The real War Horses

With the National Theatre’s most successful production to date WAR HORSE back on tour, Katie Gilmour sits down with Belinda Day, the Senior Curator of the National Army Museum to find out about the real war horses.

In the National Theatre’s adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse, we follow the journey of Joey, a farm horse loved by Albert. The play depicts the horror of war, the bravery of the animals and soldiers on the front line and is an emotional watch for animal lovers everywhere. But what of the real war horses? How were they managed on a day to day basis, literally, in a war zone?

Belinda Day has worked in national museums for nearly 20 years, working with a range of different collection types from archives and photographs to horse furniture and aircraft. She is passionate about museum collections and the stories they can tell to engage the public, and her interest in everything equestrian stems from her childhood. She holds ABRS qualifications in both Equitation and Stable Management, having previously worked as a groom, and she currently keeps her own horse at a livery yard in North London. She loves horses from the past, the present and the future, and, in her role as senior curator at the National Army Museum, she protects and tells their stories for us all. Talking with Belinda is fascinating; she is naturally engaging, peppering her answers to my questions with quirky facts and depth that draws you deeper into the subject, answering questions that you didn’t even know you had.

“There are so many misnomers in how horses were cared for during the war. The armed forces have a really bad reputation for putting the animals at needless risk and not caring for them, and that’s just not true. They cared for their animals better than they cared for the men,” Belinda says. “People see the blood, the mud and the trenches, but they don’t see the training. The horses were never in the trenches, and they weren’t leading charges across No Mans’ Land. They would have moved artillery, but they were trained well by people who knew what they were doing.”

Despite knowing that the First World War was a long four years in duration, it had never occurred to me how vast and complicated the logistics of managing horses at war would be. Feed, hay, farriers, vets and dentists were all needed, and, despite the challenging conditions, the horses needs were met.

“They had great support from vets and farriers, and their riders were trained to look after them,” Belinda continues. “Even in the times of the First World War [when the country was still dependent on horse power], you’d find men not used to horses. They’d find themselves in the cavalry, and were trained to ride and they were trained in how to look after horses. The Blue Cross, who, at the time were called Our Dumb Friends League, actually produced a manual for cavalry troopers telling them how to look after their horses properly. It was issued free of charge to all those soldiers, so they could get it right. The army partnered with a lot of charities to improve their horses’ welfare.”

Belinda gives the impression that the horses were valued colleagues to their soldiers, and it wasn’t just any horse that would form part of a troop. Even in times of war, the army were selective in their equine purchases.

“Different jobs for horses in the army had different criteria [for selection],” Belinda explains. “So, a cavalry troop horse was big – at least 16hands-ish – and preferably black for the Household Cavalry. Other troops weren’t as fussy, and would take bays or chestnuts. They preferred bays because they were more camouflaged. Cavalry horses were heavy hunters, artillery horses were middleweight hunters and, for draught work, there’d be Shires and heavy hunters. You’d see some Gypsy vanners and hackney crosses, too. There wasn’t much mounted infantry in the First World War; they tended to operate in hotter countries – the Middle East, South Africa… but those horses would be draught ponies, stocky, native ponies and polo ponies.”

The army tended to buy three to four-year-olds from breeders that would arrive unbacked, or they would select horses from their breeding programme in India. Horses were not supposed to be backed until they were five-years-old, and they would not go on campaign work until they were six. For longevity, they didn’t include horses over 15-years-old.

“During the war, there was conscription of horses, but the army paid a fair price for them.” Belinda said. “The farmer or owner was compensated for their animal. Quite often, they were given the opportunity to volunteer their horses for service, and they might get a better rate. The army worked with a civilian government organisation to make sure there were enough draught horses remaining on the farms to provide food. Indeed, sometimes the Army Remount service that was responsible for acquiring horses for the army, would provide horses to the farmers.”

Armies across the world had long recognised that being a working cavalry horse at war was a difficult job, and all armies wanted their horses to be fit and in peak condition. Surprisingly though, in the case of the British Army, they wanted them slightly overweight.

“A ‘fit but fat’ horse lasted the campaign much better because they had that stock of fat, so if there was a day where they didn’t get enough to eat, they’d be okay and they wouldn’t have problems with dehydration because water is stored in fat,” Belinda explained. “The French Army liked their horses in lean condition, but they didn’t have the stamina and they had a much higher rate of casualty in their horses than the British.”

For centuries its been recognised that horses thrive on routine, and horses at war were no exception, with troops following a daily routine that ensured their horses’ welfare.

“Horses would be given hay before breakfast at about 6am,” Belinda continued. “If they were on a march, they may travel 20 to 25 miles in walk, with soldiers encouraged to jump off and walk alongside their horses at intervals. Every time there was a stop on the march, the horses would be encouraged to graze in order to stretch their rations further, and their saddles would be taken off to rest their backs. After the march, they’d be fed again with hay, chaff and oats.”

Imagine the amount of forage and feed needed for a troop of 40 horses, and then imagine travelling that through a war zone.

“Military logistics is an art form in itself. It’s an incredible feat of organisation to get the supplies you need [to where the troops are stationed]. You’ve got submarines taking out your shipping, you’ve got many competing needs,” Belinda explained. Hay would follow the horses on a baggage train, but soldiers would carry a day’s worth of chaff and oats on the horse.

Once the march was over, horses were thoroughly groomed. They were groomed without fail every day to check that there are no sores or nicks. After all, horses were perhaps the most valuable asset to a troop. The farrier would inspect their feet and shoes. Any missing shoes were replaced using the spare shoe that each rider would carry. They’d be shod every four weeks or once every 250 miles, and it was usual to hot shoe.

Horses would be hobbled, picketed or knee tied overnight. It was recognised by the army that horses need to roll and stretch, and consequently knee tying was preferable because it allowed horses to roll. They would always be kept under guard because the risk of horses wandering or being stolen was high.

“A cavalry man is useless without his horse,” Belinda said. “The risk of losing your horse through them wandering off, or the locals thinking, ‘Ooh, I could get a horse here and sell it back to the army for some money!’, or the enemy saying, ‘They have better horses than us’ – even another troop in your own army might take a better horse – so they definitely made sure not to lose their horses.”

Though literature tells us a bleak story of injured horses on the battle fields, it is not accurate. Equine hospitals existed, alongside human hospitals.

“The equine hospitals worked exactly the same way as the human hospitals. You had a mobile veterinary section that would go out and assess the horses as necessary. If they needed to go behind the lines for serious treatment or even just rest and recuperation, they would be labelled with what was wrong with them and moved back by horse drawn ambulance. The ambulances were something; you’d have a little cobby pony pulling a 16h horse on a two wheeled cart!”

The hospitals were behind the lines, just as the human equivalent were. Instead of being marked with a red cross, they are marked with a blue cross. Further behind the lines, there were rehabilitation hospitals with generous turn out for the horses to be turned away in the Allies’ controlled areas.

But what of the horses at the end of the war? Having served alongside the soldiers, where did they go?

“It was very expensive to ship all of those horses back to the UK, particularly those in the Middle East. They were generally sold on. Charities such as the Brooke worked alongside the army to ensure horses were well looked after and to improve their welfare,” Belinda explains.

“Most of the officers if they hadn’t brought their own horses out, or had lost their own horses during the conflict and had been issued horses, bought their horses and took them home. Some officers bought their entire troops’ worth of horses and took them back with them, then turned them out in fields on their country estates to ensure they had a good retirement.”

We finish our conversation with a heartwarming anecdote that Belinda shares, and encapsulates how fond the officers were of their horses:

“There’s one officer that said that, after the war, he’d bought his whole troops’ horses and turned them out on his estate. He used to sit in his breakfast room, looking out on the horses in their field, and they’d line up in a cavalry line and charge – just for the fun of it.”

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Listen to Poles, Piaffe & Prosecco’s interview with Belinda Day: Poles, Piaffe & Prosecco podcast.

Watch Belinda show Katie and Grand Prix dressage rider and trainer Tania Grantham ‘Horse furniture’ from WW1: Poles, Piaffe & Prosecco Podcast You Tube Channel and subscribe to enjoy more related videos.

Buy your tickets to the National Theatre’s UK tour of War Horse here: War Horse website.

Katie Gilmour is the host of Poles, Piaffe & Prosecco: the podcast for riders that love to train, laugh and drink prosecco! The podcast is free to listen to on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

*Additional reporting by Tania Grantham.

Katie Gilmour

Katie is a Webby and ESMA award winning multi-media journalist with an equestrian focus. She hosts the podcast Poles, Piaffe & Prosecco, which is free to listen to on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Katie lives on her family farm in West Sussex with her husband, four children and an assortment of horses, ponies, dogs, cats and poultry.