Short stretch tough for a cavalryman (7)
I believe the answer is:
dragoon
'a cavalryman' is the definition.
(dragoon is a kind of cavalryman)
'short stretch tough' is the wordplay.
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'stretch' becomes 'draw' (drawing is a kind of stretching).
'tough' becomes 'goon' (synonyms).
'draw' with its last letter removed is 'dra'.
'dra'+'goon'='DRAGOON'
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for dragoon that I've seen before include "Coerce someone to do something against their will" , "Press" , "Cavalier" , "Browbeat" , "Former heavily armed cavalryman" .)