May 17th 2015: Household Cavalry

Millions of horses were requisitioned by the Army in WW1 to serve alongside troops in France and Belgium. At the end of the war, most were sold off and few were repatriated.

They are creatures of habit and routine, well illustrated by this account of two who were fortunate enough not only to have survived the four years of the war, but who were also repatriated.

Horses and the US military worked together for a long, long time; I believe the last surviving US Cavalry horse was named Black Jack and was part of President Kennedy's funeral processional.

My favorite story of horses in wartime is from WWII. http://www.historynet.com/patton-res...-stallions.htm

Sneaking 350 horses out of an area given by treaty to one of the hungriest countries on the continent because no form of art should be lost to the world. WOW.

One of the most famous modern Arabian horses bred in Russia was a bright red chestnut stallion named *Muscat. http://www.windmasterfarms.com/f_muscat.htm

When a US farm bought him from the Russian government, in order to export him they had to get him to a western European port city. Along the way, it turns out, his actual name was left off his export papers as much as possible because they had to trailer him through several unfriendly countries highly likely to confiscate him. His distinctive high white stockings and blaze with a big dot in it made it a very tense trip--he was extremely recognizable at that point in time. His father, *Salon (the * in front of an Arab horse's name means it was exported from its country of birth) spent his own last few years in the US with a stud fee of $25,000 in the 80s. Sadly, *Muscat did not live in the US for long; whoever bought him decided that a stallion who had only bred by AI in Russia could start doing "live cover" breeding at the age of 24 and in the middle of a heat wave. Poor bugger did manage to breed a very few mares before heatstroke and unfamiliar levels of excitement caused him to drop of a massive heart attack.

It is estimated that 484,143 British horses, mules, camels and oxen died in WW I, not to mention the dogs, carrier pigeons and other animals.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snakeadelic My favorite story of horses in wartime is from WWII. http://www.historynet.com/patton-res...-stallions.htm Sneaking 350 horses out of an area given by treaty to one of the hungriest countries on the continent because no form of art should be lost to the world. WOW.

From the link,

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Originally Posted by Sundae From the link, But surely not. Disney?

Sgt. Reckless

More about Sgt. Reckless

OO-RAH!!

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Originally Posted by Gravdigr Sgt. Reckless More about Sgt. Reckless OO-RAH!!

That was a very touching episode.

I think Harry Morgan actually had a soft spot for horses when he played that scene.

Disney did lots of great shit. They brought wonderful nature flicks to the general public. Their time lapse nature stuff like flowers opening and birds hatching, was fabulous. Granted sometimes the story lines to match their footage were ...um, contrived, but they brought us stuff nobody else would, pre-internet. Who else would show you a room full of mousetraps and Ping Pong balls. It was after Walt died that Disney became an evil empire.

I've found a few more images.

Below is the original photo shown only as an inset in the opening post.



The latest scene offered in two versions. I think I prefer the sepia.






Have a look at War Horse comes to Peckham. The scene appears in panorama but click twice on the image and the result is astonishing.

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Originally Posted by Carruthers I've found a few more images. Have a look at War Horse comes to Peckham. The scene appears in panorama but click twice on the image and the result is astonishing.

There's people inside the horse, probably French.

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Originally Posted by Lamplighter Clicking around on that panorama is fascinating, all the detail you can see. But what is this on the corner... a mechanical horse ?

In the first half of the 19th century, when the military began recording and collating detailed mortality reports (similar developments went on in the civil sphere) analyses of those figures showed some startling results. It had always been assumed that the 'healthy warrior' effect would lead to lower mortality rates among soldiers during peacetime than among civilians. Instead they found that even in peacetime soldiers had a much higher mortality rate - one of the reasons for that turned out to be a much higher propensity for suicide.

Later analyses showed great variance between different parts of the service. The highest rates of suicide were amongst the line regiments and Indian regiments and the highest of all were the cavalry regiments in India.

Lowest rates? The Household Cavalry.

May 17th 2015: Household Cavalry

[/militaryhistorynerd]


Sent by thought transference

Hey, now there's a fantastic movie idea: a gritty reboot of Miracle of the White Stallions! There was a similar incident, I believe in WWI, involving the Trakehner breed...something like 900 horses herded hundreds of kilometers to get them out of the path of the hungry Russian armed forces (sound familiar?).

A very good IOTD! Sure came and went fast, but it seems the best ones tend to do so.

They don't go anywhere.