Military Style Riding

Our Saturday makeup session turned out to be somewhat of a marathon.  Training began at 0800, but it took the students 90 minutes to put their saddles on.  That is okay, at first, as you want to make sure everyone knows what to do.  Sometimes the quickest way to move a herd, is slowly. 

 

After we finally got into the arena, we practiced column movements to get the students used to moving from a single file to a column of twos and back again. We also practiced "left to a line" and "right to a line" from a column.  The students were having a little more luck with their horses, this time, as their self confidence and understanding of cues improved. 

 

Unfortunately, while practicing column movements, Cochise kicked Charlie in the right leg.  The kick landed on the inside of his upper leg, near the stifle joint.  Charlie was limping, so I turned the class over to the other instructor so I could tend to Charlie.  I asked the other instructor to have the students remove their saddles and try bareback for a while.

 

I didn't see much of the rest of the lesson, other than a quick peak while they were trying to mount bareback.  That is always a funny scene.  I can't jump as high as I once did, but some people can't jump at all.  From a distance it looked like some of them weren't able to jump higher than about two inches.  Some, however, were able to get up without too much trouble.  Eventually, everyone got aboard with a little assistance from the instructor. 

 

The training went on for about four hours altogether with about two hours of that spent on horseback.  The training was good and the weather was good. The students seem to be really getting into it. 

The Cavalry Riding School Rides Again

Trying to keep warm bodies in our horse detachment seems to get harder and harder each year.  We try to hold one riding school a year to keep our numbers up, but this year things have gotten so bad that we had to schedule a second riding school.  Fortunately, we got six recruits this time, which gives us a chance of filling some holes in the roster.  Unfortunately, summertime is the worst time of year to have a riding school here because of the daily thunderstorms.  We have had four riding sessions scheduled the last couple of weeks on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and two of them were rained out. 

 

The first session was what we call "ground school," where we teach the students how to groom and care for their horse and how to maintain their tack.  The second session was supposed to be about how to put the tack on the horse and what the basic military commands are for riding.  However, we had a really intense rain storm just before the class which soaked all the horses, so we were limited to marching around in the mud on foot.  We were able to teach the basic commands and column movements, but it's just not the same without an obstinate, misbehaving horse beneath you. 

 

Our third session was supposed to be mounted column movements, but this session was completely rained out, so we had to delay that training until the fourth session and then added another session on Saturday.  So, the first night of riding did not occur until the fourth session, when finally, we got a break in the weather. 

 

In the fourth session, we spent a great deal of time on how to place the tack properly, with extra emphasis on saddle placement.  There is a tendency for new riders to place the saddle too far forward, where it interferes with the movement of the horse's shoulder.  This, in turn, causes the saddle to sit high in front, distorting the rider's seat and causing the horse's back to get sore.  We also go over the differences in the behavior of each of the horses during grooming; the horse that doesn't like the bit, the cinchy horse, the horse that sets back, the horse that stomps his feet down, the head-shy horse, etc.  Since the students are issued a different horse each time, they soon learn all the specific techniques for handling and tacking up each horse in the herd.

 

After we finally got saddles on all the horses, we put the students in the practice arena and practiced mounting and dismounting in the military fashion.  Fortunately, all the students in this class are in reasonably good shape and were able to get on and off their horses without any serious problems.  We then had them practice side-passing and backing up.   This part was a little more amusing as the horses, realizing they had newbies on their backs, were pretty much doing everything but what they were supposed to be doing.  But, this is part of the horse's job.  If the horses were perfectly behaved, the students would learn nothing.  The horses teach the students to get their cues right and to be confident in what they're doing.  You can tell by the expression on the faces of the horses and the occasional, exasperated sigh, that they know they are dealing with new riders.  It is amazing to see. 

 

All in all, the first riding session went well.  The second one went even better, but I'll discuss that in my next post. 

The Wonder Horse Rides Again

I haven't been able to ride in ceremonies much in recent months due to the sequester/furlough business.  However, I did loan out Apache for a ceremony last month that apparently went fairly well.  His rider gushed about how well he behaved and, indeed, from what I saw in the video, he was able to complete a charge without losing control.  Encouraged by this, I decided to ride him myself today in a ceremony on Brown parade field. 

 

How easily I fall into Apache's trap. 

 

We were short riders for the ceremony, so I sucked it up and adjusted my work hours so I could do the ceremony and still handle the start of a new riding school tonight.  No doubt, I will pay for this later.  I had to be in to feed the horses at 0430 as the ceremony as at 0730.  It was still dark and, of course, raining when I arrived at the stables.  Fortunately, it did not rain hard and the lightning stopped about sunrise. 

 

There were only four of us for the ceremony, which was okay since there was only us and the honor guard on the field.  Apache was calm until we formed up on the field and then he began his pawing activity.  He'd paw with one hoof, I'd correct him with the reins, and then he'd shift to the other hoof.  This went on for the entire ceremony including the won't-this-guy-ever-wrap-this-up speech by the outgoing commander.  I think this gentlemen thanked everybody in his command including the janitorial staff.  Apache marked the time by happily scraping about ten square yards of turf off the field while we stood there. 

 

Mercifully, the ceremony finally ended and we moved down the field to do our charge.  Apache was pretty good during this.  No spinning or rearing or crow hopping.  That all changed when we did a left flank and began the charge.  Apache and I were part of the skirmish line for only a moment.  I discharged all my pistol rounds as quickly as I could as I could feel Apache winding up beneath me.  I briefly though of re-holstering my pistol so I could use both hands on the reins, but quickly realized there was no time for that.  The Wonder Horse was moving at warp speed.  I grabbed reins with both hands even though I still had a pistol in one of them.  I leaned on the reins with all my strength and weight with no effect.  In fact, I think he was still accelerating. 

 

At the end of the parade field is a gazebo and some trees.  The horses always veer away from the gazebo and stop to the left of it where the trees are.  Apache sped toward the trees and I started to get a little concerned.  I began rocking the curb bit against the roof of his mouth to get his attention and felt the slightest little change in power that indicated I might survive yet another Apache-bolt.  As he galumphed down to a reasonable speed, I began to relax slightly and brought him to a stop about five feet from the end of the parade field. 

 

We were both breathing hard as we rejoined the rest of the riders, but neither of us was injured.  My thigh muscles were still shaking with the strain of stopping Apache as we rode back down to the ceremony to pose for photos.  As soon as we stopped, Apache began pawing again, of course.  He put up with standing there for a little while, but soon began to give the telltale signs of a pending horse blow up.  I suggested we depart the field while we I was still on him.  We left in the nick of time. 

 

I think it is important to ride Apache in a ceremony once in a while to remind myself why I don't like to ride him in ceremonies.  I wonder how he will do in the riding school. 

Snake Bit Horse

I woke up early today, about 6 AM, and was just sitting down to read the paper while the coffee brewed, when the Bat Phone went off.  It was the trooper with weekend pasture feed calling to tell me that Big Cal had a bloody nose.  He also related that Cal's nose was swollen and he could hear him breathing.  I told him I'd be there as soon as I could. 

Cal showing off his nose tube harness and his swollen upper lip.

 

I woke up Debbie and told her we had a possible snake bite and then we both scrambled to get underway as quickly as we could.  When we arrived, one look confirmed that Cal had been tagged on the nose by a rattler.  His muzzle was huge and he was struggling to breath.  We had been trying to contact the vet as we drove to the stables, but with no luck.  When I got to the office, I called the on-call vet tech, who promptly answered.  She said she'd be down as soon as she could, but the mil vet was out of town and she was told not to call the other mil vet because she was on profile for her own medical problems.  Unfortunately, the only other option we had was our private practice vet, but she was out of town on vacation.  Thus, we had to call the mil vet with medical problems, who was overjoyed that we had called her. 

 

The vet tech arrived first and administered a sedative and a drug to reduce the swelling.  Cal calmed down enough so we could try and insert a section of garden hose up his nose to keep his nasal passage open before the swelling squeezed it off.  Unfortunately, the swelling was too advanced and we could not get the hose in.  There was only a tiny passage left open and we had nothing small enough to get through. 

The tube can be seen in his left nostril.  Poor horse.

 

At this point, I drove back into town to the hardware store to try and find something that we could use to get past the swelling.  Quickly scanning through all the possibilities in the plumbing section, I found some tubes used on swamp coolers to drip water onto the membranes.  They were narrow enough, yet strong and slightly flexible.  I grabbed a package of tubes and a rasp to smooth up the ends, and sped back to the stables. 

 

Fortunately, in my absence, the mil vet showed up and squirted epinephrine up his nostril which opened up the nasal passage long enough for us to get the regular sized tube up his nose.  It was good thinking and likely saved Cal's life.  We have him at the ZERF now, where we can keep a close watch on him, but he will probably be okay as long as the tube stays put.  It will require hourly checks throughout the night and I will have to rig up a work light in his stall to we can verify that he is still okay.  Hopefully, in a day or two, we can remove the tube.  Damned snakes. 

Old Troopers Never Die...

I was honored yesterday by a visit from a trooper who rode with B Troop back in the 70s.  His name was Sherman Pauley, and he rode 1978-1979.  He is getting on in years and was traveling across the country with his family from back east.  He indicated this would be his last trip out west and he wanted to impart some old scrapbook items he saved from his B Troop days. 

 

We chatted for close to an hour and I asked him as much as I could about a period of time from which we have almost no records.  He have me a troop roster from 1977 and it had about forty names on it.  Not all of them rode, though, some were wagon drivers and artillery crew, but based on the photos he showed me, B Troop had a huge mounted presence once upon a time. 

 

The troop had no formal training and did not possess its own horses.  Riding training was accomplished "on the job" and the horses were all leased from the Buffalo Corral.  The thought of conducting business like that sends shivers up my spine, but they made it work (although he indicated it was sometimes exciting).  He gave me a list of Buffalo Corral horses that indicated which horses were suitable for B Troop and which ones weren't.  There were about sixty horses they could use and about ninety they couldn't.  How they kept all those horses straight is a mystery to me.  Oddly, some of the horses on the NOT SUITABLE list have name plates on our wall of retired horses, so obviously some of them eventually were used anyway. 

 

Interestingly, I found a horse on the reject list called Apache.  He was not usable because he was "not good looking."  Obviously, not related to the Wonder Horse.  If he had been, the note would have indicated "insanity" or "evil genius" or something like that. 

 

Sherman told me that the original troop office was in one of the old Indian scout huts on Apache flats.  I remember hearing from another source how one of the huts was acquired for B Troop use and renovated to make is habitable.  The huts were torn down long ago, which is a shame.  The huts were along the road to the RV park on post and there is no trace of them now. 

 

To move the troop, they had a semi-tractor trailer rig for the horses and a flatbed trailer to move the cannon and wagon.  The cannon apparently belonged to the museum and they would go get it each time they needed to use it.  The Rose Bowl parade was one of their biggest events, but they also did some of the stuff we do now; Helldorado, Picacho Peak, Fort Lowell, etc.  They also participated in large-scale re-enactments with other cavalry units in which everything had to be authentic down to the food they ate (hard tack, salt pork, and beans).  And, naturally, since they had to while away the hours around the campfire, they had a 4th Cavalry Songbook which featured songs like the Boys of B Troop. 

 

"Oh, we're the boys of B Troop,

            We're not so very neat,

 

            We seldom comb our hair

 

            And we never wash our feet."

 

Great stuff.

 

It was great visiting with Sherman and he had some fond memories of his time in the troop.  He gave me all the articles and photographs he had from those years (including his old trooper manual), which I will add to our scrapbook collection. 

 

As I bid him farewell, I couldn't help but wonder if today's troopers will be showing up at Fort Huachuca in 35 years to recount their days of glory in B Troop. 

 

 

Old School Cavalry Mounting

I have written before about the challenges of mounting a cavalry horse with weapons hanging off your body.  It is an activity that takes some practice and an understanding of the equipment you're using.  I have learned the hard way that you have to make sure your carbine sling is adjusted so that your rifle barrel doesn't hang down too far when you sling it over your back.  If the barrel hangs below your knees, you are likely to hook it with your right leg as you throw it up over your horse during mounting.  This mistake results in either the rider sitting on his own rifle, or worse, smacking the horse in the left hip with the rifle barrel, causing it to launch forward while the hapless rider still has only one foot in the stirrup.  There are other bad things that can happen during this activity and I have experienced them all. 

Thus, I was somewhat gratified to learn that our cavalry ancestors didn't have it any better.  In fact, it sounds like they may have had it worse according to an anecdote I came across while reading "Gunsmoke and Saddle Leather: Firearms in the Nineteenth Century American West" by Charles G. Worman.  Worman recounts the tale of one cavalry recruit, named James Larson, who had enlisted in the cavalry at the beginning of the Civil War and soon found himself learning mounted drill at Fort Wise, Colorado.  The new recruits were initially given no saddles and had to make do with only a saddle blanket.  Encumbered with waist belt, cartridge box, saber, and carbine with sling they were compelled to vault onto their horse's back unassisted. 

 

With that rig...,we stood...by our horses, ready to mount if we could...When I stood by the side of my horse that morning looking at the long saber by m left side, the lower part of the scabbard resting on the ground about two and one-half feet behind me and the upper part of the scabbard with the hilt projecting out at least one foot in front of me, and the carbine hanging down the middle of my back with the butt end just opposite the back of my head, I wondered if it was possible...  

When the command fell there followed a scramble and a terrible rattling of sabers along the line, but only a few could be seen on top of their horses when the commotion was over.  The others were either lying on the ground or standing by their horses with a disgusted look on their faces, I being among the last named...

 

Although, I like to incorporate as much of the old-school training into our riding school as possible, I don't think I want to use this particular training technique.  Thankfully, we attach our sabers to our saddles instead of our belts, but there is no way I'd like to see any of our recruits try to jump on a horse with a carbine slung over their backs.  We get enough cracked skulls at it is.   

Charge Practice

Me and the Wonder Horse in a saber charge. 

One of the most thrilling and dangerous aspects of being a cavalry trooper is performing open-field charges on the parade ground.  It is there that people find out if they really want to be a trooper. 

 

The horses know what happens on the parade ground.  They are relatively calm on the field at first as most of what they do there involves standing still for an hour and listening to military marching music.  However, once we begin to set up for the charge, they experience a huge adrenalin rush as they know they are about to do what all horses love the most--run across flat, grassy ground as fast as their legs will carry them.  It is what they were made for.

 

"He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength, and charges into the fray."  

 

Most of our horses do this well and although they may gallop up the field as fast as they can, they will all come to a stop at the end of the charge.  They know when it is time to stop.  All of them, that is, except Apache the Wonder Horse. 

 

"In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground;"  

 

Apache is hot.  His Arabian blood burns through his veins like molten lava. The quarter horse blood mixed into his makeup offers no cooling effects.  He is a furnace of unquenchable fire and any affection he may hold for me evaporates in a mist of sprayed sweat from his heaving flanks when the trumpet sounds. 

 

"...he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds."

 

I have ridden him in maybe four public ceremonies involving a charge over the years.  It is not that he can't do it, it is just a gamble.  A gamble with my life.  It is like driving a race car with faulty brakes at full speed directly at a tree wondering if you will be able to stop. 

 

Yesterday, we practiced charges with the new students.  We set up a canopy on the side of the field and a boom-box with marshal music playing to simulate a ceremonial crowd and band.  As we went through the sequence of events of a typical ceremony, Apache pawed the ground with the same impatience and excitement of his ancient ancestors, referred to thousands of years ago in the above quotes from the Book of Job. 

 

When we tried to teach the students how to charge, we set up the skirmish line and forced the horses to alternatively walk and trot while staying on line.  The idea behind this technique is to teach both horses and students to remain in control during the charge instead of launching into an out-of-control horse race. 

 

Apache does not walk or trot in this situation, he basically gallops in place.  He speeds up or slows down based on the cues I give with the reins, but his legs do not stop galloping.  It is like holding the brakes on a car while spinning the tires.  He is desperate to do what God designed him to do.  It is only his respect for me that keeps him tethered. 

 

Finally, his frustration overwhelms him and he pops up and throws his head back into my face.  I am fortunate that I have my head turned to the right, but he catches me full in the left side of my head.  Somehow, I managed to stay in the saddle.  Woozy, I guide him to the side of the field and dismount by the people on the ground near the canopy who are watching all this.  Unsure of my condition, I dismount and shake my head a few times to try and reseat my rattled brain.  I am pleased to note that I can still stand.  I figure if I can stand, I can ride, so I mount up again. 

 

The other riders are at the end of the field looking at me and wondering what I am doing.  I spur Apache into a gallop and we rejoin the group without incident.  Because we are not in a charge, Apache is under control.  It is all about the context of the situation.  We try the charge again, but this time I'm careful not to put my head in a position where I can get clobbered again.  We move up the field going from walk, to trot, to gallop, but Apache is not able to reach me with his head this time and I'm able to complete the lesson without being knocked out. 

 

At that point pain and exhaustion compel me to step aside during the next charge. My training objective for the Wonder Horse is accomplished and there is no point in pushing Apache further as eventually he will explode.  I know this from experience.  The rest of the class attempts another charge and I am pleased to see the students are able to maintain control. 

 

Today I look like Rocky Balboa after a fight with Apollo Creed.  I have abrasions on the left side of my face and my eye is swollen, but fortunately the pain has mostly subsided.  I'm glad now that I didn't ride Apache during last month's ceremonies.  He can do the ceremonies, but not particularly well and not particularly safely.  Eventually, his blood will cool and he will be a good ceremony horse.  Maybe in about ten years.