Three Hundred Mile Race.: Rough Riders Association Arranging a Notable Endurance Test for Next Fall., Daily Racing Form, 1917-04-13

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TEBEE HUNDRED MILE RACE. Rough Riders Association Arranging a Notable Endurance Test for Next Fall. Inder the auspices of, the Rough Ciders Association and the alumini of the Norwich Iniversity an endurance race for cavalry horses is being arranged to take place next full, with the finish at Madison Square Garden during the week of the National Horse Show. Its purpose is to test the merits of the various breeds and types of horses for military service under renditions as nearly as possible like those of actual warfare. The distance covered will be about 888 miles, and it is expected that officers of the regular army and the National fluaid will enter he met . The idea is to have teams start from various P lints so as to finish at the Garden on a certain date. One team will make the ride from Norwich 1 nivcrsity. at Xorthfield. Vt., which is just about 888 mih s from New York. For teams represi nting organisations stationed nearer the city an irregular eourse will he mapped out. so that all in ay cover the same distance. Checking stations are to be arranged, with every precaution to insure substantial uniformity of performance among the competing cavalrymen and their horses. Minimum weights will be preatribcd and certain credits given to horses carrying more than the minimum. It is understood, also, that a marching schedule will be arranged on the basis of practical army service, fast enough to search out the soft horses yet slow enough to guard against cruel riding, which will be not permitted. Norwich Only Exclusive Cavalry College. Norwich is the only exclusive cavalry CSBege in the United States. It i; modi led closely after the Military Academy at West Point and. aside from the regular collegiate courses, its important work is to train men who c.-m serve as officers in the army. Five hundred and seventy -two Norwich men served as otlicers in the Civil War. tifty-two of them becoming generals, and one, the late George Dewey, an admiral. All military ni« a and breeders of horses of the military types will be keenly interested in t.n- test Which is being arranged in connection with His years Bone Show. The New York Herald has advocated just such a race for ten years or more, with a view of putting to the ti st the real merits of the various breeds of horses whose admirers have 111.de extravagant claims for them. If measures are then to ascertain and verify the breeding of the beraea entered in the contest it should throw much aeedad light on the disputed question. "What horse for the cavalry?" Major Frank Tompkins. United States cavalry, sf.itiolud at Norwich Iniversity as commandant. will enter the race on his Arab. Kii:glisher. that he rode 7 "» miles into Mexico and buck in BUI null of Panese Yilla. after the Otumbua raid last year. This little horse lie is 14.3 hands high— crossed the boundary on March 13, 1010. and between that date and April 12 he was ridden ."i7." miles acroaa deserts, over mountains and through the wilderness of Chihuahua, carrying hi- rider, rations far himself and aaaater, besides tin- uausl pack an eaacer must carry, when operating in a hostile country far from t- base. Major Tompkins says iriniBahi 1 had little grain, and that was corn, which he had never before eaten, no hay. and only what grass ho could get when staked out for the night. lie hast a little Besh, but never lost his courage, never refused his feed and was aa inspiration to his rider. lb W nt lame once, when a then was in his frog, but he did his work just the sain". Dam "Won Endurance Race. Kingfisher was bred by Uaaanel Spencer it.u-dcn of Fall iJher. Mas-.. « j„ presented him to Major TOmpkins. His dam. Halcyon, won the Fmlurame race given under the auspice ■ of the Morgan Bone Club a few y-ars age. from Fort Ethan Allen to the Vermont State Fair, at White River Junction, doing her 184 miles in thirty hours and forty-one minutes. Her dam. Heiress, under fifteen hands won tiie high jump at the Crystal Palace in London in 1*07. Heiress was by the famous French Arab horse Maiilau. whoso grandson. Hail. — I.ady Anne Brant* Hagar, was tin sire id Halcyon, aa that ahe is inbred to Maidan. Imazada. Fie sire af King-flab r, is a pure Arab. After his cxpi rience hi M Otieo, Major Tompkins is sa enthusiastic partisan of the small Arab horse for the cavalry, notuithsi.-inding the tact that thoroughbred race horse; are favor d by many army officers and usually carry off the blue ribbons when judged by army officers in the show ring.


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Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800