Something has always puzzled me. In reading accounts written by Guerrillas in their waning years, I read how they were dressed & especially rode fine blood mounts.
I find it difficult, that after the raids of Kansans for several years into Missouri, that many fine blooded mounts were still left in western Missouri by the beginning of the war.
Even if they started out on fine mounts, we read that they were always exchanging mounts with sympathizers & I would think that those were not especially blooded animals, built for stamina.
I often wondered, in that most war horses become somewhat accustomed to gunfire when exposed for a period of time.
In that, the Guerrillas were exchanging horses on a fairly regular basis, either for being spent on long hard rides, injuries, or whatever. I would think riding a new horse unaccustomed to gunfire, could pose a real problem in trying to control the animal & firing a pistol at the same time. I personally know the outcome as I tried to fire a .22 rifle aboard a horse once & had to discard the rifle to get control of the horse. Quantrill was also the victim of a horse unaccustomed to gunfire.
Has there been anything written concerning what type of horses they really rode?
Just curious.