WAR HORSES

WHY WERE HORSES USED IN WAR?

• Transportation
• Carried heavy artillery
• Carried ammunition

DID HORSES PROVIDE ANY ADVANTAGES?

• The army increased in size
• Faster way to attack
• Carried injured soldiers

where did armies get the horses

• Horses first came from Europe
• They were sent to the U.S.
• So horses came from the U.S

WERE HORSES CARED FOR?

• Horses were abused
• Horses were made to work hard
• The sergeants horses were treated better

WHAT WERE HORSES USED FOR IN WWI?

• Again to assist wounded soldiers by carrying them
• Carried Ammunition and artillery

Did they wear armor or eye shields?

• They wore gas masks

Were horses brave?

• Yes there are journal entries to prove it
• General Seely said of his horse: “He had to endure everything most hateful to him – violent noise, the bursting of
• great shells and bright flashes at night, when the white light of bursting shells must have
• caused violent pain to such sensitive eyes as horses possess. Above all, the smell of blood, terrifying to every horse.

Did the soldiers care about what happened to their horses?

• 'I believe that every soldier who has anything to do with horse or mule has come to love them for what they
• they are and the grand work they have done and are doing in and out of the death zones.' Captain Sidney Galtrey, autumn 1918
• So yes riders cared

Tragedies of horses in WW I.

• Froze to death
• Were tested on
• Put down if injured
• We're made to carry heavy stuff that could break their backs