Fort Huachuca gallops into another successful Cavalry Heritage Day

Sierra Vistsa Herald ^ | Lauren Renteria

[SandRat]

FORT HUACHUCA -- It was the wild west once again at Fort Huachuca during its second Cavalry Heritage Day hosted by the B Troop Fourth U.S. Cavalry on Saturday. Nine riders and their mounts galloped around the arena to bleachers full of families to showcase techniques used in the late 1800s U.S. Cavalry.

It wasn’t just any regular demonstration, though. Riders were pitted against each other in an obstacle course race complete with bean bags and hay bales in place of the enemy. The riders had to finish the course making sure to slice or shoot each target while guiding their horse over fences, all while riding with period-appropriate technique and style -- and, sometimes not making it over the jump or missing their targets altogether.

Omar “PC” Padrocortes, an Army service member based in Fort Huachuca, patted his horse in the shade before the demonstration. In February, both were paired together at the beginning of the riding program and already formed a special bond, he said.

“In the beginning the horse is challenging you because they know you are new and they know you don’t know what you’re doing,” he said. “But then, after you start learning how to communicate with your animal, he starts doing what you ask of him.”

Padrocortes said he thought he knew how to ride horses before he started the three-month riding school that all nine riders were required to take -- it turned out he was wrong. He soon found out how difficult riding is, especially when he’s trying to take out makeshift enemies.

Even though he found the riding school to be extremely hands-on and difficult, he realized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ride as nineteenth century military men did.

“If I had a conversation with my old self, I would have never forgiven myself for not riding,” Padrocortes said. He said the history behind the Cavalry really made him want to ride in Heritage Day.

“Very few people are able to do this in our lives,” Padrocortes said. “This kind of opportunity...I just jumped on it.”

From February to the end of May, the riders dedicated around nine hours a week to perfect -- or learn, for some -- their riding technique. Some riders were enlisted Army members living on the base, while others were civilian looking to learn a new skill. Their rigorous training taught the men and women not only how to ride horses but also how to use post-Civil War weapons.

Christopher Zimmerman, the B Troop program coordinator, said the whole point of show is to keep alive the old tradition of how the U.S. Cavalry started and how they rode. The riders, many of whom had little to no experience with horses, used nineteenth-century replicas of weapons that were once used on the battlefield including oldtime pistols, rifles and a battle sword.

“Our mission is to promote the history and heritage of the U.S. Cavalry as it existed here during the Indian Wars period,” he said. “...It’s important that people understand just how challenging it was to protect this territory and people who were in it--the hardships involved in doing all of this on horseback.”

For the event-goers sitting just outside the arena, it wasn’t just an exciting show. During the obstacle course, the spectators got a chance to understand each piece of weaponry the riders used to slay their targets.

Each part of the obstacle course featured a section where riders slashed and stabbed at makeshift enemies, an 1800s-style rifle that required a lengthy reload and, lastly, a part where each rider used their pistol to shoot at the obstacles balloons.

Linda Campos came with her two young daughters to see the troopers ride for the first time.

“Seeing this event taught us a little bit about what it was many years ago. I didn’t know that they were going to perform anything like this,” she said. “Hopefully next year, more families come, more people have the opportunity to gain this experience, because, like I said, I love it.”

[Big Red Badger]

Dragoon pistols and
Springfield Trapdoor Rifles...?

Rolling Blocks, perhaps?

[rey]

Rolling Rocks? WooHoo!

[Big Red Badger]

Beer And Firearms....

Giddy-up!