Members of Texas A&M University’s Parsons Mounted Cavalry sharpened their horsemanship skills this week with members of the 1st Cavalry Division from the U.S. Army’s Fort Cavazos. The training comes as part of PMC’s annual work week, in which cadets in the unit prepare to represent Texas A&M in front of large audiences during the upcoming year.
Lt. Col. Jeff Gardner ‘82, military adviser to Parsons Mounted Cavalry, said the relationship with the 1st Cavalry Division is important to the unit.
“We attend many of the same events, so establishing this connection is useful for both groups.” Gardner said. “We try to get them to come visit us every year during our summer work week.”
During the visit, two 1st Cavalry members trained cadets on saber and formation-riding techniques, which are both skills that will be frequently used by PMC throughout the upcoming year.
“Because we do a lot of the same things, it is great for our cadets to be able to make these connections and get some new perspectives on the skills that they use as part of PMC. It’s great to see our cadets have these interactions with the 1st Cav, because what they are learning is immediately useful,” Gardner said.
With football season on the horizon, cadets within Parsons Mounted Cavalry are looking forward to using what they’ve learned from the training. These skills will be put on display most prominently during the Corps’ march-ins ahead of each home game.
“It was a real honor to have the 1st Cav come out and work with us. They are some of the most knowledgeable individuals when it comes to the U.S. Army’s Cavalry Drill,” said Mason Doige ‘24. “They are an incredible resource to us when it comes to working with horses in general or conducting different mounted drill movements.
“PMC is entirely cadet-led, including most of our training, so it was great to have such a prominent unit come out and teach us some different, advanced techniques. I am really looking forward to showing everyone what we’ve learned at the first march-in,” Doige said.
Story By: Robin Nelson'22