The Everyday Tasks of Cavalry Life

[Pat Holscher]

Some photos of the less than glamorous routine of the cavalryman's life:



1940, note the boots.

Watering horses;



Some places have more water than others;




Note the sidearm.

Blacksmith duties in the field;



I read once the comments of a German cavalryman in WWII, noting that he had all the drudgery of a ground pounder, plus the horse to worry about. Here's some of the drudgery familiar to all soldiers, but in this case it is a cavalryman of the 11th Cavalry, at Ludlow in 1914. Image courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western Heritage Collection.



Pat

[Light Dragoon]

Those are some pretty cool pictures, Pat. Funny thing is, that at least for me, some of the fun of cavalry is actually the drudgery! Sounds kind of dumb I guess, but the watering, brushing, general care of the animal gives you something to concern yourself with in the field other than your own plight, and feeling sorry for yourself, so it actually makes things smoother, for me at least. But then, I am a bit of a nut-case.

Gordon

"After God, we owe our Victory to our Horses"

Gonsalo Jimenez de Quesada, 1543

[M. Freire]

I do agree with Light Dragoon. These are wonderful pictures about being a cavalryman. In a two hour break during a war march, the cavalryman would have only about ten minutes to take care of him, the other 110 minutes were for his horse and saddle. A french napoleonic hussar during the peninsular war wrote in his memories "the various troops that composed our army, especially the cavalry and infantry, differed extremely in manners and habits. The foot soldiers, having only to think of themselves and their guns, were selfish, great talkers and great sleepers.(...) The hussars and chasseurs were generaly accused of being plunderers and prodigal, loving drink and fancying every thing fair while in presence of the enemy.(...)The rider and his horse, accutomed to live together, contracted a character of resemblance. The rider derived animation from his horse, and the horse from his rider. When a hussard, not quite sober, pressed his horse to speed in ravines or among precipices, the horse assumed the empire which reason might before have given to the man (...) sometimes also, during a march, the horse would gently slacken his pace, or lean on one side or the other, to keep his intoxicated and sleeping master in the saddle; and when the involuntary sleep was over, and the hussar saw his horse panting his fatigue, he would weep, and swear never to drink more".

Miguel

[Pat Holscher]

I do agree with Light Dragoon. These are wonderful pictures about being a cavalryman. In a two hour break during a war march, the cavalryman would have only about ten minutes to take care of him, the other 110 minutes were for his horse and saddle. A french napoleonic hussar during the peninsular war wrote in his memories "the various troops that composed our army, especially the cavalry and infantry, differed extremely in manners and habits. The foot soldiers, having only to think of themselves and their guns, were selfish, great talkers and great sleepers.(...) The hussars and chasseurs were generaly accused of being plunderers and prodigal, loving drink and fancying every thing fair while in presence of the enemy.(...)The rider and his horse, accutomed to live together, contracted a character of resemblance. The rider derived animation from his horse, and the horse from his rider. When a hussard, not quite sober, pressed his horse to speed in ravines or among precipices, the horse assumed the empire which reason might before have given to the man (...) sometimes also, during a march, the horse would gently slacken his pace, or lean on one side or the other, to keep his intoxicated and sleeping master in the saddle; and when the involuntary sleep was over, and the hussar saw his horse panting his fatigue, he would weep, and swear never to drink more".

Miguel

Remarkable quote! Reminds me very much of the WWII German cavalryman mentioned above, on caring for the horse, showing how timeless some of these things were. Very interesting, thanks!

Pat

[Redhorse]

The tools have changed, the drudgery has not. Ironically, there are still units that refer to their maintenance period as "stables".

In well disciplined units, the soldier is the last in order of precedence. Lulls are spent checking equipment, cleaning weapons, pulling overwatch, reporting the status of ammo/fuel/food etc., and only after these have been accomplished do they eat or sleep.

Just as the horse was the lifeblood of the cavalry and artillery, so are our vehicles and weapons.

Stephen P. Wuensche
Captain, US Army
Field Artillery

[Pat Holscher]

Shoeing horses in the 115th Cav. Reg. at Pole Mtn, in 1925. Courtesy of the Wyoming Militia Historical Society.


Pat

[Pat Holscher]

5th Cavalry, 1916.

http://memory.loc.gov/ndlpcoop/ichicdn/ ... 65063a.jpg

Pat

[JV Puleo]

When I find it I'll post a very similar picture I have. . . only its my father doing the shaving. In the 30's he was a barber as well as playing in the NG band. He always looked forward to summer camp because he hot only got paid for going, but all he had to do was play the horn. In between practice sessions he cut hair and shaved the guys - for something like 25 cents a shot. According to him it was like printing money . . . could make $50 in two weeks without really working!
JV Puleo

[Pat Holscher]

[Pat Holscher]

[Couvi]

Excellent view of the M1902 Battery Wagon carrying spare wheels.

[Hopalong]

Can't help but comment how these guys tie horses while underneath them.
First picture, horse is snubbed to a tree at a bad angle. How this horse can balance like this is beyond me.
Second picture, there are four stout horses tied to a toothpick hitching rail, very close together.
Third picture, horse is tied low, to a wagon wheel. Are you kidding me?
I realize these horses are most likely gentle, and that's why these guys have let their guard down.
Exactly the scenario where someone gets hurt.

[Pat Holscher]

A much different view of shoeing:

[selewis]

I like this last photo. The tight working area is a little surprising but it appears to be a spot they used regularly. Does anyone have any guess as to what the device with the coils, on the off side of the horse, might be?

Something that I can't put my finger on in this shot strikes me that it is semi posed. Maybe it's that none of the action is blurred, everyone seems frozen in their task. Dunno, just an impression.

BTW so many good and really interesting photos have been posted recently. So many that I haven't had the time to devote the attention to each one that they all deserve. Thanks all: Pat, John, and of course Sam.

Sandy

[David Webb]

Look to me like shoe blanks hooked over a bar of some sort.
David

[selewis]

Look to me like shoe blanks hooked over a bar of some sort.
David

Good eye David. On second look redirected by your suggestion I believe you are right.

Sandy

[Hopalong]

I like this last photo. The tight working area is a little surprising but it appears to be a spot they used regularly. Does anyone have any guess as to what the device with the coils, on the off side of the horse, might be?

Something that I can't put my finger on in this shot strikes me that it is semi posed. Maybe it's that none of the action is blurred, everyone seems frozen in their task. Dunno, just an impression.

BTW so many good and really interesting photos have been posted recently. So many that I haven't had the time to devote the attention to each one that they all deserve. Thanks all: Pat, John, and of course Sam.

Sandy

I'd agree that this photo looks like something out of the "Twilight Zone", rather than a real working picture.
The working area is beyond tight(five guy and a horse?), if that horse backed up a step, he'd get a horseshoe brand on his butt from a guy who's not paying attention.
I have never seen anyone work an anvil like that, it's completely backwards.
The guy watching the shoe being nailed on has his face pretty close to a guy who is swinging a hammer.
Maybe it's the first day on the job, with the clean, unmarked chaps, shiny boots, and spurs.
My chaps are covered with patches, holes, scars, cuts, burn marks, and blood stains.

[Pat Holscher]

I like the photo also, but I agree it has a certain posed or set up look to it.

The news service that took the photo was a Washington D.C. area one, and so it's not an official photo. But it does seem to be a sort of portrait. Unfortunately, there's not enough background information to know what they were portraying.

The things that struck mere were the clean clothes and the hats. The hats look like they've just been issued, they're in such good shape. Two of the troopers are wearing their chin straps, which I hardly ever see, and which would be unnecessary indoors.

The trooper on the far left is sort of out of place in the photo, as he's wearing his mackinaw. That's interesting as it would suggest that perhaps it wasn't wholly posed. At any rate, these troopers are obviously in their best gear, in spite of the job, and they're trying to illustrate something out of the ordinary.

[Trooper]

Maybe the Medical Dept. qualifies for inclusion here?
Nice mounted photo:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1910s-PHOTO-NEGATIV ... 286.c0.m14

[dallas]

Another thing that is strange is that at least the 3 men whose legs can be seen are wearing officer's boots and spurs. This may be some kind of officer's class on shoeing. The hats also look like officer's hats.
Dallas