Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1888-01-20
WESTERN HORSEMEN.
They Are Not stylish. hut Can Beat the
World Riding Horse.

die horse loses much of his poetry.
His tail is no longer paint brush, his
coat is no longer velvet his veins nc
longer stand out with heated blue
grass blood; he no longer champs and
curvets and dances and fumes. H.
simply gets up and gels, and the man
on top of him bowls and lashes him.
There is no poetry in the cowboy s
horse. but there is heap of DIS i,aettie.
especially when his rider is after the
fleetrst steer in the herd or the widest
band Of calves.
r ten row isn't anywhere then. but
the festive cowboy is glued to his
horse. and no power but equine apo
plexy or n gopher hole could dislodge
him. Thrs, fellows are not graceful;
any Chicago riding master would
charge them one hundred dollars les
son to teach them to ride in boulevard
shape. but they are horsemen. They
can ride on the neck. or clinging TO
the cinch, or with only foot in the
s'irrup; they can mount and dismount
on full run; they can pick up silver
dollars from the ground, they can turn
somersaults over tho horses rump.
grab his tail. and spring again to the
saddle at full speed. They are bar
barrie centaurs. but there is no grace
or refinement in their movements-it
is not equestrianism.
The best type of American horse
manship obtains in the American
cavalryman. The soldier, with his ac-
couirements his tapederos, as the
Spanish call his strrup guides, his
blanket roll. his sabcrtache, his saddle
pockets and his huge pommel in front
10 rest his hands
The horse is q clean, gaunt creature.
strong. sinewy and utterly devoid of
monkey business. " He is trained to
walk. He never gallops except under
81 ur, but he will walk three miles an
hour on march. and save himself and
his rider. The lamented General
Candy, who was killed in the Modoc
war some years ago. once sail; "a
have paid out of my own pocket 81. 200
for a mare that would walk four miles
an hour To get such beast it must
be nervous and quick-footed and en-
tirely tractable, and then you have to
pay for it. "
The cavalry horse has two or three
trainings. but the chief of them IS To-
walk fast. and any man who know.
about horses will say that this is the
hardest thing to teach. The average
horse is one thing or the other-he is
in full swing or he is lazy as snail.
TO got the desired point between those
two Is tho object Of all men who buy
horses for the army. and of the cavalry
men who have to handle them. Two
years ago n party of men stood on the
bank of the Cimmaron river. in tho
Indian Territory. The waters wer,
raging Al the army teamsters sale
the stream was swimming and im
passible. 1t was fifteen hundred yard,
across. The waters were boiling. No
10 ly dared venture. Al! at once OIL
the opposite bank was seen single
cavalryman.
He rode u great brown horse anC
wore waterproof suit, and on hi
back was strapped an oil-skin bag. HI
| had his carbine and belt of cartridges
and as the gallant brute he rod
plunged into the stream he lifted an,
waved it aloft. Then as the horse los
his footing he caught the carbins oil
The saddle. slid back, grabbed tn
horses tail and the brave beas
breasted the secthing current.
He'll make it!' yelled big team
ster That's Jack Comfor, of thu
F fth Cavalry! He's Major Sumner
clurirrm
Fly people watched The grea
horse caught his footing. An instan
for a breathing spell. Private Comfor
climbed up slowly in the water pate
the neck of his animal. got his sea
and waded out.
What news, Jackp"
Cant stop; dispatches from Sheri
DAM! He waved his hand, and with
motion of his heel the strong, we
horse lunged into gallop through tn
>and, and in second was lost in til
willows and sage brush. The Amer
lean cavalry rider is the hardest typ
of his kind; the beast that bears him
not equaled on any soil. -CAicag
Tribune.