The Cavalry Horse and his Pack
Being the World's Most Comprehensive Military Study of Equestrian Travel
By Lt. Jonathan Boniface 4th Cavalry
First published in 1903, republished in 2005 by The Long Rider's Guild Press, www.horsetravelbooks.com
The Long Rider's Guild Press has just issued this new volume of Lt. Jonathan Boniface's 1903 book, The Cavalry Horse and his Pack. In so doing, they asked if they could honor us by dedicating the book to "The Members of The Society of the Military Horse". A very great honor indeed, given the quality of the book.
Todd and I were both fortunate enough to receive early additions of the book, and, while there's no way I could have read it yet, I'm really impressed by the content of the book. Far more than a simple book on the horse and the pack, this book is 538 pages in length. The chapters are as follows:
Chapter I. Brief History of the Horse and Pack
Chapter II. Classes of Cavalry
Chapter III. The Horse Supply (dealing with horses in various nations).
Chapter IV American Horse Supply and Remount.
Chapter V. Classes of Horse.
Chapter VI. The Cavalry Horse.
Chapter VII Shoeing.
Chapter VIII. Bitting.
Chapter IX. Saddling the Cavalry Horse.
Chapter X The Pack
Chapter XI Marches.
Chapter XII. Passage of Rivers.
Chapter XIII. Transporting the Cavalry Horse.
Chapter XIV. Riding and Training. (including the Military Seat).
Chapter XV. The Cavalry Horse in Stable and Camp.
Chapter XVI. Grooming, Watering and Feeding.
Chapter XVII. The Pack-Train.
Chapter XVIII Diseases and Medicines
Appendix I. US Cavalry Veterinary Supply Table.
Appendix II. Horse Population of the United States by State.
Appendix III. The Standard Bred Horse.
It's pretty hard to think of a topic Lt. Boniface didn't cover.
I'll update with a review as soon as I've read it, but it appears very promising indeed. I wish to extend our thanks to the Long Rider's Guild for honoring us with the dedication!
Pat
The Cavalry Horse and his Pack
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Joseph Sullivan
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It is nice there is a new legitimate edition out. That book is a standard. For years I've been unsucessfully looking for a first edition (1903). There was a facsimilie reprint in 1975, if memory serves. Right now certain press bandits will run you off a "print on demand" edition for a price that should bring down a first edition.
Extra nice they dedicated this one to us.
Joe
Extra nice they dedicated this one to us.
Joe
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Pat Holscher
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Joseph Sullivan</i>
<br />It is nice there is a new legitimate edition out. That book is a standard. For years I've been unsucessfully looking for a first edition (1903). There was a facsimilie reprint in 1975, if memory serves. Right now certain press bandits will run you off a "print on demand" edition for a price that should bring down a first edition.
Extra nice they dedicated this one to us.
Joe
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Joe, what caused Boniface to write such a magnum opus? I had not heard of the book before, and even though the O'Reilly's had written that it was an impressive work, I was really surprised to see how widely he'd chosen his topics.
Anybody known anything about Boniface? Sometimes ranks are deceptive on officers of that era, as they remained in lower grades for so long. A decade or more of a lieutenant was not unusual.
Pat
<br />It is nice there is a new legitimate edition out. That book is a standard. For years I've been unsucessfully looking for a first edition (1903). There was a facsimilie reprint in 1975, if memory serves. Right now certain press bandits will run you off a "print on demand" edition for a price that should bring down a first edition.
Extra nice they dedicated this one to us.
Joe
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Joe, what caused Boniface to write such a magnum opus? I had not heard of the book before, and even though the O'Reilly's had written that it was an impressive work, I was really surprised to see how widely he'd chosen his topics.
Anybody known anything about Boniface? Sometimes ranks are deceptive on officers of that era, as they remained in lower grades for so long. A decade or more of a lieutenant was not unusual.
Pat
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Joseph Sullivan
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Don't know anything about Boniface.
Books of the sort were not unusual at the time. These guys were career oficers with something to say, and, just conjecture, but I can't help but suspect that they expected professional advancement to be assisted by publication. Another standard written by a serving officer is:
Carter, W.H.<i>Horses, Saddles and Bridles</i> 1895 (but with various later editions, and subsequent reprints)
Carter was a captain. The book is aimed at serving officers, and covers a lot of territory, fro a different angle than Boniface. Here are the chapter headings:
I Introductory
II The Cavalry Horse
III Age of Horses
IV Endurance of Horses
V Framework of the Horse Mechanically Considered
VI Gaits of the Horse
VII Bits
VIII Bitting and Training
IX Saddles
X Cavalry Saddles and Packs
XI Seats
XII Forage
XIII Stable Management
XIV Diseases and Injuries.
Throughout the book, Carter extensively covers foreign equipment and practices as well as US. For example, in the saddles chapter he has descriptions and photographs of French, British, German, Hungarian and other equipment, both alone and in use.
My copy is the 1895 edition, marked to the library of the Chief of Field Artillery.
Joe
Books of the sort were not unusual at the time. These guys were career oficers with something to say, and, just conjecture, but I can't help but suspect that they expected professional advancement to be assisted by publication. Another standard written by a serving officer is:
Carter, W.H.<i>Horses, Saddles and Bridles</i> 1895 (but with various later editions, and subsequent reprints)
Carter was a captain. The book is aimed at serving officers, and covers a lot of territory, fro a different angle than Boniface. Here are the chapter headings:
I Introductory
II The Cavalry Horse
III Age of Horses
IV Endurance of Horses
V Framework of the Horse Mechanically Considered
VI Gaits of the Horse
VII Bits
VIII Bitting and Training
IX Saddles
X Cavalry Saddles and Packs
XI Seats
XII Forage
XIII Stable Management
XIV Diseases and Injuries.
Throughout the book, Carter extensively covers foreign equipment and practices as well as US. For example, in the saddles chapter he has descriptions and photographs of French, British, German, Hungarian and other equipment, both alone and in use.
My copy is the 1895 edition, marked to the library of the Chief of Field Artillery.
Joe
Can't help but wonder if this is the same Boniface as Col J J who wrote a book simply called 'Riding' in 1940. I'll see if I can find my copy and check the liner notes.
Special thanks to the O'Reillys for this and other publishing endeavors.
Sandy
Special thanks to the O'Reillys for this and other publishing endeavors.
Sandy
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by selewis</i>
<br />Can't help but wonder if this is the same Boniface as Col J J who wrote a book simply called 'Riding' in 1940. I'll see if I can find my copy and check the liner notes.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Yep. Only 86 pages. It is a primer written for A.S. Barnes as part of 'The Barnes Dollar Sports Library' . There are some neat pictures though. The front piece is of the author seated on a chair, legs crossed. above the calf dress boots, gloves, rather long fly whisk crop, Sam Brown belt, perfectly flat brimmed campaign hat, staring intently into the camera. Wish I could post it.
Sandy
<br />Can't help but wonder if this is the same Boniface as Col J J who wrote a book simply called 'Riding' in 1940. I'll see if I can find my copy and check the liner notes.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Yep. Only 86 pages. It is a primer written for A.S. Barnes as part of 'The Barnes Dollar Sports Library' . There are some neat pictures though. The front piece is of the author seated on a chair, legs crossed. above the calf dress boots, gloves, rather long fly whisk crop, Sam Brown belt, perfectly flat brimmed campaign hat, staring intently into the camera. Wish I could post it.
Sandy
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Pat Holscher
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- Last Name: Holscher
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by selewis</i>
<br />Can't help but wonder if this is the same Boniface as Col J J who wrote a book simply called 'Riding' in 1940. I'll see if I can find my copy and check the liner notes.
Special thanks to the O'Reillys for this and other publishing endeavors.
Sandy
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
How's that book?
Pat
<br />Can't help but wonder if this is the same Boniface as Col J J who wrote a book simply called 'Riding' in 1940. I'll see if I can find my copy and check the liner notes.
Special thanks to the O'Reillys for this and other publishing endeavors.
Sandy
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
How's that book?
Pat
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kris
I have not logged on in quite a while.......
What a surprise to find a discussion on Boniface's book, "Cavalry Horse and His Pack." This is a great resourse, what with it spanning two centurys. It has a ninteenth century flavor,that was useful well into the 20th century, and now into the 21st.
This book was recommended to me by a couple of Cavalry officers and a horse Artillery officer over 35 years ago. They used it in the '30's.
It is really a well packed sourse of information. The training section esposes what is now called "natural horsemanship" and gentle training not "breaking" the horse.
If one has a background in 19th century riding styles, you can see that Boniface's work comes from a well educated, broad mind.
My copy is one of the 1977 facsmile versions from C & K Publishing.
Many people trying to ride and keep "military" have borrowed this from me over the years.
I am very glad that it will be available at an economical price again.
Kris
What a surprise to find a discussion on Boniface's book, "Cavalry Horse and His Pack." This is a great resourse, what with it spanning two centurys. It has a ninteenth century flavor,that was useful well into the 20th century, and now into the 21st.
This book was recommended to me by a couple of Cavalry officers and a horse Artillery officer over 35 years ago. They used it in the '30's.
It is really a well packed sourse of information. The training section esposes what is now called "natural horsemanship" and gentle training not "breaking" the horse.
If one has a background in 19th century riding styles, you can see that Boniface's work comes from a well educated, broad mind.
My copy is one of the 1977 facsmile versions from C & K Publishing.
Many people trying to ride and keep "military" have borrowed this from me over the years.
I am very glad that it will be available at an economical price again.
Kris
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Pat Holscher
- Society Member
- Posts: 7553
- Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2000 6:51 pm
- Last Name: Holscher
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by kris</i>
<br />I have not logged on in quite a while.......
What a surprise to find a discussion on Boniface's book, "Cavalry Horse and His Pack." This is a great resourse, what with it spanning two centurys. It has a ninteenth century flavor,that was useful well into the 20th century, and now into the 21st.
This book was recommended to me by a couple of Cavalry officers and a horse Artillery officer over 35 years ago. They used it in the '30's.
It is really a well packed sourse of information. The training section esposes what is now called "natural horsemanship" and gentle training not "breaking" the horse.
If one has a background in 19th century riding styles, you can see that Boniface's work comes from a well educated, broad mind.
My copy is one of the 1977 facsmile versions from C & K Publishing.
Many people trying to ride and keep "military" have borrowed this from me over the years.
I am very glad that it will be available at an economical price again.
Kris
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
I've been reading it and it has been most interesting.
Pat
<br />I have not logged on in quite a while.......
What a surprise to find a discussion on Boniface's book, "Cavalry Horse and His Pack." This is a great resourse, what with it spanning two centurys. It has a ninteenth century flavor,that was useful well into the 20th century, and now into the 21st.
This book was recommended to me by a couple of Cavalry officers and a horse Artillery officer over 35 years ago. They used it in the '30's.
It is really a well packed sourse of information. The training section esposes what is now called "natural horsemanship" and gentle training not "breaking" the horse.
If one has a background in 19th century riding styles, you can see that Boniface's work comes from a well educated, broad mind.
My copy is one of the 1977 facsmile versions from C & K Publishing.
Many people trying to ride and keep "military" have borrowed this from me over the years.
I am very glad that it will be available at an economical price again.
Kris
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
I've been reading it and it has been most interesting.
Pat
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Joseph Sullivan
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- Last Name: Sullivan
This book is an interesting study in copyrights and markets. Originally copyrighted in 1903 by Boniface, it entered the public domain some time ago. It appears to have been limited in its original printings, because the first edition almost never turns up. I just bought one last week afer years of on-and-off looking. In 1977, there was a hard-cover facsimilie edition published by C&K Publishing. There are two print-on-demand houses that will do you up a reproduction of the original for the asking. Now the Long Rider's Guild has put out the paperback edition that is dedicated to The Society.
The pricing is quite odd. The new paperback LRG edition gets anywhere from $25 US to $45 US depending on the source. That is not out of the ordinary for a book of this size and quality. The 1977 C&K hardback goes for ~ $60 US -- also in the normal range. The print-on-demand houses ask for between $145 US and $175 US! Why would anyone pay that? And the scarce 1903 first edition? I paid less than $ 80 US.
Talk about an inefficient market.
I wanted a first edition, and was willing to wait years to have one. However, at the time, the LRG edition was not in print, or I would have pounced on it merely for the information content.
Joe
The pricing is quite odd. The new paperback LRG edition gets anywhere from $25 US to $45 US depending on the source. That is not out of the ordinary for a book of this size and quality. The 1977 C&K hardback goes for ~ $60 US -- also in the normal range. The print-on-demand houses ask for between $145 US and $175 US! Why would anyone pay that? And the scarce 1903 first edition? I paid less than $ 80 US.
Talk about an inefficient market.
I wanted a first edition, and was willing to wait years to have one. However, at the time, the LRG edition was not in print, or I would have pounced on it merely for the information content.
Joe
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PantherCanyon
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Sandy,
Thanks for the heads up on "Riding"
Thought I see if one was out there on E-bay, sure enough, there it was.
Price was right, so I bought it.
What is covered in the 86 pages.
Thanks,
PantherCanyon
Thanks for the heads up on "Riding"
Thought I see if one was out there on E-bay, sure enough, there it was.
Price was right, so I bought it.
What is covered in the 86 pages.
Thanks,
PantherCanyon
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Pat Holscher
- Society Member
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- Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2000 6:51 pm
- Last Name: Holscher
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by selewis</i>
<br /><blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by selewis</i>
<br />Can't help but wonder if this is the same Boniface as Col J J who wrote a book simply called 'Riding' in 1940. I'll see if I can find my copy and check the liner notes.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Yep. Only 86 pages. It is a primer written for A.S. Barnes as part of 'The Barnes Dollar Sports Library' . There are some neat pictures though. The front piece is of the author seated on a chair, legs crossed. above the calf dress boots, gloves, rather long fly whisk crop, Sam Brown belt, perfectly flat brimmed campaign hat, staring intently into the camera. Wish I could post it.
Sandy
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Sandy, the publisher saw this comment and has this request:
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
One person noted that there is a photo of Boniface.
Could we request a copy of this image, which we would use to illustrate Boniface's life?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Pat
<br /><blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by selewis</i>
<br />Can't help but wonder if this is the same Boniface as Col J J who wrote a book simply called 'Riding' in 1940. I'll see if I can find my copy and check the liner notes.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Yep. Only 86 pages. It is a primer written for A.S. Barnes as part of 'The Barnes Dollar Sports Library' . There are some neat pictures though. The front piece is of the author seated on a chair, legs crossed. above the calf dress boots, gloves, rather long fly whisk crop, Sam Brown belt, perfectly flat brimmed campaign hat, staring intently into the camera. Wish I could post it.
Sandy
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Sandy, the publisher saw this comment and has this request:
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
One person noted that there is a photo of Boniface.
Could we request a copy of this image, which we would use to illustrate Boniface's life?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Pat
Pat;
I'd be happy to comply. Not sure what copyright laws might apply but if you or they will let me know, here at the forum or via email, I will send them my book if that what is needed to get a fair reproduction of it. I've been working up a book report of same as I can get to it but am almost done and can send it off this weekend.
Glad to be able to help.
Sandy
I'd be happy to comply. Not sure what copyright laws might apply but if you or they will let me know, here at the forum or via email, I will send them my book if that what is needed to get a fair reproduction of it. I've been working up a book report of same as I can get to it but am almost done and can send it off this weekend.
Glad to be able to help.
Sandy
The Long Riders guild has asked me to pass along this link. It is a picture of Lt Col Boniface.
http://www.thelongridersguild.com/art.htm
S
http://www.thelongridersguild.com/art.htm
S
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Pat Holscher
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A question was posed about where to obtain this book. Sandy has already noted a link, and here's another one from the same source.
http://www.horsetravelbooks.com/Packing.htm#boniface
Pat
http://www.horsetravelbooks.com/Packing.htm#boniface
Pat
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kerry savee
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Just received my copy in the mail today, can't wait to start reading.
Kerry
Kerry