Can you imagine how hard it was for the horse to clear such height with the rider seated so far toward the flanks? Yet this was considered correct style during the early 1900s. Vintage postcard showing military schooling of cavalry horses in the early 1900s in Europe. I'll have to locate these cards to obtain more information. These scans are from 2010.

It's official: People in the cavalry were INSANE--and we've got proof. Check out this craziness.... At cavalry school, riders learned many important skills, like jumping while holding a lance overhead... ...or jumping a four-foot fence with two horses and a loaded machine gun pack--that doesn't seem unsafe AT ALL! Sometimes, if actual jumps weren't available,...