ARMY ISSUE

The 19th century horses that look the most like the modern, registered American Quarter Horse belonged to the U.S. Army. Previous installments in this series have featured numerous examples of what I termed “proto-Quarter Horses” ridden by Civil War officers and enlisted men. Thousands of horses were sacrificed in that conflict, so many that the Army had difficulty finding suitable mounts for soldiers for the next great campaign, which pitted the cavalry against the Plains Indians.

Bloody Knife, a Custer scout, was killed along with his flamboyant commander at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. The horse he rides is pure Army issue, with the long back and narrow coupling, flat neck, boxy head and beautiful shoulder of the Thoroughbred. The steep, somewhat short croup and low-set tail represent the Mustang genetic contribution. Bloody Knife’s tack is definitely not issue; he has added feathers and a mecate. He rides open oxbow stirrups in moccasins– not very safe, but it’s likely that, despite his corporal’s stripe and woollen Army jacket, the tribesman did not fancy tight, hard boots.

This is a young cavalryman at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1870. His mount is conformed very much like Bloody Knife’s– obviously more “Anglo” than Spanish and reminiscent of a Quarter Horse, but with the unfortunate addition of a rather bad set of calf knees. No Army inspector would have approved this horse for conscription under normal circumstances, but even at Ft. Leavenworth, which was the Army’s main livestock depot west of the Mississippi, good horses were hard to find so soon after the war. Note the high- cantled, hornless Phillips saddle and box-toed stirrups, good choices for anybody who would prefer not to fall off. The horse is in regulation bridle with snap-on leather lead rein and running martingale on curb reins with no snaffle.