FIELD SPORTS IN THE ARMY 



[01 



horsemanship that ordinarily arc ex- 

 pected to be seen only within a circus 

 tent. To ride with or without saddle ; 

 to stick to a horse while it rears and 

 pitches ; to vault from the back of one 

 galloping- horse to the back of another ; 

 to ride two horses, one foot on the back 

 of each ; to stand erect upon the bare 

 back of a horse while it walks, trots, or 

 gallops, or suddenly stops — all these are 



drivers and the snappy, clock like 

 movements of the' cannoniers by no 

 means furnish a minor pari of a field 

 day exhibition. 



It is safe to say that from what has 

 already been accomplished by the men 

 that the government need have no 

 scruples nor hesitancy in making ath- 

 letics one of the most important 

 branches of military training. Some of 



IB- 



THROWING THE HAMMER 



common sights at most field day exhibi- 

 tions. But there are other sports of 

 even a more strenuous and more spec- 

 tacular nature, such as relay racing, 

 where horses are ridden and changed 

 with amazing speed ; horseback wrest- 

 ling, where two men and sometimes two 

 teams made up of ten or twelve men 

 pull, maul and thump one another until 

 one side or the other is pitched from 

 the saddle to the ground; and "Indian 

 riding," where a cavalryman going at 

 a fair rate of speed, hangs to the side of 

 his horse while he picks up from the 

 ground anything from a cartridge to a 

 comrade. The artillery, too, has its spe- 

 cial sports. The thundering rush of the 

 artillery horses, the dexterity of the 



the ingenuity that has heretofore been 

 employed to perfect weapons of war 

 can well be employed in perfecting 

 those who wield the weapons. And this 

 is fast being done. Modern military dis- 

 cipline throughout the world tends 

 toward educating the soldier individ- 

 ually rather than en masse; and this 

 mode of discipline has its advantage in 

 that it develops in each man those phys- 

 ical and moral qualities which in actual 

 battle enable him to render better serv- 

 ice as a developed part of a perfected 

 whole. Vital stamina is the capital upon 

 which the soldier must depend. He 

 must be a man of strength — active, per- 

 sistent and indomitable. These are the 

 things most required on the march and 



