Another 1,000 horses sent!

This poem is written by Teresa Harrison-Best and is about the horses who were commandeered for active service during Word War I

She has been reading about the atrocities they suffered and felt compelled to mark the occasion with something.   They had a dreadful time, yet they were loyal to the bitter end.

Another 1,000 horses sent!

Commandeered for active service,
transported far and wide.
No time for readjustment
to battle side by side.

The sound of shells exploding,
a smell of death so near.
To witness mass destruction
with a look of total fear.

Another 1,000 horses sent!

Wading through the quagmire
loaded to the hilt.
Pulling weight a plenty
moving at full tilt.

Sickness now that ugly shroud,
exhaustion setting in,
exposure from the elements
ripping at the skin.

Another 1,000 horses sent!

Charging at the razor wire,
cutting to the core.
Equine corpses by the road,
just adding to the gore.

Gassed by poison substance,
debility and lame,
sawdust in the foodstuff,
but no one there to blame.

Another 1,000 horses sent!

Shell shocked and so frightened,
battle wounds galore,
vets tend to the obvious
but still there’s so much more.

Man and horse now parted,
death has been no friend.
Equine warriors one and all,
until the bitter end.

Another 1,000 horses sent!

A million hapless horses,
perished in that war.
We honour every one of them
and what they all stood for!

Our four legged warriors!

Written by Teresa Harrison-Best

British soldiers standing on hillside with pack horses

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Teresa H-B

Teresa lives in Worthing with her husband Stuart and their three rescue cats. She has recently retired from a long career in the Health and Social care sector, and has taken up Mosaics, Pilates and walking cricket. Her love of writing has always been prevalent throughout her life, and she wrote Catawall, fluent in feline following major surgery as a form of therapy. Her love of rhyme and rhythm feature in Catawall and her subsequent children’s books featuring Mackerel a piratical cat who captures the heart of everyone, even the ships mice and rats! ‘Mackerel and The Jolly Daisy’, ‘Mackerel and the Treasure Map’ and ‘Mackerel Saves the Day’. Her latest project Doggee Longlegs enters young fiction aimed at older children. Doggee is about young dog who starts life in a rescue shelter, overlooked on the homing day. Teresa is a great advocate of all animals and feels passionately about animal welfare, both at home and abroad.

Latest posts by Teresa H-B (see all)

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