteria for service in the Army. I don't usually take a horse under these circumstances. I like to see the horse, do a temperament check, ride it, and then keep it for a couple weeks so the mil vets and farrier can examine it. However, our mil vet gave Ruger an examination and declared him sound which is usually the biggest obstacle. Since the transportation costs were not bad--about $700--I decided to take a chance. If the horse doesn't work out for the cavalry, we could probably still sell it. The horse will probably arrive here this weekend but is delayed due to the winter storm raging across the continent right now. The horse is too young to begin any serious riding training with, but we can do lots of ground work with it and see if it is likely to be able to handle the cavalry environment. It will be an interesting experience and maybe we will get a good horse out of it.

Reenlisting on Horseback

One of our lady auxiliary members, Lisa, who happens to be a soldier in real life, reenlisted today. She asked if she could do it on horseback down in front of our stable area. She was also promoted to Sergeant First Class after signing away the rest of her life to the Army. After we got tacked up and positioned in front of the Troop office, a large number of vehicles began to show up. We had no idea the Lisa was so popular. We couldn't help but notice that there were more people there to watch Lisa get promoted than usually show up for our performances.

After the promotion ceremony, which was accomplished on the ground, Lisa mounted up on Duke and faced our Troop commander to perform the reenlistment. They were in their Army Combat Uniforms while the rest of us were in cavalry uniforms. I was selected to hold the American flag during the reenlistment ceremony. I thought this was quite an honor until I realized that they had to stretch the flag out during the ceremony which meant it covered my face. According to our First Sergeant this was intentional.

The oath of office was sworn too and then Frank, our Troop commander made some remarks. The remarks were very complimentary. Frank mentioned how Lisa had come to his company to give instruction to his young soldiers and apparently did a good job of handling them. Unfortunately, all his young troops were privates and so Frank said something to the effect that Lisa had done a great job of "handling his privates." Naturally, this became the topic of discussion after the ceremony and quickly spread throughout the stables. We were all interested in this statement and no doubt it will come up again.

Traveling With B Troop

Our photographer, Ty Holland, has started adding videos to our media presentation. Here is a sample of what he made from some of our activities last year. Enjoy.

Riding School Rodeo

The weather was perfect for today's riding school lesson. The plan was to work on what we refer to as "parade maneuvers". We use the maneuvers in both parades and as part of our riding demonstration. They are not dangerous or particularly difficult, but if you don't do them correctly it looks really bad. We also wanted to work on saber handling procedures during ceremonies so the recruits would know how to salute and execute other actions with the saber while mounted.

To get them warmed up and to get their heads in the game, I began with some arena rail work at different gaits while in a column of twos. As part of our routine, we gallop around the arena to get the crowd's attention and to set up for our demonstration. I had four assistant instructors riding in formation with the students to help them and keep and eye on them so we had a total of eight riders in the column. The female student and one of the assistant instructors were riding sidesaddle.

I led the formation around the arena a couple of times and decided that one more time would cement the lesson. As we passed the bucking chutes and I transitioned into a gallop, all hell broke loose. My first indication that we were having problems was when Apache the Wonder Horse put his head down and began to buck insanely. I know him well enough to know that he doesn't do that unless some other horse is doing it also. Sure enough, when I got Apache under control and looked around, at least three of the horses in the column behind me were also bucking. One of our students who was riding Monte, a notorious bucking horse, came off and landed in a heap in the dirt. He quickly got up, so I wasn't worried about any serious injuries. Monte ran around for a few minutes but quickly calmed down.

After everything was back under control and the student remounted, I made them all do it again. One, I wanted to let the horses know that they couldn't get away with stuff like that, and two, I wanted to make sure the student didn't become traumatized by the experience. If you have an accident, it is best to get on again and ride the horse so that your imagination doesn't get in the way the next time you ride that particular horse. If you can ride the horse again without incident, it helps prevent the development of a phobia.

Later, I learned that one of the assistant instructors had her horse, Duke, fall during the lesson (when you are at the head of the column, you don't always know what is going on behind you). She was doing a corrective circle with him and he just got his legs tangled up and he fell down. Neither of them was hurt, thankfully, but it reinforces the fact that we are not riding these horses enough. Duke is a new horse and is very difficult to ride. He will be okay in time, but the more often he is ridden, the faster he will become good. I wish I had more time to work with horses and riders than I do, but it is hard to find time with all the other duties I have to perform each day. With any luck, the horses with issues will be trained or retrained before they hurt somebody.