...I spent a good part of yesterday reading a book about chasing Villa in Mexico in 1916. The author, Col Frank Tompkins, includes this picture of him riding his stallion Kingfisher:
Lot of folks would tell you his equitation sucked. But during a 28 day period, he rode Kingfisher 580 miles thru the deserts and mountains of northern Mexico, on half rations most of the time. With gear and supplies, Kingfisher was carrying 220-250 lbs total - and Kingfisher's weight measured just under 800 lbs...so he was carrying 30% of his own weight. Tompkins wrote:
"In this drive he had but little grain, and that corn which he had never before eaten, no hay and what dead grass he could get during the night...He negotiated the snows of the mountain passes, he sweated through the noon-day heat of the lower levels, and he shivered at night from the icy winds of these high altitudes.
He never showed any signs of fatigue, never lost courage, and was a constant inspiration to his rider. He lost but little flesh, always moved with a quick springy step with head and tail alertly raised, animated and watchful. In battle he was fearless, being quite content to keep on the firing line without fuss or objection."
I'd argue that anyone who can load up an 800 lb stallion with 220-250 lbs of gear, ride him 581 miles in 28 days over some of the roughest terrain imaginable, and finish with "a quick springy step with head and tail alertly raised" is a pretty good rider.
I also underlined a section. Some folks think people only started caring about horses when 'natural horsemanship' became known. Yet a cavalry officer in 1916 spoke of being inspired by his horse. Hmmm....:grin:
In one passage, he wrote of using a slower trot to avoid "wasting flesh". That phrase stuck with me - "wasting flesh". In another book ("Riding and Hunting", M. Horace Hayes, 1901) the author writes:
"This style may be suitable for a three or four miles drive in the Park or in Town during the season, but it is not "business" from a horseman's view, because it entails a waste of muscular power. We may see a similar needless expenditure of force..."
That ideal of horsemanship appeals to me, perhaps as a leftover reflection of Littauer's - If I'm going to ride a horse, I should try to minimize the effort required from my mount...I have more options, but want to learn to ride Bandit in a way that will always leave him "
with a quick springy step with head and tail alertly raised, animated and watchful. In battle ...fearless..."