[Mike Matson]

I'm glad to see these veterans are not forgotten.

http://www.army.mil/article/94616/Ol...rn_retirement/

[StGermain]

Cool. My brother in law was a member of the Old Guard (although he never did the Tomb of the Unknown). I'll have to ask him if he worked with the horses. He's never mentioned it, so I'd guess not.

StG

[scierra]

Here's the page describing the horses who were up for adoption.
http://www.army.mil/info/organizatio...doptahorse.htm


Go to the bottom and look at the conformation of Omar.

[Lady Eboshi]

Here's the page describing the horses who were up for adoption.
http://www.army.mil/info/organizatio...doptahorse.htm


Go to the bottom and look at the conformation of Omar.

Omar's conformation brings up an interesting question. When I was a kid, we did see horses like this and we did just call them "coon-footed" and assumed it was a blemish. Nowadays, the vets seem to be calling it "suspensory desmitis" and making dire predictions. I see it pretty commonly in some breeds and esp. broodmares who've had many foals. They do not necessarily go on to break down. Can anyone speak to this? Two different conditions, or the same?

[danceronice]

Cool. My brother in law was a member of the Old Guard (although he never did the Tomb of the Unknown). I'll have to ask him if he worked with the horses. He's never mentioned it, so I'd guess not.

StG

When I took the tour a couple years ago, one thing the Specialist taking me around said was they have trouble with and often try to avoid recruiting for the Caisson Platoon from within the rest of the Old Guard. Said that the exacting uniform standards the rest of the Old Guard maintains can make it hard to adapt to huge furry animals who shed a lot and sometimes mistake your uniform for Kleenex. (He told me about one funeral where an officer demanded "Why are there white hairs all over your uniform?" to which he pointed to the seven gray horses behind him and said "Sir, they're shedding, sir!")

[Foxtrot's]

Nice to see Omar was a Standardbred - a plug for their servicability and versatility.

[charismaryllis]

speaking of retired military:

http://howtospendit.ft.com/sport/17533-out-of-service