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Kōrero: Horses

Eating on the run

Eating on the run

These horses, in the New Zealand Howitzer Battery artillery unit, in France, May 1917, had no time to be unharnessed for feeding. They may have had to be ready to move the large guns at short notice. During the First World War, military horses were often underfed and overworked.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library, Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association Collection

Reference: 1/4-009455; G

by Henry Armytage Sanders

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Emma Meyer, Horses – War, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/19285/eating-on-the-run (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Emma Meyer, i tāngia i te 1 March 2009.

Comments

Vivien Dostine
29 March 2012
I notice that this page refers to Bess as the only horse to return to NZ after WWI. I'd like to refer you to some research performed by Fred MacDonald, which indicates that this is not true. Bess may have been the only horse from the main body (1914) to survive and return, but 3 other horses also returned to Wgtn in 1920 . THE ACTUAL DATE OF RETURN TO WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND WAS SATURDAY 6TH JULY 1920. FOUR HORSES ARRIVED ON BOARD S.S. WESTMEATH AND BERTHED AT KINGS WHARF. THE HORSES WERE BESS(COLONEL CHARLES GUY POWLES)DOLLY(GENERAL SIR ALEXANDER HAMILTON RUSSELL)NIGGER(THE LATE CAPTAIN MAURICE GEORGE KING)AND BEAUTIFUL(THE LATE CAPTAIN RICHARD ERROL WARDELL RIDDIFORD). WE HAVE THE ARMY DISCHARGE PAPERS AND HAVE RESEARCHED S.S. MWESTMEATH TO ESTABLISH THE FACTS. S.S.WESTMEATH DEPARTED LIVERPOOL 23-4-1920 AND SAILED VIA GLASGOW,BRISTOL,PANAMA CANAL(FIRE ON BOARD, NO.4 HOLD 6 DAYS OUT OF PANAMA DESTROYED THE HORSES FEED SO THE MEN FED THEM WITH THEIR OWN BREAD TO KEEP THEM ALIVE). ARRIVED AUCKLAND 19-6-1920 AND ON TO WELLINGTON WHERE THE HORSES WERE DISEMBARKED. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT FRED. MACDONALD 063646616 0211468938 P.O.BOX 15013 OTAKI RAILWAY 5543 EMAIL [email protected].