Harris Part II--the First Ride, Part 1

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

      "It was the spring of 1919. Mr. Brown [W.R.Brown of Maynesboro Stud] 
had taken up the gauntlet with the United States Remount, so to speak, for 
the Arab horses...He was worried about not having enough Arab 
horses...asking if I had any registered Arabs I could send to the Ride...We 
had a few Mustang Arabs [crossbreds]. One colt, Kemah Prince...I offered to 
train and ride if he thought well of it...I found myself committed to an 
undertaking that led to my riding not once, but three times, and continuing 
my interest through all the Rides. Let us go on this first Cavalry 
Endurance Ride of October 1919, and see the horses...

      "I had picked Kemah Prince  about the first of July and had ninety 
days to get him and myself ready...Kemah Prince and I worked up to that, 
not sixty miles a day for five days, but thirty often and sixty 
occasionally, so we knew we could...Riding Prince into Chicago from Lake 
Geneva, Wisconsin [note: MS Streets and Trips gives the shortest route as 
68.2 miles], his last training before the Ride, he jumped from the shoulder 
of the highway to the cement, slid, and sprained a shoulder...I decided not 
to ship him...He went to the next two Endurance Rides and carried 245 
pounds both times very creditably."

      "It was only by going along as part of the gallery, so to speak, that 
one could see the Ride...The Ride was to start Monday, October 14 from Fort 
Ethan Allen, near Burlington, Vermont. The course was to be covered in five 
days of sixty miles each, total three hundred miles...

      "...it seemed best to call up Mr. Brown at Berlin, New Hampshire, and 
advise him that my horse had met with an accident and I could not ride...he 
was very cordial, said we must come up and see his horses, and insisted 
that I ride his best mare, Halcyon. Would I do it and oblige him? Whether 
out of a natural inclination to oblige or through ignorance, the invitation 
was accepted...at dinner that evening met the three judges [Surely a 
conflict of interest!!!!  Dining with the officials!!!!!] all famous 
horsemen, Major Harry Leonard, Major C.A.Benton, and Harry Worcester 
Smith...Mr Smith, addressing my son, said: "You have got a hard ride ahead 
of you, young man. I hope you are  feeling fit."  "Oh, I am not riding; 
it's Father who is."

      "Eveyone  after a glance in my direction seemed speechless and 
immediately the dinner became a very solemn affair. Reaching our room in 
the hotel, Mrs. Harris threw herself down on the bed convulsed with laughter.
        "I can't hold in any longer," she gasped. "You know, they think the 
old man can't do it. You must get out of riding this famous mare. Oh, it is 
so funny!"
	"Coming up for air again, she asked, "How are you going to get out of it? 
If you don't win with her, they will say it was your fault. Did you see the 
look on Mr. Brown's face when he realized it was you and not Norman he had 
asked to ride Halcyon?"...

      "Before we reached the Fort I had told her  it was my idea to ask for 
the privilege of riding Ramla. I would say I liked her more than Halcyon, 
which was a fact, and, as they had no one to ride her and did not think 
much of her chances, it would make everybody happy. And it did...I asked 
Mr. Brown...he did not fall on my neck,but he and everyone seemed so 
pleased that from then on I seemed to belong, as they say...as nothing much 
could be expected of either me or Ramla, I started with a clear conscience, 
so to speak, and I hope she did."

	"On this Monday morning the horses left Fort Ethan Allen...to Northfield, 
Vermont, the first day; from Northfiled to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, the 
second day; to White River  Junction, Vermont, the third day; to concord, 
New Hampshire, the fourth day; and finished the fifth day  at Camp  Devens 
at Ayer, Massachusetts, three hundred miles."

	" There was Crabbet, ridden by Monahan and there was Ramla, two of the 
Arabs that came from Crabbet...Kingfisher, who carried Col. Frank 
Tompkins...Col. CP George...rode Bob, a grade Thoroughbred...Jack Fretz 
piloted Halcyon. R. King rode  Mr. Brown's Kheyra, and his half-Standard 
Bred and half-Arab, Rustem Bey, was ridden by RH Nicholson. Capt. RR Allen 
and Capt. Hurlbut rode Donlyn and Castor, representative Morgans...TW Ames, 
a rancher of Cody Wyoming...and Alfred Jose of Texas, another cowboy, 
riding Col. Neilson's Arabs. Mr. Hunter rode Prince and Mr. Walter rode 
Ched, Morgans and Capt. John D. Lawson Ponce de Leon, grade Thoroughbred, 
U.S. brand. This accounts for the fourteen starters in the first ride in 
1919 for the United States Mounted Service Cup, sponsored by the Department 
of Animal Husbandry and the United States Remount, assisted by the Morgan 
Horse Club and the Arabian Horse Club and on later Rides by the Horse and 
Mule Association of America."
                                --CMNewell, DVM