The U.S. Army Caisson Platoon has temporarily suspended operations at Arlington National Cemetery to develop a plan to ensure the long-term health and sustainability of the herd, according to Lauren Mick, media relations chief/ joint task force of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, D.C.
The military horses that carry America’s heroes to their final resting place in Arlington National Cemetery had been living in unsanitary and potentially life-threatening conditions, including one horse found with 44 pounds of gravel and sand in his gut, according to a U.S. Army report.
Since February 2022, four Caisson Platoon horses have been euthanized. The first two horses died in 2022 from colic, which was connected to the stable conditions, said Mick. Another horse was euthanized in October 2022 following a leg fracture. And in November 2022, a Caisson Platoon horse was euthanized after suffering from colic and a twisted colon.
“This is just terrible and so troubling,” said Rabo Nijenhuis, a former driver for the H.J. Heinz eight horse hitch. In 2007, Nijenhuis’s family persuaded the H.J. Heinz Company to donate the eight Percheron horses formerly used as part of the Heinz Hitch program to the 3rd U.S. Infantry regiment (The Old Guard) where they were used to pay homage to fallen soldiers in ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery.
“The horses we donated were taken care of, but I have no idea what has happened over the years. Certainly, the Army has a budget to properly care for the horses,’’ said Nijenhuis. “And when our donated horses were retired, the Old Guard contacted us to help find retirement homes for them. Everyone seemed to be very caring,’’ Nijenhuis recalled.
The horses of the Old Guard rotate between Fort Myer and Fort Belvoir. The recommended acreage for healthy horses is one to two acres per horse; the pasture facility at Belvoir only consists of six acres – for 49 horses.
To give the horses more space, the Army Military District of Washington developed a partnership last year with the Bureau of Land Management to house some of the horses at Meadowood Special Recreation Management Area in Lorton, Va., about 20 miles outside of Washington, D.C. The Army plans to use approximately 14 acres to house and graze 12 horses on a rotating basis through December 2027.
Congress even included an amendment from Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, in last year’s defense legislation that required the Army to submit a briefing to Congress on the care of the horses within the Old Guard.
Mick said the 45-day pause for the horses is based on advice from veterinary professionals and the herd manager to give the caisson horses time to recover and rehabilitate while the Army implements comprehensive efforts to promote the horses’ long-term health. The Army spokesperson also said the herd’s recovery will be monitored and modified as needed, while developing additional strategies to mitigate the impact of the temporary suspension on military families.
In hundreds of funerals at Arlington National Cemetery a year, six horses pull a flag-draped casket on a 2,500-pound black artillery caisson. The caissons, built in 1918, originally held ammunition chests and tools for cannons, but now have flat decks for caskets to rest on.