Heroes in their time

Horses are so often the stars of the show, whether pulling royal wedding carriages or enabling blind people to enjoy riding. Lottie Morgan meets five veterans extolled for their life in service

- Lottie Morgan

WITH the focus so often on equestrian sport and leisure, it can be easy to forget the workforce of horses carrying out important jobs behind the scenes across the UK - the more than 200 police horses patrolling our city streets, the 450-plus military horses that are so essential in the pomp and pageantry for which the UK is renowned, and the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) horses who enrich the lives of some 17,000 disabled children and adults. Here, we celebrate some of these working heroes who've had a stellar career.

Storm

Stats: 21-year-old, 17hh, Irish Draught, grey gelding

CV: served 15 years in the Royal Mews and retired to The Horse Trust in 2022

STORM spent 15 years as a state ceremonial carriage horse, pulling the carriage for Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family. His impressive CV includes many events at the height of pomp and pageantry - the Prince and Princess of Wales' wedding in 2011, The Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012 and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding in 2018, alongside many state visits, state openings of Parliament and parades at Royal Ascot.

Described as "strong, but soft and kind in nature and completely bombproof", he retired in 2022.

"Storm lives up to his name - I sometimes think he never got the memo from the Royal Mews that he is retired," says Steven Grice, equine care officer at The Horse Trust. "He loves to cavort around with the rest of the herd and even though he is one of the oldest members of his group, he definitely gets stuck right in if there is any mischief to be had."