Arlington National Cemetery will soon bring back caisson horses for somemilitary funerals after implementing a nearly two-year pause to improve the herd’s health, the Army announced Tuesday.
Horses have for decades performed the solemn duty of pulling the caisson holding the casket of fallen service members, but the Army put a hold on that element of the funerals in May 2023 after an investigation into the death of two horses exposed unsatisfactory living conditions for the herd.
After making major changes to the horses’ working and living conditions, the Army plans to reintroduce limited use of caisson horses during military funerals starting the week of June 2.
Initially, the funerals eligible for caisson escorts will include service members killed in action, recipients of the Medal of Honor or the Prisoner of War Medal, as well as senior noncommissioned officers, senior warrant officers and senior commissioned officers.
Acting superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery Renea Yates said in a statement that while the limited integration may be “disappointing to some families, this decision allows us to reintegrate our working horses back to the cemetery and safely continue the sacred duty of escorting our nation’s heroes to their final resting place.”
Starting in June, two squads of 11 horses will perform two services a day for a total of about 10 funerals per week. Before the pause, the horses appeared in about 30 services every week.
A third squad is finishing up its training, but the cemetery still won’t be able to undertake more than 10 funerals a week with the horses until a fourth squad completes its training. Eventually, the Army aims to provide seven squads of horses if it can build suitable stables for that many.
The caisson horses in service before the pause have been rehabilitated and retired, and since then, the Army has procured 46 horses.
The Army is slowing the reintegration to ensure the program does not suffer the same problems that led to the pause. During that period, the Army revamped the program to change the procurement of horses, training, facilities and equipment after consulting with experts in the equine industry.
CBS News reported in October 2023 some of the changes the Army was considering.
For instance, the Army has reduced the weight of the caisson, or artillery wagon, from 2,600 pounds to 1,400 pounds to ease some of the strain on the horses and changed the formation of the squad from six horses to 11, so there are back-up horses available, if needed.
The budget for the military working horses has increased about tenfold since the pause, according to Maj. Gen. Trevor J. Bredenkamp, the commanding general of Joint Task-Force National Capital Region and the U.S. Army Military District of Washington. Bredenkamp also told reporters Tuesday the Army has about $10 million this year for the program.
The total spent for each squad of 11 horses, according to Bredenkamp, is $900,000, after adding the costs for procurement, training, equipment and facilities.
“Everybody realizes that if we underfund this moving forward, we’re going to go back to the same problems we had in the past,” Bredenkamp said.
While two squads have completed their training, they have not practiced on the hills of Arlington National Cemetery. Visitors to the cemetery can expect to start seeing the horses on the grounds this month.
