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Post by elisabeth on Sept 27, 2005 1:30:21 GMT -6
For anyone who can get BBC1 TV, there's a series starting on Thursday, 8.30pm UK time, that could be of interest. Called 'The Queen's Cavalry'.
Says it's going to be a behind-the-scenes look at today's British cavalry. Very different from 19th-century US cavalry, obviously, and its role now is purely ceremonial ... but there might be some useful stuff about training, at the very least. I'll certainly be watching it; will pass on anything relevant that comes up.
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Post by elisabeth on Oct 7, 2005 5:35:01 GMT -6
Well, it's now two episodes in, and a few things seem of possible interest.
First, the recruits are very much like the 7th's would have been: urban lads who've never been near a horse before. They have to be taught EVERYTHING. One even put the saddle on the wrong way round!
Second, the training. They're started off with saddles, but without stirrups, so as to get their seat. (Meaning they have to learn to vault onto their horses from the start -- and these are big horses, around 17 hands.) Most start looking comfortable pretty quickly at the walk; it's a few days before they graduate to a trot, and when they do, two or three bite the dust. Same again when they move on to the canter. But the NCO in charge of training is (at least in front of the TV cameras) kindly and encouraging. No shouting, no derision, no insults, just humour and infinite patience. I wouldn't like to bet that every trooper in the 7th got such gentle treatment ...
Finally, the most interesting thing (for me) was how quickly these kids bonded with their horses -- within the first week, in fact. There seemed to be real friendship and affection on both sides. (Of course, some of the horses insisted on having their little joke -- most were older than their riders, and knew all the tricks -- but it was all good-humoured stuff.) The strength of the recruit/horse relationship we saw here really underlines how devastating Custer's 'colouring the horses' ploy must have been ... depriving troopers of the horse they might have been with for two whole years.
It's a fascinating series. I do hope it gets shown in the US before too long.
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Post by Diane Merkel on Oct 7, 2005 13:51:21 GMT -6
It sounds interesting, so I hope it does play here. I'll keep an eye out for it. My cable system has BBC America which tends to have a lot of Benny Hill and Monty Python reruns. They have a lot of movies, too, but I usually have to put on the closed captioning to understand the accents! ;D
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