There From the Start. A book on the war horses and their carers.

Read about the incredible emotional bond between the war horses and the men and how they survived the hardships on the front line.

There From the Start book advert

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War horses. There From the Start book cover

ISBN: 978-1094956763 RRP. £9.99 150 pages 40 b&w photographs.

Exploring the emotional bond between the war horses and soldiers in World War One.

My book There From the Start follows the exploits of my grandfather Edwin Clark who spent four Novembers during his 42 months on the western front with the Field artillery war horses. The book explores the extraordinary relationship between the men and the war horses and how they were trained and cared for under horrendous conditions.

The men were devoted to them, spending most of their working hours with them, and they helped sustain the men’s physical and mental well-being by being their confidants, friends and comrades.

Impossible to imagine the carnage.

They were in it together and just as the horses and mules did their utmost to help the troops the men reciprocated by doing all they could to ease their hardships. They fought and suffered together, faced the same dangers, often rested, slept and ate together and ultimately died together.

Edwin received serious injuries in early November 1918 when a bomb was dropped on him and his colleagues while they were feeding and grooming the horses a mile behind the front line. It caused carnage, killing and maiming many of the horses and men. I find it impossible to imagine the awful sounds, sights and smells he had to endure, made worse I’m sure by witnessing the suffering of his harmless equine comrades.

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Author: John Brookland

John Brookland is an animal welfarist, and amateur historian. He authors two popular blogs: animalrightsandwrongs.uk and animalrightsandwrongs.com with a monthly worldwide readership of thousands. He has written seven books on his exploits helping animals, also on social history and a book on the war horses of World War One. During his long and varied career which has taken him round the world, he has unfortunately witnessed most of the horrors of animal cruelty there is to see and has gained extensive insight into most animal welfare issues which he uses to write his blogs. He is now retired and still travelling the world with his partner to view wildlife and wild places before they and he disappear.