Joining Civvy Street

Service horses work hard for their country, but what happens when it’s time to end the day job?

- Emily Bevan

IT used to be common for service horses to be put down on welfare grounds once it was time for them to retire. The idea being that if they were sold they could end up in the hands of a rag and bone man and be unfairly required to work even harder than they had before.

Nowadays, retirement for service horses is the start of a more relaxed life either in a private home or at The Horse Trust’s Home of Rest for retired horses, which has provided respite and retirement homes for working horses and ponies for 130 years. As well as accepting horses from the police and military, they also receive horses from charities, such as the Riding for the Disabled Association and Ebony Horse Club.

“Three-quarters of our intake are service horses; the remaining 25% are local welfare cases,” explains Horse Trust chief executive Jeanette Allen. “We can’t take every service horse who comes up for retirement and the institutions will look for a home for them first. Often a groom or officer will want to take their favourite horse, but if they’ve served for four years they’re guaranteed a spot here – although they may have to wait for that spot.”

ONE lucky horse enjoying retirement at The Horse Trust is Daniel (main picture, left), a 16.1hh Windsor Grey. He started his career with the Metropolitan Police before transferring to the Royal Mews, where he was a harness horse for The Queen’s carriages and is known to be a favourite.

The 25-year-old became a celebrity after appearing in the Royal Mews souvenir guide, on a stamp commemorating working horses and immortalised as a statue in Windsor.