Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-01-26
By Robert B. Phillips, Jr.


leave home. They are matinee
idols who never saw their
i names in the marquee lights.
Some Of them have played the same
roles 70. is years, but not half a
dozen members of their innummerable
audiences could identify them by sight
or name.
These unique performers are mem
bers OF one Of the most extraordinary
shows III the world-the equestrian
exhibitions and the society circuses
staged at Fort Myer, Va, across the
river from Washington.
Ever. year. when this series OF
spectacles begins. the sports writer's
and fashion commentators whip out
their dictionaries and polish up al the
adjectives related to "colorfu" and
daring. Each season there are
packed houses of dignitaries, diplo-
mas and Does, all gasping with sur
prise ard excitement at the musical
rides, tn mounted acrobatics and all
that. The rafters of the post riding
hall are rafting with "ohs and abs"
every friday afternoon, and for a
whole week end, once year, during
the society circus. But few, if any, OF
even thu most inveterate gaspers have
any idea what goes on behind the
scenes, before one Of these shows is
ready.
do not refer merely to rehearsals.
They are relatively minor necessities.
A troop can sometimes perfect a new
ride" as the stunts are called, with
only 10 te 80 hours Of practice. The
truly laborious preparation took place
in othel years-the years in which a
raw, green half-bred horse is broken,
made quiet tractable, responsive to
the least whim of his rider-the long
days OF patient work, teaching plain,
inexpensive troopers mounts to be-
come fearless jumpers. to Jump
through hoops of fire or follow an in
tricate pattern Of l6 maneuvers with
no more than an occasional si.ken
hint from the reins.
Any ONT who has ridden a horse,
and especially one VINO has broken and
made colts. must appreciate to a
certain extent the results Fort Myer
troopers get from their horses, but
few civilians ever carry horse training
to the peak it attains in the Army
1t is therefore difficult for them fully
to realize just how miraculous are
these drlils IAN officer of foreign
army would understand better, having
had experience and dreamed Of such
results
A FEW days ago I asked Col Ken
- yo., Joyce. the Fort Myer COM
mandan:. If he could outline the pro-
gram Of training to me. He said the
story would be too long to be worth the
telling in q newspaper, but he remem-
bered e yarn which covered the ques-
ton in way
Col. joyce once owned famous
trick h,rse The animal was nance
Bugs, and he liked to talk about it tc
any one wtC would listen and exhibit
the prontr enthusiasm. One day Col
joyce attended some kind Of travel
ing circus that was giving charity
performance in a Western town. A
man in The circus had an amazing
stunt horse that could count. distin'
guish colors and do numerous othel
| tricks. The colonel irnmediatel.
wanted 70 talk TO him, so they coulc
exchange pieasantries about their pets
He started down after the perform
ance to flno the fellow. only to dis
cover that q local dowager had sum
moned the trainer to her box.
MY goo man. said she, frostin'
her lorgnettes with a glance. "ant
how do you make your horse do thes
remarkaoe things? l have horse
myself l am very fond of horses
But thev will not count or pick Oh
colors'
We'll. ! dunno lust what to say
man, The trainer replied, "excep
when you want to train horse to d
somethii.e you first decide what yo1
want him to do. Then you get hin
to do it about million times. Afte
that, wherever you ask him to repea
it, you can usually depend on it tina
he will
AS Col Joyce implied, such is tn
system whereby a rank young strip
ling. fresh from some farm. become
a wise and able trouper. his precision
putting GO shame the Roxyettes an
his cour ase equaling the Flying Mo
dellos.
EOR the sake Of whimsy let me &
back and begin this story Of tn
troopers mount at the beginning. TIL
United States Army Remount Asso
citation has scores OF Government
owned thoroughbred stations farme'
out over the country. Farmers ant
other horse owners are permitted t.
breed to these studs at nominal fee
They must only keep a record of tn
breeding of the colt. Later an agen
may comb the district where a GER