Randal,
I envy your experience with horse drawn artillery. I am a six pounder owner too. We did a school of movement several years ago and all of the drills were done by hand. No horses. I think horses were a little more valuable than you indicate. Especially horses that were used in teams for pulling. It's actually not that difficult to move limbered on the field with a crew of eight. It's really nice when you have some infantry picketts deploying to help with the hauling though. haha. Have you ever done a "save the piece" drill for the public? We dismounted a ten pounder Parrott at the same school. Quite a drill to get an 1100 pound tube off the field once it's off the carriage and on the ground. Even more interesting getting it back vertical to remount it with just a prolonge and a handspike. Gravity is like a magnet to a gun tube. Hope to meet you on the field some day. What unit are you with?

Keith
First Sergeant
Third Richmond Howitzers
ANV