Warrior died just shy of his thirty-third birthday. What a life he had experienced, and what love and appreciation he had received from everyone around him, especially his master. As a war horse he had put his life on the line for King and Country, and cheated death by shelling and drowning in battlefield mud on at least two occasions. He had dodged the bullet many more times than that. Warrior was a war hero, fair and square, but even heroes are forced to make sacrifices.
Jack Seely, by now Lord Mottistone and Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, was feeling under pressure to rethink the corn ration he was feeding his beloved horse. Even before they left France in the winter of 1918 Seely had promised the starving Warrior that he would never be hungry again. It was a promise he had kept without question. But in 1941 the corn situation in Britain was so grim and Seely was so bound by his duties that he took the decision to end Warrior’s life, but with one stipulation: it was to happen when he was not there. He could not bear it any other way.
They took one last ride together over the Downs, going to all the places that Warrior had known from birth and then galloping on and on, not resting until every inch of the estate had been covered, right down to the sea. ‘My Warrior, you have meant the world to me. You have kept me safe when our world was being blown apart and you have been the best of friends in the presence of extreme hostility. Thank you, my Warrior. There will never be another like you,’ Seely told him.
In the years that followed and before his own death in 1947, the General thought long and hard about the qualities that made Warrior such an extraordinary horse. He put a great deal down to the horse never being beaten or chastised by a human in any way. All he had known was love and affection from the people around him from the day he was born, and that is what he gave back. Seely recollected that whenever the horse saw the general’s wife Evie, there would always be a display of touching affection. He would put his nose against her cheek and close his eyes. And when he was with the children it was the same story from the gentle Warrior.
On 5 April 1941, Warrior’s obituary appeared in The Times. Penned by Seely and headed ‘My Horse Warrior’, the words befitted the honouring of a war hero, a loyal companion, a best friend and a ‘faithful and fearless soul’. It could only have been written by one man about one horse. Together they personified honour, integrity and devotion to duty, for King and Country – until their last breath.
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© Isabel George 2014
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