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The Army announced Friday that the use of horses in\u00a0 funerals at Arlington has been pushed out to the indefinite future.<\/p>\n
Nearly a year after the Army suspended the use of the gray and black horses for funerals, officials said they are making progress buying new horses, getting better equipment, and improving the training, facilities and turnout areas. But Maj. Gen. Trevor Bredenkamp, commander of the Military District of Washington, said it’s been far more time consuming and difficult than initially expected to get the program going again. And it will take an extended period of time to get enough horses to meet the funeral needs.<\/p>\n
The horses are part of the caisson platoon of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, known as the Old Guard, which is best known for guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the cemetery, located just across the river from Washington.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
You may remember that in 2022 two of the horses (Mike and Tony by name) had to be euthanized after suffering from colon impaction.<\/p>\n
The Army found that the horses had very little grass in their turnout fields and they consumed sand and gravel from the ground while eating the low-quality hay they were fed. The fields were littered with construction debris and manure and were only large enough to support six or seven horses, nowhere near the 64 that were using the fields when Mickey and Tony died, according to an Army investigation.<\/p>\n
At the time, officials said the conditions were from mismanagement, lack of resources and a poor understanding of the horses\u2019 needs. They also said soldiers needed better training on how to care for them.\u00a0 AP<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So, two years later we apparently haven’t addressed the training, bought and trained the horses or found someplace with adequate space. Two YEARS. They could have purchased better feed in one week, folks.<\/p>\n
I see articles every week about commanders being relieved for creating a toxic environment. I’m going to propose something a little different: recycle those folks. Put them in charge of blatantly bad situations, like moldy barracks, inedible food facilities – and this. Let them offend and intimidate, even use incorrect pronouns, and tell them to GET THE JOB DONE. We have billions to waste paying for loans for degrees in underwater basketweaving or historical Roman transgender practices – cut some of those funds loose and put the abrasive ass-kickers of the world in charge of sorting out the messes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"