Christopher Zimmerman's Blog (13)

A friend of mine loaned me a copy of a 4th Cavalry court martial proceeding at Fort Concho, Texas that took place on December 20th, 1870.  There were nine cases.  All the accused were privates except for one corporal. Two of them were acquited.   

The first charge was for "Conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline."  Private William S. Hill tried to shoot his sergeant and got into a fight with some other soldiers who tried to stop him.  At one point he exclaimed,…

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Last year I was the subject of the cover of a program for the Cochise Cowboy Poetry and music gathering.  The image was used to create some commemorative art such as pins, belt buckles, scarf slides. etc. 

I remarked at the time that at least my image had not appeared on underwear.  I shouldn't…

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Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Tombstone...

Writer and actor Billy Crouch is trying to fund a low budget film called "Zombie Billy of Tombstone."  The premise of the film is that Billy Clanton climbs our of his grave at Boot Hill to get revenge on the descendants of Wyatt Earp who just happen to be visiting Tombstone.  The trailer can be found at the link below. 

http://youtu.be/GovdkxF-2AI

 

Our cavalry unit helped with the filming of an interactive Army training film today. The point of the film was to show how knowing the culture of the people you are dealing with is important to the success of military operations. In the film's scenario, an Army lieutenant accompanied by an Apache interpreter and six soldiers approaches two Apache Indians about the possibility of working for the Army as scouts.  The lieutenant must consider the advice of the interpreter before having a…

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Our cavalry unit was detailed to carry the national colors in the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas last weekend. We were part of a "salute to the military" night on the fourth day of the competition. Acting as a mounted honor guard is a pretty simple task accept when it's done in an arena full of 18,000 screaming rodeo fans. We had to enter the arena through a tunnel which was dark, full of horses and bulls and people, and filled with a simulated fog for dramatic affect. The tunnel…

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I had a good time last weekend participating in the Civil War in the Southwest event at Picacho Peak State Park, Arizona. The park hosts a re-enactment of the Civil War battles that took place in Arizona and New Mexico. Our outfit is always invited to portray the Union cavalry even though we are an Indian Wars period unit. Close enough, I guess. Sadly this may have been the last re-enactment as the park is closing in June. The photo is by Ty Holland. You can see more of his photos from the…

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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… 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… 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 Robinson provided an excellent venue for the competition; the area is chock full of western history and the local terrain provided for challenging tactical… 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… 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 off the the races. We conducted a pistol charge this morning during a ceremony on Fort Huachuca over about 300 yards of parade ground. Our artillery team was behind us with the… Continue

I have been working on training a new horse for the cavalry for the past year or so. I call him the Wonder Horse because it is a wonder he hasn't killed me yet. I figured I'd be done training him by now but it turns out this particular horse is a little more challenging than I had planned on. In the year or so I've been training him for the cavalry I have learned that he likes to express his unhappiness with new situations by walking around on his hind legs with his front hooves on his… Continue

I admit that things were not shaping up very well for the ceremony at first. The rehearsal did not go well primarily because no one showed up except my counterpart in the Plans Division. The Troop commander forgot about it...said something about soup sandwiches...and the Colonel, who was looking out her office window, did not see anybody on the parade field and decided not to come. It was probably just as well. The two of us who showed up walked the field to see if it was safe for a cavalry… Continue