[Horses used and transported in the Great War].

Rights Information
Year
1969
Reference
247660
Media type
Audio
Item unavailable online
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Rights Information
Year
1969
Reference
247660
Media type
Audio
Item unavailable online
Categories
Interviews (Sound recordings)
Oral histories
Sound recordings
Duration
00:04:40
Credits
RNZ Collection
Lowndes, Percy Edward, Interviewee
Henderson, Jim, 1918-2005, Interviewer
Radio New Zealand. National Programme (estab. 1964, closed 1986), Broadcaster

An unidentified interviewer [probably Jim Henderson] talks to Percy Lowndes about transporting horses during World War I.

He describes the horses being loaded onto various decks of the ships and how they got used to balancing themselves rough seas. In bad weather are tarpaulin was put up to cover those on the top deck.

They could get quite ill on the voyage, mostly with strangles. He talks about how they coped with the change in temperature and the heat in the Middle East. They needed a lot of care to soothe them but if they became sick and lay down on the deck it was very hard to get them upright again.
They were not allowed to kill a horse, even if it was seriously ill.

He recalls spraying their legs with water to keep them cool. Once they arrived in Egypt, they were put on the railway to transport them to Cairo, although he saw some which ended up later in France.

There were very few riding horses among them - they were mostly to be used to pull wagons or used as pack horses.

He believes no horses were brought back to New Zealand because of disease and were probably destroyed for their meat.