Cavalry grows in size, stature

By Stephen Hodgson
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

Kylee Dalmata, 20, a junior communications major from Poland, N.Y., has been in the cavalry for the past three years. Throughout that time, the cavalry unit at Norwich University has been slowly growing.

"When I came to this school as a freshman, there were two horses that were useable by the cavalry unit," Dalmata said. "We now have about seven horses that we work with on a regular basis."

Norwich University is known as a cavalry school, and at one time Norwich produced some of the best cavalry officers in the military.

In 1946, the Army stopped using horses, so the next year the school got rid of all their horses. Since then, cavalry has been a club on campus, according to Walter St. Dennis, 21, a sophomore history major, from Huntington, Mass.

The school just bought the cavalry unit four new saddles. The saddles that the unit has been using have not been replaced since 1928, according to Dalmata. These saddles are made of nylon, not leather, making them lighter, and they are padded underneath the saddle so it is comfortable for both horse and rider.

The cavalry unit currently has horses at Phoenix stables. The owner, Deb Brown, runs a trail riding service and also takes in used horses. Most of the horses are either abused or retired racehorses. There are 27 horses at the Phoenix stables.

At the beginning of the upcoming year, Deb will be buying the cavalry unit six horses that they will train and ride. The unit is trying to get two formations consisting of four horses each for parades, according to Kathleen Donovan, 19, a sophomore communications major, from Canterbury, N.H.

A horse can cost anywhere from $350 for an abused horse, up to $10,000 to $15,000 for a racehorse. The horses are bought with money that the cavalry unit saves. The cavalry unit is not funded, so they have raised all of the money that they have. They raise all funds through T-shirt sales.

It costs $1,000 a month to rent the stables alone, and that doesn't include the care and well-being of the horses, according to Dalmata.

In the past couple of years there were very few people who were active members in cavalry. There are currently 16 active members of cavalry, and of those 16 only three had prior experience riding horses before joining cavalry.

Cavalry candidacy will be starting second semester. Cleaning the stalls and keeping the stables looking good is one of the things that you need to learn first.

The Norwich University cavalry unit is trying to bring back old traditions that were once present on the campus. "We are trying to show the school what cavalry is and what it has been, but it's the matter of having the ability to do it right now," Dalmata said.

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