VETERAN WARHORSES

Hokitika Guardian, 7 October 1931, Page 6

VETERAN WARHORSES

HUMANE WORK IN EGYPT.

LONDON, September 27. One by* one the horses of the Great War left behind in Egypt, are being humanely destroyed to save them from ill-treatment at the hands of their native owners. /

Mrs Geoffrey Brooke, in a letter to “The Times” as secretary of the Old Warhorse Fund, states that arrangements have been made to purchase and destroy all old war horses traceable ill Egypt. Many died, but others are so old that they have become the property of the poorest natives, who work them at night, so a s to avoid trouble with the police. The committee, before destroying the horses, gives them good food a iff} a few hours of peace, and then farewells them' in English. Mrs Brooke is diffident about appealing to Australia, in view of the financial stringency, but declared that Australian horses received the same treatment as British. Many horses left behind in Egypt were formerly ridden by Australian Lighthorsemen. Among them are uni survivors of the Bth Light Horse, the mounts having been discarded before the men went to Gallipoli for the famous charge as infantrymen. Although many lighthorsemen shot their mounts to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Gyppos, many still exist among the,hundreds left in Egypt by the British, who sold them before their departure. Some British officers shot their chargers for the same reason actuating the Australians.