American Military Horsemanship

Compared to the cavalries of Europe, the United States horse mounted Cavalry had a relatively short life.  It spanned just over 150 years, from the late 18^th century when Congress first authorized small forces of mounted dragoons, until the final dismounting of the Cavalry in 1944. The horse  mounted Cavalry reached its apex during the American Civil War when more than 250,000 volunteer and regular horsemen served the Union and 60,000 more served the Confederacy. Despite its rigorous western frontier duties, the ten regular regiments of the post-Civil War Cavalry seldom reached an effective strength of 8,000 troopers.  During the early 20^th century, following the Spanish American War and the ascension of the United States to world power, the strength of the Cavalry was expanded from ten regular regiments to fifteen.  Prior to World War I, two additional regular cavalry regiments were authorized; one more was added in the early 1920s. The regular Cavalry was then larger than it had ever been, and its weaknesses in training basic equitation and horsemanship were apparent. Although the Army had always recognized the need to train its cavalry troopers to ride well, it had seldom formally done so. The new realities of a larger and more permanent Regular Army Cavalry brought greater attention to the means, methods, and doctrines of equitation and horsemanship education.

Traditionally, the United States Cavalry officer was groomed at West Point or on the drill fields of State Militias while the trooper was educated and trained “on the job” in regimental camps of instruction and in the field. This “on the job” system had few rules. Training the troopers was left almost entirely to the judgment of each regiment’s officers and noncommissioned officers. Consequently, training methods varied widely from unit to unit. Guidance for this training was usually based upon nothing more than the past education and service experience of the unit’s officers and noncoms. Their textbooks were most often the then current cavalry drill and tactics manuals. For the more conscientious officers, civilian publications and books written by serving and former cavalry officers were often used. Much of the Cavalry’s training literature, both official and unofficial, came from foreign cavalries, generally those of Western Europe. The earliest of these were British and later, they were mostly French. From the mid-19^th century, the French Cavalry’s training methods were held in high regard, both in Continental Europe and in the United States. Well into the 20^th century, with few exceptions, horsemanship training methods of the United States Cavalry were little more than modifications and translations of the most current French Cavalry training regulations.

The result of this somewhat haphazard method of mounted training was predictable. Standards varied from regiment to regiment, as did the quality of the instruction. Horses broke down frequently in the field due to a combination of ill-fitting saddles and sloppy horsemanship by under-educated and poorly trained troopers. Although the United States Cavalry trooper may have been respected for his accomplishments in the field, there was no illusion that he was an accomplished horseman, or for that matter, a very good rider.

The Mounted Service School, later the Cavalry School, was established at Fort Riley, Kansas in 1907. Its early objective was to train and prepare Army officers for mounted service. This was a departure from the School’s previous role as a regimental “School of Instruction for Cavalry and Artillery”.  This new role presented an opportunity for cavalry officers to explore and experiment with various training methods, and to develop and further their own ideas in the art and science of horsemanship. In its forty years of existence, the Cavalry School became the focal point of what was considered to be the best in American horsemanship, both military and civilian. The School attracted student officers from many foreign countries, just as the French Cavalry