Training for the Military Tournament.

Manawatu Herald, 18 July 1896, Page 3

Training for the Military Tournament.

"To many who each year look forward with pleasurable anticipations to the Military Tournament, it may be of interest," writos Mr Ernest W. Lowe, in the May number of the Windsor Magazine, " to learn something about the system which brings about such a pitch of excellence as is therein displayed^ " The sergeant who, when sitting for hi 3 education certificate, wrote that Canterbury was famous for it 3 riding schools was perhaps a poor historian but a very typical cavalryman. The Establishment, or — to give it the name by which it is generally known — the • Stab,' is virtually the cavalryman's university. And as "such it is regarded throughout that arm of the service. " The very first thing the men have to do on joining their class is to go through a preliminary gymnastic course, which mainly consists of a series of evolutions on a wooden horse for the purpose of attaining facility at mounting and dismounting without the aid of stirrups. By this means a certain degree of flexibility and agility is achieved and the men are preparing themselves for the barebacked course which follows. Many people will remember the excellent performance of this kind at the, last Tournament; the men engaged in it were from the Establishment, at which it forms part of the rogular training. " For this purpose the horse is equipped with a sort of girth or surcingle, attached to the top of which are two handles for the man to hold when he vaults on its back. It is quiet astonishing to see what a degree of proficiency the men reach in this work ; they mount and dismount while the horse is at a swinging canter, ride ' face to tail ' and even go over jumps in that awkward position. Every man has to break the horse whioh is to carry him through his course, and a very ticklish business it sometimes is. The remounts^are usually four-year -oldg, and are mostly bred in Ireland ; the majority of them have never had a bridle in their mouth?, and it is by no means unusual for a spirited youngster to show his very decided objection to being subjected to that badge of servitude ; and the antics of a young horse are not altogether amusing when you happen to be on his back. " Of course very great care has to be taken, as rough treatment might spoil the prospect of the remount developing into a reliable troophorse. His mouth may easily be mined by awkward handling, and it ! is for this very reason that the training of a young horse forma part of the curriculum. Until their horses are fairly well broken in, the olass devotes its energies mainly to that task. Not only has the remount to be schooled to obey the bit and leg, but he has to get used to the flash of the sword and the firing of a carbine. When the preliminary park of the horse's education is accomplished the men begin to take them through the more complex evolutions, to which the public have become familiarised by means of the Tournament. And here again it is a very mistaken idea to suppose that these movements are simply of use for show purposes. Experience has shown that *by making a horse perform certain figures the procasg of training him to obey the slightest touch of rein and spur, or, as it is technically styled, « bending ' him, is greatly facilitated Thus the majority of the movements in the double ride, though they may appear to the uninitiated but fantastic devices, are in reality important factors in the work of horse-breaking.