Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-05
CRAZE FACE OF DEATH
Daring Horsemanship Exhibit
ed at Fort Myer.
SPECTATORS WROUGHT UP
Hold Breath and Clinch Fists as
They Watch the Feats.
RIDERS MARvELOUSLY AGILE
Quick Eye and Absolutely Control
led Muscles Enable Them to
Leap From Path of Peril.
RIDERS MARvELOUsLY AGILE

Who wants to stand on his head on
galoping horse as 1t tears madly around
a big riding hall and jun power a hurdle?
Not many persons. it Is safe to say. Yet
at the Friday afternoon drills at Fort
Myer nearly half a hundred burly young
cavalrymen introduce that little stunt as
a mere appetizer for what Is to follow.
The drills are given In four parts. A
fancy quadrille-like exhibition in full
| dress, two violent rough rider drills. and
a field artillery drill that for genuine &C
ton has three ringed circus beaten to
death. There is not dull moment dur
ing the exhibition. From the time the
doors at the north end OF the hall swing
open to let the first troop enter at a gallop
In single file to the wild, unnamed exit of
the four field pieces. there Is excitement.
This Shows Off the Horses.
The first drill is pretty, and hard to
understand at times. The horses step In
and out of circles within circles, perform
Virginia reels and dance cotiilons. They
form in one great line stretching across
the tanbark with the guidon in the cen
ter. half facing north and half facing
south, and then whirl around in
| tremendous circle, the ends galloping
furiOusly and the center horses barely
moving. At the captains whistle they
come TO II halt as suddenly as d bullet
f1attening against a rock and the circle
swings the other way at runaway speed.
They stop this and the men throw their
horses to the ground while sitting in the
saddles. The spirited animals hate 1t
and some of them rear and buck. Last
Friday one big black beast refused abso-
lutely to- be thrown and in his rage reared
upward and over on his back, nearly kill
ing his rider and coming within an inch
of being impaled on the troopers saber
which fell from its sheath.
Then. as a piece of desert for this first
part. the troop lines up at the north end
of the hall and starts toward the south
end. Spurs and bride ends urge the
horses into trot and then into a gailop.
Iron toes dig into the soft bark. scatter
| ing a low-lying cloud of dust. The quick
puddy-pud, puddy-pud' of heofs grows
from pleasant rhythm into a terrifying
clatter. The men yell with all their lungs
and lean far over the horses heads. The
beasts widen their nostrils and diate
their eyes as they feel all restraint go to
the winds and are ready to run until
their hearts burst. beating the tan bark
with mercilesS force and rushing right
upon the spectators-. Within six feet
OF the women watching the drill this long
and closely packed line of runaways
| stops suddenly. One second they are go
ing as fast as race horse and the next
second they are as still as any statue,
and one has only to stretch out a hand
to touch the nose of the horse which
would have killed him IN another mo-
ment.
Daring Bareback Riding.
The rough rider troop rides without
saddles and does some WONDERFUL jump
ing. AS the horses go over hurdles the
men jump to the ground and then on
the horses again. Around the hall they
go many times. jumping first from the
right and then from the left. Then they
jump clear over the hurdling horse to
| the other side of him and back on the
gray army blanket again. Then they leap
| to the ground while their horses gallop
twist their legs around and land back
ward Backward on galloping, sad
| dieiess horse. sitting calmly with arms
| folded and trusting to luck and a strong
pair of knees.
Then they ride two horses bridled to-
gether and leap over both of them. Then
they ride three horses and make the most
| beautiful leaps clean over the plunging
trio and land backward on the third one
| as they bound upward from the ground
| Try it on the next three fire horses that
| you see rushing down the street. Some
times they all but fall. but the U.SA. has
strong men in It's cavalry. and the risks
they take are modified by the wonderful
|
ding performance is the bridling together
of four of the Wickedest horses How
the horses hate it! But around they tear
with man astride each of the outside
horses. AS they plunge forward in uni
son and prepare for the leap over the OBJ
stacle, one of the men slips to the ground
leaps high and lands safely behind the
| man on the farthest horse. Yesterday one
| man actually jumped too far, and despite
his desperate struggles to keep his pre-
~ 70
hoofs of the four horses behind his own
four. There were cloud of dust wild
shrieks from A hundred women sudden
pulling up and shouts from the cavalry
men, the plucky rider rolled safely out Of
danger and ran swiftly across the hall
| and dived over the horses of his own four
and landed safely on the fourth horse
backward, happy and smiling.
! Then every one Dreather again
| This reugh-riding troop saddles up. and
| does some stunts with stirrups crossed
! Shortened stirrups allow the men to stand
/ up. and In this fashion they charge pell-
nell upon the audience again They
| hurdle the fence standing. they rush at
each other and jump to the ground and on
| the horses again They seem to have
| saddled UP not for safety but for in
! creased risks One man riding alone in
| that fashion would be called foolhardy.
! but when a whole troop rides close to-
| gether. so that man falling to the
ground has only chance in ten million.
| hearts no longer beat and women clench
! fists tightly.
The Hurdling Pyramids.
| But the great circus feat is the hurdline
| pyramids. Three horses and four men
form a salloping pyramid, the apex of
which is a man who stands on the shout
ders of the man on the middle horse, who
| controls the trio On each side of the
middle rider stands another man. holding
! the hands of the apex top man. The ton
man has no support but that which he
| finds by digging his toes into The shoui-
ders below him and the grips of his two
| companions. Behind them comes an
other pyramid, galloping. running, plung-
/ ing. In this fashion they dash around
the riding hall while the band blares
comic song. and go OYER the hurdle as if
Ii was as easy as going out for a walk
| What if one single hoof caught on the
! top of the hurdle? No wonder they have
made the hospital at Fort Myer a spacious
! affair
| Then they ride the flying cinch'' as a
| climax to the cavalry part. I,oosening the
belts and letting the saddles mercy rest