Harris and Horsemanship

[CMNewell <reshan@deyr.ultranet.com>]

More from "The Blood of the Arab":

        

"Frank
Hopkins says that a good horseman is one who can accomplish the task set
out for himself and the horse without any injury to the horse. Let us
consider this statement carefully only as it applies to endurance or
trail rides of from 100 miles, with from 175 to 200 pounds up, to 300
miles, with 200 to 245 pounds up.

        

"No
one could win one of those rides under the rules if his horse had
suffered any injury as a result of the ride. This makes for
horsemanship.Whenever anything happens to a horse that makes it apparent
he cannot continue without injury to himself, he is ordered out by the
judges. Among those whose horses finish, there is usually offered a prize
to the rider who finishes and who in the opinion of the judges has shown
the best horsemanship. This is not necessarily given to the person who
wins the ride, but to the one who takes the best care of his mount and
uses the best judgement in riding, in other words, by his care of the
horse and by good riding gets everything out of his mount possible
without injury to the horse...

        

"At
Colorado Springs a few years ago I had intended riding the 300 Mile Ride
on El Sabok, an Arabian stallion owned by the United States Remount and
the only Arab entered.When I arrived I was very much chagrined to find
the stallion, that had been cared for and ridden by a local cowboy, had
developed a bad case of thrush without his knowing it. In fact, no one
but myself knew it. Discovering it the day after my arrival, it was a
very simple thing to withdraw the horse and say nothing. It did not seem
necessary to call attention to the fact that he had a bad case of thrush
and discredit his trainer. I would just say that he was lame and let it
go at that. When the experts tried to locate the lameness and could not,
I forgave the cowboy and very nearly won the prize for the best
horsemanship.

        

"When
the boys from Fort Riley learned my horse was lame, they offered to let
me ride any of their horses; there were seven of them...almost everyone
seemed anxious to let me have a horse...

        

"Now
the amusing thing about it all was that by telling everybody his horse
was not good enough to ride, I soon lost my popularity. However, I kept
harping on the theme. It seemed to me the horses, in spite of the fact
that they had been picked and trained, could not, no matter how good
their riders were, accomplish the task without injury and I knew the
judges well enough to know they would put them out. Well, at noon the
third day there was not a horse left; everybody had dropped out. Query of
the judges, what to do? One of the judges very solemnly said, 'Well, I
guess there is only one award we can make, that of best horsemanship to
Mr. Harris. He knew his horse was lame when nobody else could discover
where. He told us none of the horses were good enough to go through. So I
guess he has shown the best horsemanship.' "

                                              
--CMNewell