Horses in WW1

[Desdichado]

The truth may be less sinister.

After the War the predecessors of the Ministry of Agriculture were apparently reluctant to have most of the horses repatriated for reasons of quarantine, and preferred to see them sold locally. The British Army looked after its horses very well on the whole, and they fetched good prices when sold to French or Belgian farmers or carriers. They may have gone for slaughter at the end of this extended working life, but not immediately.

Ron

The officer quoted believed that the horses were to be sold for meat. I don't know if he was actually informed of this or whether it was just surmise, but horsement was (and still is) a popular dish in France and Belgium. I hope that your explanation is the correct one as I love horses though, for some odd reason, I am terrified of riding them.

[Alison Arnold]

Just out of interest were any of the french breeds used at all ie the Percheron, the Comtois, Breton or the Normandy cob.

Ali

[Ron Clifton]

Alison

By the French, certainly! But I doubt they had many to spare for the British, although they may have spared us a few Percherons.

Ron

[dekenai]

Thanks very much for the great replies and I apologise for not replying sooner.

You have answered my question + more.

The Walers are a revered breed here, but close to extinction, as far as I know. There is a group that protects and breeds some of the last known authentic Walers.

Their exploits with the Light Horse are greatly respected.

Cheers

Ian

G'day iggy,

For all those interested in the Waler see walerhorses.com

We breed walers here in the Snowy mountains. Unfortunately l don't think that one waler is actually ridden in the ALHA at the moment, don't know why?

It also isn't quite correct that the Waler was a cavalry horse. Like most horses, the waler because of it's breeding background, came in 3 different clasifications, light medium and heavy. Alot of walers were sought as artillery horses, because of their hardiness and stamina. The Brits used thoroughbreds for Cav mounts as they could outrun a waler pony, BUT they could not match the stamina and the fact that the waler could live on the most meagre of feed. As such thats why the LH chose them. they were also smaller which meant that getting on and off was quickly done. The Brits and the Indians also prefered the waler as a polo pony. In the breeding of the waler, they did put punch clydesdale and percheron horses over waler mares, and this produced bigger framed horse for the tough work on the outback stations of Australia.

as an aside;

In WW1 the British initially had 165k horses mobilised for war (1 horse for every 3 men). Eventually there were 475k serving on the Western Front.

The Austrians had a peak number of 650k in war service, the Germans 750k and the Russians over 1M horses.

At wars end, 8M horse were KIA, and 2.5M were in Vet hospitals.

The International Museum of the Horse in Kentucky states that when the AEF went to war it took 182,000 horses. 60,000 of these were killed. 200 were returned to the United States after the war.

As for the desert war in 1914-18;

In summing up, during the entire period of hostilities in Egypt and

Palestine: 447,757 horses and mules received veterinary treatment, of these

144,864 were admitted into veterinary hospitals for serious treatment, 118,324

(81.86%) of these returned to service and 18,553 (12.8%) died or were destroyed;

the total loss of equines was 46,615 with a mortality rate of 14.45% (lower than

the 15.32% rate for all theatres of war between 1914 and 1918).136 By using the

same mortality rate figures, due to the absence of New Zealand horse loss figures,

of the 9,988 horses sent to Egypt, approximately 1,443 died or were destroyed

whilst in service

good luck

RDC

[dekenai]

a WW2 photo - horses were still an asset

[Alison Arnold]

Thanks Ron.

Ali

[gaffa]

I read one sad little anecdote recently about an officer who tried to purchase his mount after the armistice. It seems the army refused his request and ordered the poor beast to be sold "on the continenent" which I took to mean a horse slaughterer.

Hi,

I am trying to find out where the ASC Horse Training was done for WW1. Then hopefully find my grandfathers company. Also from your interests I would like to find out about his Grandfather in the Napolionic War, do you have anything on the RWF during these wars. i.e list of names etc.

Thanks

Gaffa

[geraint]

A quick google!

ASC Remounts Service responsible for provisioning horses to all army units. They had 4 depots - Woolwich, Dublin, Melton Mowbray and Arbourfield. 200 men at each depot training batches of 500 horses at a time.

Geraint

[gaffa]

A quick google!

ASC Remounts Service responsible for provisioning horses to all army units. They had 4 depots - Woolwich, Dublin, Melton Mowbray and Arbourfield. 200 men at each depot training batches of 500 horses at a time.

Geraint

Thanks Geriant, but its not the horse training units I am after its the men that had the horses and the associated ASC Companies. Does it mention anything about the fan out of these horses to the relavent ASC companies?

Gaffa

PS By the way the person I am searching for came from Llanynys/Llanrhaidr/Ruthin [area] of Denbighshire.

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Gaffa

There were four Remount Companies ASC, named AA, BB, CC and DD. They were located at the four places names by Geraint. Basic horse-breaking (if needed) and training was carried out there, and the horses were then passed to ordinary Army units to complete their training in the roles they were to fulfil in war.

Ron

[geraint]

Gaffa

Put his name up!

[gaffa]

Hello Gaffa

There were four Remount Companies ASC, named AA, BB, CC and DD. They were located at the four places names by Geraint. Basic horse-breaking (if needed) and training was carried out there, and the horses were then passed to ordinary Army units to complete their training in the roles they were to fulfil in war.

Ron

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the mistake, I am looking for the Company that received the Horses. Or are you saying that the men that used the Horses were also trained there. The person I am looking for is 'Edwin Evan Roberts 'ASC and RASC' Drv T4/058342 and its his company that I am after, then I can research that company. Incidently he was in Egypt from Mar 1915 on his MIC.

Gaffa