Page 32 - Chiron Autumn 2017
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RAVC Centaur Pin
The RAVC Centaur Pin is available from The Museum of Military Medicine Shop at Keogh Barracks in Aldershot at the cost of £6.50, incl postage and packing.
The pin is a miniature Centaur made of silver, size 1.5cm x 1.5cm (approx). It can be worn as a Lapel pin or tie pin and can be worn by both male and female.
Anyone interested is to visit The Museum of Military Medicine website museumofmilitarymedicine.org.uk then go to the Museum Shop where you will  nd all the RAVC items being sold by the museum.
The Museum Shop can also be contacted by telephone on 01252 868612.
30 CHIRON CALLING
Our Servant The Horse – Lest We Forget
By Dr Graham Winton, PhD, FRGS, FRHistS
Amidst all the commemorate events surrounding the 100th anniversary of the 1914-1918
War, it is important that we do not forget ‘Our Servant The Horse’. As the great military veterinarian, Major-General Sir John Moore, Director General of Veterinary Services, BEF, wrote in 1934, “Perhaps few people have an adequate conception of the enormous number of animals that took part in the late war, and of the great service rendered by them; they should be counted as elements in victory”. In addition one should add the personnel of the ‘horse services’ with responsibility for the supply and care of military animals, the Army Remount Department, Royal Army Veterinary Corps and Royal Army Service Corps.
By the Army Act of 1912, the expression “horse” includes the mule, and any other beast, of whatever description, used for burden, or draught, or carrying persons. This would mean, for example, the donkey, camel, elephant, reindeer and dog; most of which are depicted on the Animals at War Memorial, Hyde Park, London. It is normally the cavalry horse that steals the limelight, whereas it is the draught horse and mule, in vastly greater numbers, that were the mainstay of power and mobility.
For centuries the horse provided the principal means of motive power and mobility. After 1919 mechanisation considerably reduced the use of animals in peace and war; however they have never completely disappeared. Captain Bullard (Chiron Calling, Spring 2016, p.17) wrote that the British Army employs 513 military working horses, more than the number of tanks. This number of horses constantly changes (490 in July 2016) as the Defence Animal Centre, Melton Mowbray, re-homes and purchases remounts for the Household Cavalry, King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery and riding horses for courses held at the Defence Animal Centre.
What is often forgotten is the broader role played by horses within a military context. This includes sport, ceremonial and leisure activities, for example the DAC Royal Tournament (see Chiron Calling, Spring 2016). Possibly the least publicised role is for physical and mental rehabilitation of wounded and sick military personnel. Horses and ponies have been used for many years to help with, for example, rehabilitating traumatised ‘children soldiers’ and orphans in war torn Africa and more generally children and adults with physical disabilities. The latter work receives a high pro le with, for example, the equine events of the Paralympics. The charity Help for Heroes sponsors work with ‘HorsebackUK’, in the rehabilitation of injured military personnel.
For the centuries of service there are few dedicated public memorials to the military horse. Virtually nothing exists for the mule and draught horse, although there are tentative plans for a memorial on the edge of Dartmoor to honour farm horses impressed and purchased for service during the 1914-1918 War. The Donkey Sanctuary Charity, Sidmouth, Devon, founded 1969, aims to transform the quality of life for donkeys and mules worldwide. The Sanctuary memorial plaque dedication
reads “for donkeys and mules who gave their lives in war”; yet the only memorial statue is that of a donkey. The Horse Trust, Buckinghamshire, founded 1886, continues to provide respite care and a retirement home for working horses and ponies.
A dedication on a horse-trough in Wall, Isle of Wight, reads to horses and dogs “who also bore the heat of the day 1914-1920”. A plaque on the church wall at St Jude’s on The Hill, Hampstead, London, reads to “horses of the Empire who also served”. The base of the village war memorial at Newton, Cambridgeshire is inscribed in memory of the horses who “helped our armies to victory”; The Central Park, Peterborough, contains the memorial grave stone of ‘Jimmy the Donkey’, mascot to the Scottish Ri es, Somme 1916. In 2015 the RAVC Commandant, The Princess Royal, unveiled a memorial to the thousands of horses who passed through the Romsey Remount Depot during the 1914- 1918 War
The ‘Free Spirit’ Horse Memorial Project, is working towards raising £200,000 for a memorial to be placed in the National Memorial Arboretum in Autumn 2018. This will be a memorial to our “Servant the Horse” , providing a broad tribute to the thousands of horses that have served mankind in times of con ict, work and leisure. The dynamic project director, Tracy Francis’ conception is for a memorial (designed by artist Georgie Welch), as a way of “paying respect and admiration for these beautiful, powerful creatures, which serve today’s society through sport, rehabilitation and education”. If you would like to donate, to this worthwhile Project please contact: www.freespiritmemorial.co.uk, or telephone Tracey Francis, 01543 686117. Tracey’s Gartmore Riding School has been awarded the 2017 Queens Award for Voluntary Service.
“Free Spirit”


































































































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