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Show NO HOBBY-HORSEMEN WANTED. President Roosevelt's well known advocacy of efficiency in the public service and the example he sets as' an outdoor :it iii.slast have led to the promulgation pro-mulgation of an order thnt officers of the Uiiiiol States army shall be tested as to their ability to ride a horse on other occasions than parades on holid.iys. Perhaps he has noticed in command of inch certain officers wko were in turn completely at the me'vy ot, their horses. At kest, others have seen griuid marshals of .Decoration day and Fourth of Ju!v parades who acted like they had never before beer, on a horse's back. There may be field officers of the army who have equally "poor seats." Be tii.-'t as it may, the president decrees that the horsemanship horseman-ship of all officers must be tested annually or bieu-nally bieu-nally over a course of not less than fifteen nn'l-.:, and this jt varying gaits, and presumably on different differ-ent animcls. Further, no officer is to be permitkd to absent himself from any practice marches of Ids regiment. As a nilc, it is probable that the army officers are entirely capable oc. doing all the horseback riding rid-ing they will ever be called upon to do. It is also probable that' the president could ride a niajoriiy of them to a standstill. But there really does not seem any reason why an officer aspiring to promotion promo-tion should not have his horsemanship tested, just as the seamanship of naval officers is. The provident provi-dent is a great horseman, having learned the art in the west, where horseback riding is probably sis well understood as in any part of the world. It i not contemplated that the army officers shall be broncho busters, but they will be required to know how to saddle and bridle an ordinarily amiable horse, and get on and ride and control the mount in a manner which at least shows familiarity with the animr.l. |