Christopher Zimmerman's Page

From all appearances, the Empire Ranch Roundup and Open House, yesterday was a great success. I’d guess there were several thousand people there throughout the day.
My outfit, B Troop, put on a couple of shows in the morning. The first was a group riding demonstration in which we performed a few maneuvers and actually ended with a saber charge directly at the crowd (no fatalities). After that we set up a multi-weapons course that individual troopers had to negotiate while engaging a series of pi… Continue

I rode my Wonder Horse last month in the Cavalry Games in our first field jumping event together. We were magnificent. The competition was held at Fort Robinson, Nebraska (a province in Canada, I think). After entering the arena, we circled gently at a trot for a minute to help loosen up for the course. When I felt that Wonder Horse was ready we rolled out toward the first jump and transitioned smoothly to a steady canter hitting the jump perfectly. Landing lightly, still in the two-point stance… Continue

Just returned from the National Cavalry Competition at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. Here is a photo from the Pass In Review ceremony held during the competition. There are about 50 horses in the column of fours shown here. That is about half of a full-strength cavalry troop--a rare sight now days. Fort Robins… Continue

When Army horses retire I find good homes for them. I don't believe in auctioning them off as I think that after an animal has served the Army he deserves a better fate than ending up on a plate in Paris or Japan. Of course, that means I often end up with four-legged "military retirees" at my property. In addition to providing a retirement home for Army horses I also often have injured or rehabilitating "active duty" horses at my place. This past weekend I had two horses in rehab that needed som… Continue

Cavalry charges are supposed to be controlled events where all the horses are on line and the troopers in control of their mounts. That being said, our cavalry charges are seldom under control. No matter how many times we practice, once the bugler sounds the charge, everyone is of… Continue