Recently, I watched a very interesting documentary on American horses. I am not a horseman by any means. What I know about horses is how they were generally used in warfare. I like military history, as I am sure many of you do. And horses, until the era of motorization, were pivotal to battles of the past.
As an artilleryman, I learned that the Morgan Horse breed, developed in New England, was the ideal animal to pull heavy cannons and caissons in the days of horse artillery. They were very strong and beautiful. Compact and refined in their build, Morgans have strong legs, a straight or slightly convex profile, and a broad forehead. They also had large, prominent eyes; well-defined shoulders, and an upright and well-arched neck. All that works well for many purposes, and artillerymen, particularly in the Civil War era, loved them.
In WWI, when President Harry Truman was an artillery captain, his battery may have had Morgans, but more likely, mules did the work of pulling heavy cannons and related equipment. Truman grew up plowing fields on a farm and loved animals. So, when he assumed command of his unit, he took a special interest in the care of its livestock. It was a defining moment for him and his men. Truman was a geek of sorts, wore glasses—was practically blind without them—and did not fit the tough and ready profile of many of the roughneck Irishmen from Kansas City, Missouri, who populated his battery. They weren’t very confident that Truman had “the right stuff.” But when they saw how genuine his concern for the horses in combat was, they took a shine to him. He would demonstrate courage and tenacity, and in the years after the war, his comrades were devoted to him, not passing up an opportunity to reunite and recount their days in combat.
In many ways, Truman—the man—was shaped by his experience on the farm where he grew up. He loved the mules he used in farming, noting, “My favorite animal is the mule. He has more horse sense than a horse. He knows when to stop eating – and he knows when to stop working.” He would frequently compare men and mules, both good and bad characteristics. Somewhere in my notes, I recall Truman saying that you can learn a lot about people walking behind a mule all day.
So, what does this have to do with the documentary I noted at the outset? Many of the enthusiasts who are doing so much to preserve horse breeds in America are young women. I have observed over the years how young girls and women love horses. We have a dear friend and his daughter who fit the mold. I was struck by how much energy and love the young women in this documentary devoted to their horses, caring for them, breeding them, and training their steeds for development and in some cases competition. The Morgans for pulling, the Quarter Horses for competition in cowboy pursuits, the Mustangs for reenactments of the Pony Express, and the nostalgic care for the intelligent and versatile Appaloosas cherished by westerners and Native Americans. In each case, young women had a prominent story to tell about their love of horses and why they do what they do. They had a profound purpose.
That made me think about the current generation of young people—Gen Z-ers—who are so engaged with the socialist agenda. That includes seeking a government that will give them “free stuff” or caters to their preoccupation with sexual identity, and their expressed hatred for all things traditional. They are angry CAVE people, that is, Citizens Against Virtually Everything.
They tell you explicitly or implicitly by their dress, cosmetics, and manner why they don’t care for your way of life. They are in your face, even when they stride past you with their combat boots as an expression of their militancy. They are so filled with radical contradiction that they have little time for rational conversation. They could not be more different from the young women I saw engaged in raising and caring for noble horse breeds. To the contrary, there is very little noble in what a great many young people are doing today in our society torn asunder with disdain for tradition and the conservation of good and necessary things.
It strikes me that so many young people, girls and boys alike, lack participation in ideal things that matter. Is it any wonder that we have so many disaffected people who lack an understanding of what is important? Like Truman, I suppose you can learn a lot about people by observing what they do. And the young women caring for the equine world have something to share that is noble.
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