Injured runaway horse retires from military service

A military horse that escaped central London after being startled by construction work has been retired.

Quaker, 15, was one of five Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment horses startled when debris was thrown into a plastic tunnel during an exercise in Belgravia on April 24 last year.

Footage of the frightened animals was broadcast around the world after it was filmed by a BBC cameraman covering the Post Office Inquiry.

Service personnel were thrown from their horses and the animals broke free and crashed into vehicles, including a double-decker bus, causing numerous injuries.

Quaker suffered bleeding and a minor fracture during the incident. After surgery he remained at the Horse Trust’s sanctuary in Buckinghamshire.

The Quaker’s rider broke his back when he was jumped, but after a year of recovery he was able to return to duty and start cycling again.

Major Thomas Stewart, Life Guards squadron leader, said Quaker was the only horse of the five that failed to return to duty.

Household Cavalry horses Trojan, Tennyson, Vanquish and Vida returned to duty.

“In fact, it was decided that it was best [Quaker’s] “I was sure he wouldn’t come back to us in London,” he said.

“It’s better for him to be here and enjoy it while he’s here.”

Jeanette Allen, chief executive of the Horse Trust, said the Quaker’s retirement involved eating, sleeping and running around “when he wanted to”.

“We were founded nearly 140 years ago by a lady who read Black Beauty and was inspired to help London’s taxi horses,” she said.

“Giving respite to London’s working horses was where we started, and over time we started retiring military horses.”

Lieutenant Colonel Matt Woodward, commander of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, said what happened in April last year was unusual because “horses were missing”.

“They were at a place called Wilson Crescent,” he explained. “They came around the crescent the wrong way and came out from the east side.

“If they had come out from the north side they would have gone back to Hyde Park and everything would probably have been fine.

“It’s unfortunate that they went across the crescent to Victoria and a few made it to Limehouse, which is a long way.”

The Horse Trust is the permanent home of 32 ex-military horses, 26 of whom served in the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.

In addition to accepting horses at the end of their working lives, the foundation also offers a retreat program where military and police horses can take “short breaks and summer holidays” and return to duty refreshed.

The Horse Trust spends around £2.5 million a year on the care of its horses and is funded mostly by donations.