Yes, I too thought of Simpson and his donkey. China disbanded its last cavalry brigade in 1985, I think, but the border guards (who are technically police (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Armed_Police) rather than soldiers) still ride ponies out in the Wild West where China blurs into Central Asia, and the sand blows in from the desert. The steppe horsemen have just traded in their composite bows for assault-rifles.(http://www.fyjs.cn/bbs/attachments/Mon_1002/159_104816_9c1713cd9868e14.jpg)(http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/Storyforu/ChicomCavalry1966.jpg)