Page 164 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
attention ahead, are waiting for them.
Necks crane over the stable doors, hooves jabbing kicks
at the tin-plate reinforced loose box doors as they whinny or bray for tit-bit offerings. But Sefton’s popularity, in particular, has earned him a sweet-toothed penalty! Only one sugar lump, piece of apple, carrot or Polo mint per person.
Another horse at the home perhaps overshadowed by Sefton but nevertheless a firm favourite is Octave, Earl Mountbatten’s black Irish charger who, on September 5th, 1979, walked behind his master’s funeral cortege along the Mall with the Earl’s boots reversed in the stirrups on the way to the service at Westminster Abbey.
Octave, nick-named Dolly, had become popular with Lord Louis who used to ride her at ceremonial parades and for exercise on London’s Rotten Row. Since September 1983, the twenty-seven-year-old Dolly has been living in Loose Box Number 66 at Speen Farm. Recently she went for some chiropody – the removal of some rather nasty soft corns. She is now making an “uneventful recovery” according to Brig Spurry.
Les Butler said of both steeds: “They are gentle as lambs. Absolutely no problem with them at all.”
The tenant of Loose Box Number 44 – Sefton – nodded as in sage agreement.”
[The Home of Rest for Horses at Speen – a registered independent charity founded in 1886 – was formally opened at its Buckinghamshire location on July 15th, 1971, the first horses arriving there the previous September. The establishment had formerly been at Borehamwood, Herts].
Sefton died on 9th July 1993. He was in his thirtieth year and still enjoying the celebrity deserving a retired hero. The 16.1hh ‘Cav Black’ of the Blues and Royals had survived a terrorist bombing and hours of life-saving surgery under the skilful hand and direction of British Army veterinary surgeon, Major Noel Carding RAVC. Sefton...Horse of the Year 1982 and member of the British Horse Society Equine Hall of Fame, darling of the British public and pride of the Household Cavalry – Squadron number RHG/D61: Service Number 5816 – was laid to rest at the DAC in Melton Mowbray where his grave will be forever tended by his friends of the RAVC.
Sefton
Dear Sefton
It is not good bye, your soldier rider,
will always love and remember you,
with pride, you were brave on that dark day you nearly died. Now you have gone to heaven, we
shall cry.
Dressed in all your splendour, you walk with pride,
For your Queen and Country and all mankind, Now your son will walk your way,
And close beside him you will stay.
be happy beautiful Sefton, in your home in the sky,
We will meet again, as time goes by.
God, keep you in His love, and the angels up above. 5
Household Cavalry – 1992
In 1992 the two Household Cavalry units’ ceremonial troops were united into the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment (HCMR), and their operational troops into the Household Cavalry Regiment (HCR). The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals each contribute two squadrons to the HCR and one squadron to the HCMR. They are based in Windsor and central London respectively.
HCMR and the RAVC
Everyone within the Army is aware of the union between the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals, but how many are aware of this union between the Household Calvary Mounted Regiment and the RAVC?6
It was called a surreptitious plot.....to infiltrate the specialist department of the Household Cavalry. How could the RAVC achieve that? By arranging a photo call with a SPANA donkey called Romulus and the Blues and Royals drum horse Basil. Major Tom Ogilvie-Graham RAVC parading as a Life Guard alongside Sgt Dinger Bell, Sgt Paul Tidy and Farrier Casey!
The relationship between the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment and the Corps rests not only on Service humour but also on powerful bond with the horses. This was explored by Lt Col Andrew Roache RAVC in his article for Chiron Calling (June 1991):
“The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment is such a well-known national institution that it is easy to overlook the fact that it is also a hard-working military unit. Easy, that is, until one is fortunate enough to enjoy a tour here as three members of the RAVC currently do. Then one sees the considerable amount of effort required to maintain the high standards for which the Regiment is justly famous.
The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment is made up of elements from the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals. Officers and soldiers are posted from the two
5 Written by Mrs Brenda Stacey of Poole, Dorset commemorating ex-Army horse Sefton who passed away 9th July 1993. 6 Chiron Calling dated Summer 1993.
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