Wanted: A Good Home For a Horse

From The Washington Post - 

Free to a good home: Horses who have served their country

Quincy, one of two horses available for adoption,
waits while stalls are cleaned in the stables at Fort Myer in Arlington.
The Old Guard, the soldiers of Arlington National Cemetery,
are offering two horses for adoption. (Bonnie Jo Mount/Washington Post)

He received good marks in his early days in the military: “quite impressive,” his supervisor once wrote. But after he kicked a few soldiers, he swiftly found himself unwelcome in the Army.

Meanwhile, his buddy started out with similarly good reviews — “a big morale booster” — but found his military service cut short by a painful foot condition.

Now, the two retirees are, like so many veterans leaving the service, looking for their next homes.

Preferably homes with lots of hay and some room in a barn.

“These guys did their service,” Staff Sgt. David Smith said. “It’s their time to be a horse.”

Kennedy and Quincy, highly trained horses who have served in the Army’s Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery, have finished their tours of duty. And both are up for adoption, free to a good home.

They have served in a role almost unique in the U.S. military, that of the caisson horse.

Caisson horses pull coffins to burials at Arlington, bringing former officers and service members killed in action in America’s wars to their grave sites with haunting uniformity and precision.

The choreographed procession, led by a riderless horse, is one of the most solemn and stylized rituals in the nation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/free-to-a-good-home-horses-who-have-served-their-country/2016/02/21/3de74d3a-d4f6-11e5-9823-02b905009f99_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_oldguardhorses-610pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory