Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-01-20

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E8lEG MI the plains of the West
R1H nv and the "faldas' of the
" tX d foothills in Southern CAL
y sA ifornia. He goes abroad,
n NsS taking with him his IA
vorite horse, "Choiooke,
and while in England
visits the country seat of gentleman, with
whose daughter he falls in love. So, too,
does an English captain of cavalry, who
owns and rides superb bay hunter he calls
'Inkerman.' They ride a race, in which
the Englishman leads most of the way, but
is left far behind when they come to long,
steep descent. Here, true to the teachings
of his school, the captain reins in and, lean
ing back in saddle, checks 1nkerman's
speed to comparatively slow and cautious
canter. The American, on the contrary,
has been holding back until this stretch is
reached, and then. though beaten on the
level and across hedge and ditch, he
astounds his rival and spectators by giving
Cholooke his head, shouting go y and
sending him at top speed down the steep and
out on the flats beyond, landing an easy
winner.
LOUIS NoLAN'S FEAT.
Now this was not an exceptional feat;
neither was it one only attempted In
America. Captain Louis Nolan of the
English Light Cavalry did practically the
same thing when he bore Lord Raglan's
order to the Earl of Lucan on the fatal day,
of Balaclava. Klnglake tells us that in \
stead of availing himself of the road wind
+ha
which were grouped the commander OF the
forces" and his staff. the young hussar gal
loped straight down the slope from the
elevation of some 600 feet, and so "swooped
angering down" upon the hesitant division
general below. But it is and was excep-
tional in the English cavalry, and few
very few men but Louis Nolan would have
attempted it. He was the most daring and
accomplished horseman of them all.
1t is exceptional in the American cavalry,
in which are hundreds of bold and skillful
riders. 1T is practically forbidden in the
schools, and l never yet have met and rid
den with a civilian who did not rein in and
check his horse whenever we came to a sud-
den descent in the road, or to steep slope
when coursing antelope or lack rabbits"
on the prairies of the great West. Nine out
of ten of our cavalry officers will do the
same to-day, especially if they be "heavy-
weights" and vet have watched horsemen
day after day who never thought OF such a
thing, who darted down hill full tilt, giving
their steeds their heads as they did SO, and,
simply leaning back little, rode with loose
rein down every and any kind of slope at a
speed that almost took ones breath away to
watch it. These were the mounted warriors
the Indians of the Northern Plains.
DARING SIOUX RIDERS.
n, off Of Capfopoh har 1875
when the noted Sioux chieftain, Crazy
Horse, swooped down with 700 or 800 braves
to the attack of General Crooks command
at Slim Buttes, Dak., these daring riders
dashed into view from behind a high ridge
to the west of our picket lines and charged
down steep slope at top speed, yelling like
demons as they came. There was one point
of bluff around which a trail led down into
a deep ravine. 1t was a mere buffalo track
or game trail on which they had to ride in
single file, but, one after another, counted
at least 80 warriors who shot around that
point on their nimble ponies and plunged
at gallop down an incline, steep as the
"Horseneck Stairs" where stout old,Israel
Putnam left the British dragons in revolu-
tionary days.
That year of '76 the Crows and Shoshones
were our allies and several hundred of them
were with the column. They rode down
hill as daringlv as the Sioux and Cheyennes
and, when it came to climbing up, never
dismounted to ease or aid their horses. We
cavalrymen, on the contrary, slowed up"
going down, and generally dismounted 60
ing up-mainly, it is true, to save our worm
out chargers, but the Indians laughed at us.
They pointed out that horse or any other
quadruped scampered up or down a slope
without slack or hesitation. Why should
we fear to let them do as they would unen-
numbered by bride or rider? We were
always taught to ''haul taut" on the rein
and 20 to raise the horses head when going
down hill. "What's the use?' asked the
Indians. 'You only prevent his seeing the
ground and so make a stumble the more
likely" 1t led to a change of principles on
part of several of bur number and we
found that common sense was on the Indian
side of the question, and that, barring
certain jar, it was as easy to ride at the
gallop down hill, when occasion required it,
as on the level. The rule to the contrary is
very probably mere precaution against the
severity of the accident should stumble oc-
cur.
FAULTY SYSTEM OF sADDLING.
But there is one formidable reason why
our cavalrymen cannot and should not ride
at speed down hill. Ii is not the horse. It
is not the rider. 1t is the fact that for the
last 80 years, if not longer, the trooper Of
the United States has been taught an ut
terly faulty system OF saddling. The Indian
saddle is the simplest kind of a light wooden
tree with very high pommel and cantle.
The Indian bride is the simplest-kind of
single-ren, snaffle-bit affair, that allows the
horse full control of his own head at all
gaits. Our bride is good enough, but the
bits are atrocities. Our saddle as now made
is probably as simple, serviceable and ex-
cellent an affair for military purposes as
will be found in any army in the world.
But-here is the flaw. In the instruction
for saddling in the cavalry tactics of the
United States we find these words: "Place
the saddle on the horses back, well forward
on the withers.'' Now, the fore legs of the
horse have to sustain much more of his
weight than the hind legs at any time; but,
saddle him as prescribed, "well forward on
the withers,' and load that saddle with 200
pounds of rider, arms and equipments and
you have at once the explanation why 90
out of 100 of our cavalry horses break down
in front. The English saddle, with it's long
fat seat, brings the weight of the rider we'll
back on what may be calle the center of
motion of the horse. The cavalry saddle,
with the forked seat, brings the weight of
the heavily equipped trooper in front OF that
point and bearing down almost entirely
upon those overloaded fore legs. Now to
keep the saddle there it must be tightly
girthed or breast strap be worn. The reg
ulations provide no breast strap; hence q
rigid band is braced tightly around the
chest and lungs OF the horse and he cannot
expand them if he would. Start any ath-
lete on race with his chest firmly girthed
by leathern strap and what sort OF work
will he make of it? Have you never no
ticed in saddling your horse-even with the