To
celebrate both the Olympic Games and the Ft. Riley Commanding General’s Mounted
Color Guard performing at the Spring Valley Historic Site’s Open House on
August 27th here is a reprinting of an article by the GCHS former
Executive Director, Gaylynn Childs.
On January 1st, 1893, Fort Riley
became site of the Cavalry and light artillery school, which continued until
1943, when the Calvary was disbanded. Thanks
to Fort Riley’s Cavalry School, equestrian champions, both of the two and
four-legged variety, are almost a part of our community heritage, for Geary
County can boast of several representatives who won medals in Olympic
competitions in the 1930s.
In 1932
these world games were held in Los
Angeles and the entire Army Equestrian Team was trained
and groomed at Fort
Riley. Among the horses which would be entered in
the competition that year was a gray mare with real local ties. Her story was brought to our attention by
Bill Koester, a member of the Junction City High School Class of 1937.
Bill’s
father, Capt. William Koester, had been posted to Fort Riley in 1925 after a 5
year stint with a Cavalry Regiment in the Philippines. In 1927, he became aide to the Commanding
General and eventually a student at the post’s Mounted Service School. According to his son, “this assignment
offered an opportunity to try out for the U.S. Army Olympic Equestrian Team
then being assembled at that post. He
qualified, and in 1931 was named a member and team coach.”
In 1928,
while driving through the farmlands surrounding the Fort, Capt Koester happened
to spot a gray-colored mare jumping a 22-foot-wide creek on a farmer’s spread
near Ogden. He recognized her potential
and went to see if the farmer would consider selling her. When asked how much he wanted for the horse,
the farmer scratched his head, pondered a while, and then allowed as how he
wouldn’t take a penny less than 75 bucks for her. ‘Sold!’ said my Dad.
“Next day,
he returned with a trailer and cashier’s check for $75. He trained her from day one for the Olympics,
and in her prime she was the greatest jumper in the world. Dad named her ‘Show Girl’ and personally
oversaw her training and development into a world class jumper.
“Dad loaned
Show Girl to the Army specifically for the games of the 10th
Olympiad. It was a fortuitous move. On August 14, 1932, she transfixed 103,000
spectators in the Los Angeles Coliseum by dramatically negotiating a 1500-meter
course of 23 obstacles to win the Silver Medal in the “Prix des Nations”
jumping competition. Never had an
American entrant been a medalist in this event, and none would again until
1968, when the U.S. won the Gold in Mexico City.
“During the
remainder of the ‘30s, Show Girl reigned as the greatest jumper in the world,
winning countless trophies at the elite horse shows of the world. Dad’s reputation—as horseman (he rode her in
most events), trainer, and equine authority—soared.”
Another
legendary Geary County horseman was also on the 1932
Olympic team and also brought home a medal.
Col. Hirum Tuttle has been aptly described as a true “Renaissance Man”
for he was a man of many talents and abilities.
Born in 1882, in Maine, he grew up riding on the back of his father’s
plow horse as his father worked the fields on the family farm. When the war started
in 1917, he enlisted in officer’s training and when the United States entered
World War I, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army. Following the war he was posted to Fort Riley
in 1923 and then served for a time in remount work at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. There, he was in charge of the buying and
overseeing the breaking of horses and mules for the Army to make them suitable
for the service for which they had been obtained. From this experience he developed the skills
and expertise which would eventually make him the premiere trained rider in the
world.
In 1932
Hirum Tuttle represented the United States’ team in the Olympic Games at Los
Angeles, and again, in the fabled 1936 Games in Berlin. To this day, he is the only U.S. rider to
have won an individual medal in Dressage.
He did this in 1932 when his performance also contributed to the U.S. team’s
Bronze Medal won that same year.
Tuttle
owned all the horses he rode and they were all trained and developed at Fort
Riley. Four of them--Olympic, Vast, Si
Murray, and Peter Brown—were known throughout the world. After retirement,
Tuttle got special permission from Washington
to keep his horses at Fort
Riley, at no expense to
the Army. He worked with them there every
day, and even after he had suffered a stroke and was wheelchair-bound, he had
someone push him out to visit his horses each day. Col. Hirum Tuttle died on November 11, 1956, and was buried at Fort Riley
with military honors, including that most poignant tribute—for this man
especially—the riderless horse.
So not only
is Fort Riley one of the most historic and important military bases in the
United States, but it also has some Olympic Gold to show off!
This undated photograph of a horse at the Cavalry School
shows the horse vaulting what looks like two horses and a fence.
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