Sixth U. S. Cavalry. 77 



much more, may be done, without touching upon 

 the gain in ease to the rider, the pleasure to be 

 derived when both man and beast are enabled to 

 work in unison, the ability schooling gives to the 

 weakest hand to hold the most high-strung horse, 

 and the great variety of motions, speeds, and 

 paces which may be taught to subserve the com- 

 fort and delight of the rider. Whoso will claim 

 that the reader of the last French play enjoys as 

 great a privilege and pleasure as the student of 

 Hamlet, or that the day laborer is the equal of the 

 skilled artisan, may deny the utility of schooling 

 the horse for saddle-work. No reference is here 

 intended to be made to racing-stock, or to hunt- 

 ers kept as such. These stand in a class by them- 

 selves, requiring different aptitudes and treatment. 

 An interesting proof of the general value of 

 training has been recently developed in the Sixth 

 U. S. Cavalry, stationed in New Mexico. In 

 some of the troops the horses have been drilled 

 to lie down and allow the men to fire over them, 

 — a most valuable bit of discipline, peculiarly 

 suited to Indian warfare. From the course of 

 training necessary to bring about this end has re- 

 sulted an unexpected but very natural docility in 

 the horses, which are Californian bronchos, and a 

 poor class of animal. Horses formerly considered 

 dangerous have become quite gentle, and the en- 

 tire condition of the command has been changed. 



