Horses and Other Animals Used for Hunting and War.

Hunting 

Love their teeth.  

And unlike war horses they look interested and alert. Not so stressed although the one above might be having a moment!  The lady carries a falcon on her wrist.

Waterloo:  The Morning After.  Forty thousand men and ten thousand horses lay dead, dying or helpless from their wounds.  The Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815.   One horse seems to be looking across, perhaps hearing the cries of a fellow horse, the other looks exhausted. 

(I cannot find the artist, if anyone knows who it is an where this is please contact me. Thank you)

          The Welsh Pony wreath at the memorial for all of 
                              the animals lost in WWI

They walk in burdened, scared.

They died in horrendous circumstances.  Millions of them.

After the unspeakable struggle, pain, fear and death they walk through the wall and gallop away to freedom.  Sadly, this only happened at this monument.

Apparently over 16 MILLION animals served in WWI.  
They were used for transport, communication, companionship and to boost the morale of the men.   

Pigeons and dogs carried messages.  Dogs also carried telephone lines in pouches on their backs and were sent alone across no-man's land dragging the cable after them.  We see here a horse and a dog but donkeys, mules and camels carried water, food, ammunition and medical supplies to the front.
Animals were a crucial part of the war.  Even Canaries were used to detect poisonous gas an cats and dogs were trained to hunt rats in the trenches.  Imagine the fear when the shells started exploding around them.

And here the horse is used, presumably by St. George, to kill the dragon.  The artist has depicted the horse as fearful with its lips drawn back, ears back and teeth bared but also perhaps distastful at the killing of another animal.

In Northampton's Abington Park is a park bench.