A striking War Horse memorial to the horses, donkeys and mules who served Britain and her Allies in the Great War was unveiled in Ascot, Berkshire, close to the racecourse.
The statue by sculptor Susan Leyland shows “a horse for all horses” up to her fetlocks in cloying mud, and barbed wire at her feet, with a breeze rippling through her tail.
Standing by the statue yesterday were two chestnut horses with riders in First World War cavalry uniform.
Memorial co-founder Susan Osborne said Daily Express readers have been with the four-year project every step of the way.
They donated £25,000 of the £250,000 cost, allowing the project to get under way. And when the Daily Express carried an appeal for Great War artefacts to be buried in a time capsule at the foot of the 10ft plinth, readers sent in military buttons, horse plumes and buckles, berets, citations for bravery and even a replica of a Victoria Cross won by a member of the Household Cavalry.
Among the audience at the unveiling yesterday were Daily Express readers who sent in family artefacts, including wheelchair-bound Margaret Cook, 92, of Pickering, North Yorkshire.
She sent her father Albert Smart’s paybook and his discharge from the Army after the Armistice.
She said: “In years and years to come people will have forgotten about the soldiers. We have never learned anything from all these wars.
“But I like to think that one day someone will find these artefacts and realise what went on.”
The memorial honours millions of horses that died in a war where they hauled ammunition, food and artillery to the front – and carried the wounded back to makeshift hospitals.
Alan Carr, co-founder of the memorial, said: “It pays tribute to the nobility, courage, unyielding loyalty and immeasurable contribution these animals made.
“At one point we had a million in service but losses were so high, it was the equivalent of one horse for every two men. When war ended, eight million horses from all sides had been killed.”
