The Helena independent., 1891-12-07
: KNOW HOW TO RIDE
= 5hing That Is Indispensable With
81, 0illosr Of the
8sSsAH Army
no Methods Of Training at the
West Point Military Acad-
enay.
Some Of tho Wonderful Feats OF Harse-
manship Performed with Apparent
Easc by tho Cadets.


naanshir Performed with Apparent
Easc by tho Cadets.
SS Although tho United States ia the mos
powerful of all nations she does not dc
pend altogether upon the number of he
trained military men to maintain her posi
tion. While other nations have academic
to suit every branch of military service, th
@ United States has but single soldier fac
tory -that one up She Hudson river at Wes
Point says the New York Times. But 8
comprehensive is the course of instruction
and excellent is the stuff OF which her sol
4 dicrs are made that the o1tput ia dnequalet
\ for quality. and real true quality, as ever.
n civilian knows, is what counts in selecting
\ Me oflicers Of d victorious army.
No branch of the service is more exactine
X in Its requirements than the cavalry. 1t
imposes tho hardest work, the most peril
ons endeavors tho pluckiest as we'll as the
most reckless and the most thoughtful
fighting To fit the cadets for such trials is
part of the work Of the military academy,
and il may be interesting to note how the
4 work is accomplished.
Of course there is study of cavalry tao
tics and practical work in the grooming
and stabling Of horses, the care Ut the sick,
the marching of cavalry columns. These
things include the minutie of the business
TO which the professional soldier must de-
vote his time and attention. There is no
vain display about this, for it partakes
largely OF mental work. But what every
body mar see-although everybody may not
understand it all. and may yet see it to ad-
mire--is the work in the riding hall, where
the cadets are taught to ride equine thun-
derbolts with Watering bride, and no
saddle or blanket even. and to preserve
withal an impassivs countenance, as though
il were the merest child's play and not a re-
suit of training.
During the greater part OF the last thres
Z years of the foHr years course the cadets
take their lessons in riding. The third
class begins the season. They are tyros.
Most of them, anticipating mish APPS on the
tanbark, own up that they know nothing of
riding. and those who have ridden are not
wont to boast Of it. For the riding hall
looms up before the impressionable and as
yet uninitiated third-class man as great
magazine OF possible and probable misfor-
tune. The upper classes are not chary of
their tales of the way the thing was done in
their DAY.
When was a yearling," said sedate
/, and sober hrst-clasS man to circle of lis |
tening third class men, I'VE went down to |
the riding hall with the certainty of having |
the most exciting hour of our lives. We
went in. There was row of horses rolling
the whites OF their eyes at us and looking |
the incarnation of deviltry. They had no
saddles or blankets and they looked a |
mountain high. The riding instructor was |
cavalry officer with red hair and mus |
tache. u red face, and q voice like he had |
just swallowed pot of red paint. When |
be snapped out 'Mountn We jumped as
though whip had been cracked about our
ears. We scrambled up the horses sides
and sat astride their ridgv backs, where we
did some strange feats in balancing
Then we started around the hall. 1t was
the devils own journey. We struck a trot
and galiop, and mad, wild run. In five
minutes tho instructor WAS the only mounted
man IN the hall. The rest of us were dig
ging ourselves out of the tanbark or chasing
our horses. in the vain hope of cntching
them and remounting. 1t was rare old
time we had! And the galleries were jammed
with girls. watching the sport and laughing
at our mishaps That's the way it used to
be, but they arc more careful of you fellows
OF the later generations. You are not 30
such things do not obtain at the pre- scent
day. no matter what might have been done
In the remote past. The yearlines ride in
secret session. No spectators are admitted,
and IT is safe to say the spectators, if there
we're any, wonId feel unrewarded for the
adays to tumble the cadets off, but rather
70 teach them to stay on. The first two
rides are with saddles, the next two with
stlrrups crossed, and the next with blankets.
thus 1T is week before the cadets are in
sited to g bareback ride. They move
around the hall at walk or slow, joting
trot. and the strictest attention is paid to
their position in the saddle. the use of the
legs, and tbs height Of tho bride hand.
lsyey detail Is matter of personal atten-
lion and correction on the part of the in
stinctor.
As the year advances the riding becomes
more brisk. The yearlings attempt many
Of the more common requirements of the
rider, but not with the certainty
nor even the probability of success But
the beginning of the next year sees them
launched into the whirl of mounted gym
rastics.
This ls the season when the calleriea
groan beneath the crowds of spectators. who
watch with thei: hearts in their mouths the
leeds thar these gray-cothed striplinps
essay TO perform. 1t ID quite trick to dis
mount from the horse at a trot or gallon.
put when the cadet dismounts and i'm
Medlately mounts again, or vaults back and !
forth over the horse, all the time keeping +,
Up the lively canter-why, that is proof Of
training and Of natural ability Aud when
two cadets ride the same horse in VARYING
complnatlons, or one cadet manages two
horses while plunging around the hall.
there ID something still better and still
more praisworthy. i
linen the hurdles are brought in and the
boys put their horses over the hprdlea
.hree ! 1est. 1ouf fest, and even five feet in
the clear jump. There is nothing prettier
thsn graceful horse and rider taking the ,
nurdle IN good fern. Aud to Ees the cadet
dismaunt, take the hurdle with tho horaa ,
ana fenaGnt agaiu on the gallop is to see /
sanlething worth looking al and talkinn ,
abous afterwards.
s9 she exercises graao up easily into the
work Of the tlrst-clnss men-cndets w.
VIII soon doE tbs gray and put on tIe blue
I 1 ney Wlll mount harebuck3d horge, come
dcwn The hill like lightning tnd rick nm
from tho ground. That js =
most difficult feat, and they are good ridsrs
WIG can do it. They would paas mnstsr
with any Set of horssmen in the rorlts
And then the cadets hrvo wrestling matrhea
nn horseback, and chase each other arourd
Inc hall IN the atSpmpt to diamount an on
nonens Ihero is plenty Of life and yicor
aDout ttlls KIND Of work, and no ono tires
oi lt.--leaat Of all tho cadet.
j LIS is the kind of work that the vau mr.
cavalry officers OF the United States ermT
must prove Themselves proficient in before
thcs are adindged capable Of wearing a
shhye ana commanding squadron Of bins
Coated tFUnrers. And fhat thcv do - ,.k;a