The 7th from the Yellowstone to LBH

[Blair]

I am asking about a breed of horse, not the name.
my best,
Blair

[pony express]

John can be a bit of a joker, Blair.

If it was me portraying the trooper, the horse would probably have to be a Belgian, just to keep everything in proportion-since they didn't have many 6'2 225lb troopers.

[Niederlander]

Yep, I'd be with you Pony.  Having me in the Cavalry would be bad for me AND the horses!

[pony express]

Yep, I'd be with you Pony.  Having me in the Cavalry would be bad for me AND the horses!

Yeah, if there weren't many at 6'2", you can sure bet there were even fewer 6'4 or 5"!

[Delmonico]

Y'all would have be sent to the Artillary, now move them guns around a lay them right and hand me that 12 pound iron ball.

[James Hunt]

Blair: My little pony is of unknown parentage, but she moves and looks like a Morgan - maybe some Arab thrown in. She is 30 yrs old! She has done it all from English to pushing cattle. She was my mounted shooting pony until we both retired from that two years ago. She is the boss of our three horse herd, and despite her size will take on the other two who outweigh her by at least 300 pounds. She is very un-mare like, much more steady like a gelding.

A cavalry horse had to be 15 hands in the IW period - although they would tolerate 14 and a half hands in the southwest do to the smaller stock available there. But the 15 hands was to make sure that the animal could carry 90 pounds of gear plus the trooper and not exceed 25% of the horses weight. Vegas here is about 14.1 hands but she could carry me and a 40 pound saddle on a dead run around an arena all day.

This little pony is bombproof and great around kids, the perfect critter to interact with the public. She seems to know you can't pitch a kid off just because they are digging their fingers into your hide or take a bite out of them because you got your eye poked. She is really a great little pony.

Vegas in her prime:

[Niederlander]

Not THAT is a good looking horse, even to my untrained eye!

[River City John]

I am asking about a breed of horse, not the name.
my best,
Blair

I'm familiar with breeds, just my being silly, Blair. I'm also familiar with your vast store of knowledge.

Need to use more silly emoticons, I'm guessing . . .

RCJ

[Pitspitr]

OOPS, I'm probably big enough, but you got to be smart to be in the artillery. I guess that leaves me in the infantry. 

James I primarily do 1876 infantry. The earliest meat can I've been able to find that I could afford was a M-1874 Type II. I did find documentation somewhere (I can't remember where right now) of a type II being found at the dump at LBH. I really like to get a M-1872 that I can afford. I'll check with the guy you mentioned.

Below is a few of pictures of my gear.

[Delmonico]

And I've seen that meat can filled to the top with meat loaf.   

[James Hunt]

Pitspitr: That is a GREAT impression you have, thanks so much for posting those pictures. You have GREAT stuff!!!! Lets start with the holy grail of the era the 72 hat - that one looks great (so where did you acquire it - Dirty Billy or someone I am willing to do business with again? Ha! It is amazing that we all are trying to get an accurate repro of a hat that was a despised piece of crap during the day). Then, I like what appears to be your 72 boots, mine are to CW spec from R. Land, and again where did you get yours (if they have brass screws in the soles I will worship your image). And the trowel bayonet: gotta love a military that would send its troops into the field with a garden implement. Really like the score you made on your correct knife with the point, I could only find a private purchase knife with the rounded tip. While my spoon and fork look correct, they are not US marked and I don't presume to make the argument that some military purchases were not marked. The 74 haversack with the rubberized flap and fair leather straps - sweet.

You have so much more, those were what caught my eye right out of the gate. Again, thanks for sharing this. Please stay in touch as I don't do military cav or military in general enough to really know what I am doing - I rely on my CW and IW infantry buddies here and now you to point me in the right direction.

FYI: I am fascinated by the advancing frontier so I do French Great Lakes fur trade, Colonial middle ground hunter, early Federal period fort hunter, western fur trade, commercial hide hunter 1872 - 74, and of course late 19th century cowboy. So I do have a theme in my excess. IW cav is my first foray into the military in a serious way. At 66 I feel somewhat like Private Smith in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon."

[Pitspitr]

I used to be a "hanger on-er" of the General Miles Marching and Chowder Society. The GMMCS was an IWP enlisted Infantry reenacting/living history organization that had incredibly strict historical standards (read anal). Everything brought to an encampment had to be either a museum quality repro or an original. Members had to choose a company and document each item they used at the annual encampment. Most of the membership were museum curators or park rangers from US Park Service Military sites so they had access to original museum specimens. Most were also incredibly skilled craftsmen who were able to recreate the objects they needed that aren't currently in production. Their problem became that as they aged there were fewer and fewer people that were interested in the IWP enough to spend the time and money required to meet their standards and as such the GMMCS ceased to exist. I acquired most of my equipment while pursuing full membership.

Now to your questions:

The M-1872 hat was made by Tom Langham. He worked at Ft Davis Texas the last I knew.

The M-1872 Mounted boots were made by Missouri Boot and Shoe at Neosho MO. Yes, they have the correct brass "French" screws. They don't list these on their web site anymore, but would probably still make them for you....They aren't cheap.

The Trowel bayonet is a decent paki repro. The scabbard is crap and someday I will rebuild it to make it decent. According to the 1876 ordnance returns the company of infantry stationed at Ft. Hartsuff (a local restored IWP fort) was A of the 23rd and they were issued the trowel bayonet as one of the evaluation units. Since I did living history there for around 15 years I had to have one.

My silverware is US marked. I don't use the knife since it appears to have gone though a fire and is in pretty poor shape. The knife I use to eat off of is a later US issue with the round point. I wonder if the Master Tinner could/would make the spoons? And yes, it is my understanding that not all of the silverware the Army bought was US marked.

The M-1872 "tarred" haversack was made by Tom Wilder (the Sergeant of  the GMMCS) at Williston ND

James you really should consider joining us (the GAF) both as a member and at the Grand Muster next year. It'll be held the weekend of the 140th anniversary of the Battle of LBH. Most of the stages will be based on that action and the banquet will be held in the mess hall at Fort Hartsuff, a fully restored 1874 US Army Infantry post. You will see a lot of faces there that you'd be familiar with from NCOWS.

A hide hunter, huh? Did you read the account of my G-G grandfather's buffalo hunt? I posted it somewhere in the NCOWS forum. It's a reprint of an interview he did with the now defunct Blaine County Beacon or the Brewster News I forget which.

[Charles Isaac]

    Wow, you guys have some very nice gear!

[Good Troy]

Wow...I really look forward to the Muster next year!  Hopefully, I'll be a bit more edumacat'd about period correct....for now, I'm just planning on a civilian (teamster/scout) persona. 

[James Hunt]

Pitspitr: D#mn,  I almost regret the information on the 72 boots - now I am going to be contributing to Bob's retirement fund once again. This stuff never ends.

With a quick look at your stuff I wondered if the GMM&C guy's were in your past. Those seemed to be the golden years, not so much anymore. They, the Mudsills and Critter Company but a memory. I will have to go back and look for your post regarding hide hunting. Below is my effort as a commercial hunter of the southern plains 72-74. That was actually a wet hide we were working on.



I hope the 72 can is still available, another piece hard to find yet despised in the day. I wonder how long it was forced upon the troops and am willing to think that by 77 no one was trying to drink coffee from the lid. Still, it is a great piece of history to show people. Below is perhaps a better shot of the can for your consideration as handled by my good pard Greg (got to love his 72 coat with the pleats sewn down). It is not cheap but in my opinion worth it, great quality.



Regards, Jim