Horse Therapy for
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![]() Pictured: Riding the trails at Plattsburg. Rick Jason is on the left. At wars outbreak, the cavalry had been disbanded and thousands of horses were unshod and released to roam free over the thousands of acres that were part of Fort Reno, Oklahoma. The post at Plattsburg boasted a large stable, so twenty-two horses were rounded up, shod, and shipped in a box car to us. I and three other soldiers were selected to gentle down these animals who, in four years of running free, had gone back to their wild state. We were given two weeks to get everything ready before the first influx of patients, and we spent our share of time getting bucked off and landing on our asses. One of the four of us had been a steeplechase jockey before the war and he became the leader of our group. We each cut out a horse for our own personal use and to teach from. To this day, when anyone asks what I did in the Air Corps, I tell them I taught horseback riding. |