As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
I have mentioned the prowess of Elizabeth Custer as a horsewoman. She rode very well in sidesaddle, up steep inclines and races. It was her that her husband George and brother in law Tom, put on Phil Sheridan, the thoroughbred race horse, to test his speed.
She delighted in Phil who responded to her touch with fire.
After the southern Cheyenne were brought off the war path, the Indians occupied land outside the fort on the Big River encampment. Libby of course was led out there by her husband to view the wild Indians, which she was in terror of. No matter if the General assured her they were whipped, Libby knew the history of the Indians, including the women tortured captives ruthlessly, beat white women with venom while captive, and a squaw would stir soup, pick up a knife and murder a Trooper without a thought.
In this glimpse of history, Libby is ridding up to the Indian encampment and gives a poignant expression of what her life was like, in the things expected of her as the wife of the General, her own honor and the merits she possessed in dealing with Phil, who having been on campaign against Indians, was like most horses in an extreme vigor when scenting them.
"To add to my fears, I found Phil trembling as we neared the high stockade which had been built next to the guard-house. Horses once thoroughly frightened by Indians never quite recover from their panic. Their sense of smell is so keen that they early begin to manifest their inward perturbation by the quivering ears, which express so much. I had all I could do to keep Phil from turning back to camp, and had not my reputation for horeemanship been at stake I should have liked to give him his head, for I wanted to go back just as badly as he wanted to take me in that direction. It was a relief to dismount and give the restless brute to the orderly, for as I was riding with a snaffle-bit to get a smoother gait, he had nearly dragged my arms from their sockets."
Elizabeth Bacon Custer. Following the Guidon
I have a deep appreciation for the Western American, and in that I am amused at Libby Custer's dilemma with her horse. Such things are experienced by all and they are amusing, from an officer selling an iron mouthed grey horse which he could not stop, being bought by a couple after being warned, and the last he saw of the woman was the horse charging away over the hills at full gallop "as she wanted a horse that would run"......the officer never heard if the horse ever stopped.
It is like my Gram being put on a team of unbroken horse by my Grampa. He knew they were not trained, and knew that if he told Gram she would not drive them. So he said nothing, and she did alright. I remember him telling me, "I asked her afterwards how things had gone and her reply was, "I did alright, but those horses kept trying to run away with me".
So as all Westerners have had the experience, it amuses them in the dilemma of Libby Custer having to deal with a spirited horse. I never minded a horse with some spirit, but a bucking horse I never had time for, as I could always ride as fast as a horse could run.
I have mentioned my cow horse I trained in he was hard mouthed. He absolutely loved chasing cattle and I always rode short rein on him, but he would pump his head while running and pull the reins free, where I would only have a few inches in my hands, and find a bent bit afterwards.
My arms still ache from thinking of those hours in the saddle, with my elbow locked to my side for leverage as I was pulling for all I had.
The comment would be, "Yeah that horse has some life to him", and it would be with a smile.
It seems strange that there are no photos of the Custer horse, Phil Sheridan which Libby rode. There are just a few of Dandy and Vic, and none of Libby on a horse which seems odd as the woman was on horse as much as anyone.
It is the saga though of the equestrian women.
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