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In 2022, all three Triple Crown race winners descended from remount stallions . . .
Leslie Simmons, Speedhorse
Hes Judgeandjury, winner of the $2,925,000 All American Futurity-G1.
Susan Bachelor, Speedhorse
Susan Bachelor, Speedhorse
Otts Boy, winner of the $1,000,000 Ruidoso Eye On The Card, winner of the $1,000,000 Futurity-G1. Rainbow Futurity-G1.
The agency ran into more trouble when
it attempted to create breeding centers of its own. In 1918, the Remount Service procured 39 stallions (all but four were donated) and 1,500 mares and shipped them to depots in Virginia, Oklahoma, and Montana. Their efforts floundered. As it transpired, many of the mares belonged to heavier breeds, making it impossible for them to produce the light horses that the Army desired. In the end, government officials opted to focus on sending stallions to independent breeders.
Despite these challenges, the Remount Service was ultimately a great success. By 1918, there were over 500 stallions enrolled in the program. Demand for remount stallions was also high. The agency was forced to reject thousands of agent applications. This was reflected by the rapidly growing number of light horses in America. During the service’s heyday, approximately 18,000 mares were bred to government stallions each year, producing 12,000 foals. Twenty-seven years after the
program’s creation, one insider stated that it had produced a “reserve of 100,000” cavalry mounts. More impressively, the same writer called these horses “the only Army reserve which costs nothing for maintenance...and is being held and put to use by the civilian population of the country.” Considering the fact that Congress allocated the program just $150,000 per year ($25,000 of which was recovered in stud fees), the Remount Service was surprisingly cost efficient.
Ironically, the program did more for the “quality of...riding horses throughout the country” than for the Army itself. When World War II erupted in Europe in 1939,
the Quartermaster Corps estimated that America would need at least 200,000 horses if it entered the conflict. However, by the time America declared war on the Axis powers in late 1941, trucks, jeeps, and tanks had largely replaced packhorses and cavalry mounts. In the end, the Army only used about 52,000 horses on all fronts.
The growing redundancy of warhorses caused the decline of the Remount Service. Although the program was still producing more than 7,000 foals per year as late as 1946, the Army was soon forced to acknowledge that it was no longer necessary. In 1948, the same year that all Army breeding programs were moved to the Department of Agriculture, the Remount Service was deactivated.
Even though it only existed for 40 years,
the program’s legacy endures to this day. Interestingly, it played a central role in strengthening the then-fledgling Quarter Horse breed. According to the AQHA, “Countless well- known Quarter Horses can trace their ancestry back to one or more Thoroughbred remount stallions, including Refrigerator, Easy Jet, Two Eyed Jack, Peppy San Badger, and Clabber.” The Quarter Horse racing world continues to reflect this heritage. In 2022, all three horses who won the Triple Crown races, Otts Boy, Eye On The Card and Hes Judgeandjury, were descended from remount stallions.
Although the program was still producing more than 7,000 foals per year as late as 1946, the Army was soon forced to acknowledge that it was no longer necessary.
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