Famous Horses at War
A Soldier's Mount Throughout History
M. J. Trow
- In
- dreary,
- doubtful
- waiting
- hours
- Before
- the
- brazen
- frenzy
- starts,
- The
- horses
- show
- him
- nobler
- powers;-
- O
- patient
- eyes,
- courageous
- hearts.'
- Into
- Battle,
- Julian
- Grenfell,
- 1915
- In
- the
- days
- of
- horsed
- cavalry,
- a
- soldier's
- mount
- was
- a
- living,
- breathing
- companion.
- It
- galloped
- into
- the
- jaws
- of
- death
- at
- the
- sound
- of
- the
- bugle
- and
- the
- nudge
- of
- spurs.
- It
- carried
- its
- rider
- over
- arid
- deserts,
- across
- swollen
- rivers,
- up
- near-sheer
- mountains.
- Whole
- societies
- functioned
- because
- of
- the
- warhorse
- -
- the
- Huns,
- the
- Mongols,
- and
- the
- tribes
- of
- the
- North
- American
- plains.
- Horses
- were
- worshipped
- as
- gods
- -
- the
- centaurs
- of
- ancient
- Greece,
- Tziminchak
- of
- the
- Aztecs,
- while
- the
- Roman
- emperor
- Caligula
- intended
- to
- make
- his
- horse
- a
- consul!
- Most
- of
- us
- have
- only
- ever
- seen
- warhorses
- at
- the
- movies
- -
- the
- Scots
- Greys
- at
- Waterloo,
- the
- Light
- Brigade
- at
- Balaclava,
- Taras
- Bulba's
- Cossacks
- on
- the
- Steppes
- and
- Custer's
- cavalry
- at
- the
- Little
- Big
- Horn.
- This
- book
- celebrates
- the
- color
- and
- nostalgia
- of
- a
- fighting
- past,
- from
- eohippus
- the
- first
- horse
- to
- Sefton,
- the
- last
- warhorse
- injured
- in
- the
- line
- of
- duty.
- Not
- forgetting
- the
- stark
- reality
- of
- thousands
- of
- animals
- sacrificed
- for
- men's
- greed
- and
- ambition,
- those
- killed
- on
- campaign,
- the
- maimed
- cab-horses
- and
- fodder
- for
- the
- knacker's yard.
pro-mbooks3 : libris
