The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-09
DREAMING CAVALRY HORSES.
IL Is Done at a Risk of Life and
Limb.

Lord Roberts is waiting az Bloemron-
TEN for remounts TO be dispatched from
the Cape" Ian Hamftons cavalry IS ut
terly unit for further service until fresh
horses have been received THE veldt Is
streNn with dead animals, rotting in the
torrid heat"
The cavalry horse has no nationality
The exigencies OF war find him mrni lg
from rural scenes. from the land OF his
birth, 10 distant fields Of battle. an invol-
untary participant in the strife of nations
He is fresh product from the range, from
the hills, from the breeding farm. from
the great horse markets. lie begins ser
vice as 4-Sear-old, not being strong or
tough enough TO begin much earlier than
tnai He may last one. two, four. six
seven years in times OF peace. He may be
the veteran of several campaigns in times
OF war. and he seems to deserve the per
sonal pronoun. One of the finest caVal-
~ horses ever seen i'm San Francisco was
a fun-blooded Kentucky chestnut brown
that is now in the Philippines. He car
ried an ofiicer up San Juan hill. in Cuba
in advance OF the other horses that par
ticipated in that bloody charge
1t is wrong 10 suppose that the cavalry
man breaks his own horse. The animals
come into the service trained simply TO
saddle and bride to halter and rope. Then
the cava!ryman puts on the professional
touches teaches his mount the tricks Of
the trade, the way 10 lie down at COM
mand, the way TO clear obstacles. the way
to kneel, TO stand. and TO keep perfect
aiinSnment in the ranks without fussing
and kicking; the way to wheel on the turns
by columns of tours; the way to walk, to
trot, 10 gellop in company. The caval-
ryman's training is merely the higher
schooling given well-broken animal
The man who first trains the cavalry
horse is the one who has tho excitement
Wild, unaceustomed TO restraint frighten-
ed, his whole body quiverng with excite
ment and fear, the young horse is lassoed
with RATA in big stock corral into
which he and his companions have been
driven. Then begins the tusse to convert
him 10 saddle horse. Without p elimnary
ceremony. he is quickly approached hand
overland along the rope and lei apart
from the rest of the herd. Nauueros
skilled horsemen, rough riders, are all
ABOUT MIN In an expectant group. The
"topoco a leathern blindfold is cautious
ly adjusted to his head and deity drawn
down over his eyes. He quivers his legs
trembling under him. Cautiously the palm
OF the breakers hand is laid first on the
name and then patted slowly along TO The
withers, and then to the back Stin the
poor animal trembles like an aspen leaf
Very gently and silently now the man
reaches for the blanket and. holding il
over the back with both hands delicately
lowers it down upon the quivering and
frightened beast. IL may not rest there
an instant The horse may jump hump
his back like cat on the defensive in the
sudden presence of dog; shake his head
In wild. violent, stubborn vibrations and
off
rearing and plunging about He may re-
main quaking, and let the saddle blanket
rest where it was placed. IL he does. the
breaker reaches just as carefully for the
saddle, great big thirty or forty-pound
AFFAIR with broad woven-hair gfrtn or
cinch, with big stirrups and broad sweat
feathers TO protect the trousers leg from
the lathering sides OF the horse. The stir
rups and cinch will be carefully crossed
over the seat of the saddle. TO be out OF
the way. Then the saddle will be lowered
ever so cautiously on top of the blanket
The cinch is carefully lowered OFF so thar
II may fall down toward the other side
and without swinging and striking the
animal. Even more cautiously the man
reaches under an takes hold of the pen
dant cinch, and draws the end toward
him slowly resting IL until II is within
reach of the gtrth straps that are to he
passed. and rcpassed through the cincb-
ring and the ring at the side of the cad
die.
All the while the horse is trembling. but
quiet The man works as skillfully as the
surgeon performing a capital operation
Little by little the girth is brought closer
to the animals belly, and little by little
1t Is tightened until IL is a firm anchorage
Tor tne saddle. Then The stirrups are deft-
ly dropped. II the horse be particularly
IL
strrups are connected by a bit of rope
passed loosely from one to the other un-
der the belly. This is to prevent the
mans feea from swinging up on a level
with the seat during the violent bucking
tactics The horse properly saddled the
next thing to do is to slip on the loon
rope bride that goes round the nose. and
Is furnished with reins of rope and with
a thong passing over the top of the head
and kept in place by a slit, through which
one ear is passed
Everything is now ready for the rider
TO venture on his unknown mount. He
takes hold of the name and the reins
with his left hand, inserts his left foot
in the stirrup and gently but quickly.
swings into the saddle And none 900
soon With a wild rush, head out back
straight. the frerzled animal that in all
his life never had a pounds weight on
Ms DdcR peIoTe now reels the burden
Of something like 200 pounds; the binding
of the prlckly hair clnch sticking him like
bits OF burrs all along his tender under
skit; pulling and hauling at his nose
and something gripping against his sides
On he races-where he knows not He
sees rot, though the rider has already
reached forward and snatched the to
POGO" up from the beasts eyes. PelI-melI
bits of earth and sod fiicked up behind by
his beating hoofs, the horse rushes across
the level. Then, in the winking of an
eye. he suddenly stops. thrusts his fore
feet forward and fops on 10 his launches.
The rider has been on the alert and well
he may have been, for this Is the mo-
ment when he may be sent far on in a
frightful catapultc header. For a mo-
ment che dumb beast squats there sui
lenly, his sides heaving, his heart pound
beat. even through the thickness of the
sweat feathers.
Then the animal adopts other tactics.
but the rider knows his repertoire. He
has not been a bronco-buster for nothing
Jumping stiff-legged, coming down on all
fours with feet close together and back
suddenly thrust up with a nightly impel-
ling force, the horse rearing high up on
his hind legs and instantly boiling down
and hurting both heels up and back with
impulsive and desperate violence the
creature exsrts every nerve In him to
loosen that frightful thing from his back.
The instinct Of the wild horse of the
plains Is in him. He will dislodge the
panther or mountain lion or the wildcat