ARAPHOE HORSEMANSHIP.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1650, 22 October 1887, Page 4

ARAPHOE HORSEMANSHIP.

General Buskin, of the United States, has just been describing in the American papers some extraordinary feats of horsemanship which he witnessed in the Indian camp of_ the Araphoe Chief Friday:—“ The riders drew up before the tent in war paint and feathers, and were,” says the general, “as fine a looking set of young fellows as I had ever seen. Hardly one but was 6ft in height, and beautifully proportioned. In a moment they disappeared over a neighboring hill to the right, and I thought they had gone, but hearing a mighty trampling of horses I looked to the left, and there they came. They swept by so swift and compact, that they looked like a ball of horses and men. Splitting in two, one body swept to the right and another to the left and again disappeared. In about two minutes the two bodies charged each other in solid lines, and I waited almost breathlessly for the shock, but as the horses’ heads almost touched each other the lines skilfully opened to the right and left, and lines passed through the intervals without touching. Wheeling to the rightabout, they passed back in an instant, and again disappeared over the' hills. It was afterwards we saw the finest individual horsemanship. Some would approach lying so close to the pony’s back that nothing but the pony could be seen. Others stood up and rode as circus men do. Some would hang with one foot and one hand on the horses and sweep by, their bodies completely protected by the bodies of the animals. Some leaped upon the ground .holding to the mane of the horse, and after running a step or two would swing themselves up on the backs of the horses again as easily as any circus man could do it. The positions they assumed and the feats of horsemanship which they performed were almost incredible, and I doubt if anything outside of a circus ring ever equalled it. They would throw objects on the ground and pick them up again while passing at full speed, the warriors hanging to the sides of the horses with one foot and one hand. They drew bows and shot arrows from underneath the neck and even bellies of their horses while riding at a fast gallop. Our cavalry could not learn to ride as well as these Indians did if each man was trained for twenty years. They exchanged horses while .riding, and got behind each other, One man would fall off his horse as if wounded, and two others would ride up beside him, and, taking him by an arm and leg, swing him between their horses and carry him ofir. The exhibition, or drill, as Friday called it, lasted nearly two hours, and the men and horses were completely exhausted.”—Echo.