Page 8 - DATR Open Day 2023

EQUINE TRAINING
SQUADRON (ETS)
IN 1904 the estate you stand on now was procured by the then War Department to be used as Remount Depot No 3.
Around 2500 horses and mules were held in the surrounding fields in the build up to WWI. At the outbreak of WWI the British Army had approximately 25,000 Military Working Horses (MWH), within six months this escalated to 500,000, and many of those animals would have passed through this Remount Depot. The Army Remount Service was set up in 1887 to ensure the uniformity, suitability and training of the animals (horses, mules and pack ponies) purchased for the Army and this continued until 1942.
This role has not changed much as ETS is responsible for the procurement of MWH for
use on public duties for both the Household Cavalry and the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, and for the horses we use here
to enable us to train our students. The horses used In the public duty arena is the DATR’s most visual advertisement for horse procurement, with the finished product at the heart of all UK state occasions. Within ETS are two schools, the Army School of Equitation and the Army School of Farriery.
The Army School of Equitation is responsible for the training and development of all military riding instructors and horse trainers across the Army. Our instructors are responsible
for training every horse and person you see riding on all state occasions. Having such a close relationship with the world-renowned British Horse Society enables us to have
8 | DEFENCE ANIMAL TRAINING REGIMENT