National Cavalry Competition

Tomorrow we pack up and head off to the National Cavalry Competition. It is being held this year at Fort Reno, Oklahoma. As is usual, it will take us two days to get there. The competition includes events in military horsemanship, mounted pistol, field jumping, and mounted saber. Several of the other military units will be there to compete as well as various reenactors from around the country. They usually have between 60 and 70 competitors.

It is always good to get together with our fellow Army cavalrymen. We will be taking a large team this year--a total of nine riders plus a veterinarian team of three. We will also be taking eleven horses (two spares) which creates a fairly large logistic foot print.

The Wonder Horse and I are about as ready as we will ever be. He still has trouble with nearly every aspect of the competition with perhaps the exception of the Major Howze cross-country event. I can hardly wait to see what he does to me this year.

I will write about the results when we get back. In the meantime, you can get specific information about the competition at the US Cavalry Association web site at http://www.uscavalry.org/events/current-events.html.

Fort Bowie Again

We made our annual pilgrimage to the Fort Bowie National Historic Site yesterday to commemorate the surrender of Geronimo in 1886 and to honor the soldiers buried at the fort ruins. It was fairly hot in Apache Pass and it was obvious from the sparse vegetation this year that the pass has not had much rain. Still, the view along the old Butterfield Stage route is always beautiful. The terrain is rugged and the horses always get a good workout on the trail.

We stopped at the cemetery, as we always do, and read aloud the names of the soldiers buried there. Most of them were removed when he fort closed down in the 1890's but a few still remain. The Army only removed the soldiers that had died on active duty. The men who had served as soldiers but who had died as civilians are still buried there. One of the dead is a medal of honor winner killed by Apaches after he had left the Army. A small group of tourists stopped to chat with us and take pictures, but otherwise, the park was deserted.

After the ceremony at the cemetery, we rode up to the old fort ruins where the ranger station and museum are located. We had a "period authentic" lunch of pulled pork sandwiches which were very tasty. We all ate too much and so it took some motivation for everyone to get back on their horses for the ride out of the park.

The Wonder Horse was behaving relatively well so I had a fairly relaxing ride for a change. Unfortunately, one of our horses threw a shoe, so we were not able to take the Overlook Trail on the way out of the park. The Overlook Trail affords a view of Apache Springs as was had by Cochise's warriors during the Battle of Apache Pass. It is steep and rocky, so we couldn't take the route with a horse that only had an EZ-boot for protection.

Despite the heat and lengthy day, it is always a pleasure to ride through Apache Pass. It is a place resplendent with Old West history that few people visit or even know about. We are always honored to do our part to keep the history of that place alive.

More Major Howze Practice

I set up another practice route for the Major Howze conditioning program. The last one was about 4.5 miles long. This one was 5.5 miles long. I ran the route yesterday with Martina as she was to be the guide today. I took plenty of marking tape and stopped repeatedly to place the markers. I think we placed a marker every five feet along the route. We also stopped to discuss major terrain features such as fences, gates, roads, creeks, mountains, and tree lines. I was confident she would remember the route.

She still managed to get lost.

When we returned to the stables she said, "Before you can fire me, I quit." Her husband said later that it was my fault because I picked the worst person for the job. *sigh*

Nonetheless, the troopers managed to get to the enemy village in fairly good order and launch a crippling attack on the nefarious Heckowee tribe. The Heckowees are a secretive and elusive group that are characterized by their short stature, skinny bodies, and little round heads. Their females, unfortunately, have a very short gestation period, so no matter how many get wiped out in the cavalry attacks, if even one male survives they are soon able to replace their losses.

Unfortunately, at least four survived today. There was debate on whether we should count as a kill the one that was trampled by Martina's horse. Since the horse she rode is named Sabre, she said it should still count since I did not specify which type of saber attack was required.

Good training, good times, good victory lunch after.

P.S. For some reason I cannot post comments or respond to the comments of others. I appreciate it when people comment and try to respond, but currently cannot.

Making a Cavalry Film

We had an unusual experience today. The Army was making an interactive training film concerning the importance of knowing the local culture when conducting military operations. We helped produce a portion involving the attempt of the Army to recruit a couple of Apache Indian scouts.

The scenario called for a lieutenant, accompanied by an Apache Indian interpreter, to meet with two Apaches and try and enlist their support as scouts. The three Indians and the lieutenant were all actors. Six of our riders provided the bulk of the cavalry patrol.

We provided the horses for the lieutenant and the interpreter while the local stables provided the mounts for the Apache scouts. They asked if we could provide the horses for the Apaches, but I didn't think it would make sense for two Apaches to approach a cavalry patrol riding horses with a US brand. At least not and still be breathing afterwards. None of the actors were particularly experienced riders, but did a pretty good job, nonetheless.

The film crew was a professional outfit from Colorado, although some of the crew members were from LA. It all went just like it does in the movies with cries of "quiet on the set!", "roll film!, "action!", and "cut!" The wardrobe girl came out and dusted up our uniforms to make it look like we had been on the trail for a while. Other people kept bringing food out to us. I didn't eat any of it, but the Wonder Horse did.

The Wonder Horse was his usual self. A scene stealer and over actor, he constantly did things to draw attention to himself. Tossing his head, stomping his feet, pawing the ground, he was a complete ham. He literally chewed up the scene.

Seeing the Apaches riding around out there in the wilderness was the coolest part of the whole thing. I would have liked to spent more time talking with them, but we were constantly working and on a tight schedule due to an approaching storm and another scene the company had to shoot elsewhere.

The ladies auxiliary members couldn't ride with us due to authenticity requirements, but they tacked up and wrangled horses and helped sign out equipment and uniform items to the actors. They also shot still and video photography for us, which was great. They took a huge weight off my shoulders with all the things they were doing. We couldn't have done it without them.

The final scene of the day was for us to gallop up the meadow past the camera. We shot the scene five times. Each time we galloped up the field, the horses became increasingly excited. Fortunately, five times was enough for the director as I'm not sure we would have survived another attempt.

All in all, it was a great day. A rare opportunity to see how a film is made. We were promised the footage of us, so hopefully sometime in the future, I can post some of it here.

Rein Cues

I was practicing circles with Apache today and discovered that he requires different rein cues depending on which direction we're turning. He has finally decided to take the correct lead in circles, so now I've switched my focus to making sure he bends correctly and stays on the arc.

He does a left circle very nicely. I can use an opening rein to the left and require very little leg. Heading in the other direction, however, Apache tends to turn his right shoulder in too far which causes him to fade into the turn and corrupts the circle. Using more right leg does not help and actually causes him to turn even more toward the center as his hips are pushed further out. To combat this, I use the military technique of the "indirect rein of opposition". In this case, I bring the right rein in toward his withers while keeping the left rein passive (or at least passive-resistant). This bends his neck to the right and weights his left shoulder. Combined with pressure from the inside (right) leg it holds him on the arc.

It is a good solution to the problem. Now, I just have to remember which cue to use when turning in each direction.

Saber Work

Last Saturday we did a little practice for the Major Howze competition. I laid out a 4.5 mile course and set up a saber target set at the end. Minutes after the troopers took off they called me because one of the horses was already injured. The Major Howze is rough on horses. I turned around with the trailer to go pick them up, but we decided that the horse was still rideable. He just clipped the back of one of his fetlocks, which bled allot. His trooper rode him over to the target area.

The troopers made decent time on the course. I couldn't get a good time because of the horse injury delay, but it seems they were making about six miles per hour. Not bad for the first practice. The target kill ratio wasn't very good, but typical for a first practice. They hit 50% of the targets. They lined up and charged in good order, but some of the horses jinked at the target sets. More practice will correct that problem.

Tonight, we set up a saber course in the arena and practiced for about an hour. I used a simple course without jumps to give the riders a chance to focus on horse control and saber work. All did pretty well. My horse, Apache, immediately began to hyperventilate once we entered the course. He crow hopped and acted stupid, but we managed to get some work done. If I could ever get him to relax, he'd be a decent horse. The other horses did okay. Regent, Charlie, and Kidd did well after some initial hiccups. Duke managed to improve greatly once he decided there were no guns involved. Cal made some progress although he is still concerned with the noise the saber makes when it hits a target. Chili did fine with everything except the ground targets. All in all, a good practice and we didn't even get rained on.

Gun Training

I was a little concerned about practice tonight because the footing was so hard in the arena. The people who maintain the arena couldn't drag it because their tractor is broken. It has rained a lot lately (we were rained out last week) and the normally soft footing turned to concrete. I advised the riders not to fall off because it would surely result in a broken bone. Everybody toned it down and kept their horses at nothing faster than a canter.

We had six riders so I asked three to remain dismounted to replace balloons while the rest of us rode. I sent all the "learning" horses through first as they would be using lower caliber weapons. If these horses were to hear the .45s going off, I feared they'd be reluctant to take the course afterwards.

I took the Wonder Horse through with the .22 the first time but decided to upgrade to the .45 with short loads to get him used to the smoke and flame. He had a real problem with me shooting off his left shoulder. When I realized this problem, I switched my training focus to keeping Apache straight on the course instead of him crabbing to prevent me from shooting to his left. We worked it out and managed to ride through straight most of the time. Apache doesn't like the guns, but he will do what he has to. It just isn't very pretty.

Duke and Journey went through the course a few times with lower caliber weapons. Duke is years away from being ready for a pistol competition, but Journey is making a little progress. Journey was once accidentally shot by his own rider during a competition about four years ago and has been a little reluctant to go through an obstacle course involving both balloons and guns ever since.

The other horses, Charlie, Regent, and Monte, all did fine on the pistol course. Charlie is rough, but gets the job done. Regent is smoother, but still a little hyper. Monte is about as good as you will get. None of them particularly like the weapons fire (judging from the rolling eyes and flaring nostrils), but better able to handle their fear than the other horses.

Gun training now gives way to saber training, which hopefully will be less eventful. Most of the horses seem to be pretty used to the obstacle courses now, so hopefully we can get some decent training in. Saber work requires more skill from the rider than the other events, so we will focus on making challenging targets for them.