FanStory.com - 'Jack and Warrior'by Aussie
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Most famous WW1 horse led men into the battle of the Somme
'Jack and Warrior' by Aussie
ABAB Poetry Contest contest entry

Smell of heather, lush green lands
Both born in Britain's gentle dales
Gentle giant - Jack's gentle hands
Man and horse faced shore-line gales

Pure bred Warrior whinnied with delight
Never afraid of the sea
He was to face his biggest fight
Stalwart and brave he proved to be

Tide turned to World War One
Across the seas to foreign France
Warrior's leisure days were done
Man and horse led solemn dance

Shells explode - sabre slice
Allied forces losing ground
German fire power sharp as ice
Battle of The Somme unwound

Fifty thousand horsemen raced to face
Germans scattered and cut down
Galloping Jack' cracking pace
Allied forces took back sacred mound

Jack and Warrior made it back
Isle of Wight - ancestral home
Never to return to hostile attack
Warrior swims in lacy foam



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Author Notes
Contest entry: ABAB rhyming scheme. I watched a documentary on this wonderful pair; Warrior would race along the sands on the Isle of Wight and wade in up to his chest letting the waves wash over him - most horses would not do this, afraid of the force of the sea - Warrior was afraid of nothing and no one! Colonel Jack Seely and his warhorse 'Warrior' led the charge against the Germans in WW1. Both man and horse came home from that bloody battle of The Somme. One hundred thousand horses were shipped over from Britain - eighty thousand died. 'Galloping Jack' as he was called, died aged 75 and his beloved 'Warrior' the horse that led the charge that saved the French people; passed over to horse heaven aged 33. That is an amazing age for a horse. The horses left behind in France were dispatched humanely and the carcasses used to feed the starving French people. Some of the horses were given to French farmers so they could get their shattered lives back to the farming they once knew. I hope you enjoy this story/poem.

     

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