Note 71 — Chapter XVI · THE TRAINING OF THE CAVALRY OFFICER
Reading edition
The French rightly lay stress on ability to cross an intricate country. Their Service de la cavalerie en campagne, p. 191, says: “To ride hard across country and particularly over a steeplechase course is an excellent preparation for reconnaissance work. An officer accustomed to long gallops, not only at ordinary, but also at racing pace, may defy pursuit by one who has not had the same experience of leaping, and especially of leaping at full speed, and of the powers of his horse.”
Our British cavalry officers had justly a great reputation for their abilities in this respect in the Peninsular War.