Cooperative Living May 2022 - 10

HOLIDAY HABITATS
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photos of the Front Royal
Remount Depot.
Getting the Royal Treatment
Military horses were once bred and trained in Front Royal, V
by Gregg MacDonald, Staff Writer
One in a series of holiday-inspired destinations
in co-op country. This month: Memorial Day
T
ucked away into the equestrian history of the James
E. Swart Animal Center in Front Royal, Va., are ties
to a world-famous World War I warhorse, a legendary
Triple Crown winner and Gen. George S. Patton's Lipizzaner
stallions, to name but a few.
On the property that today houses the Northern Virginia
4-H Educational and Conference Center, some remnants
remain from the original Front Royal Remount Depot,
created more than 110 years ago to supply the U.S. Army's
need for horses and mules trained for
military service.
One of those military remnants
is an equine dip tank used to kill
external parasites. It is widely believed
to be the only one remaining in the
continental United States.
HORSE SENSE
Conceived by the Army's
Quartermaster Corps in 1911, Front
Royal was chosen as one of three
national Remount Depot locations
because of its proximity to Virginia
horse breeders and rail transportation. Th other two depots
were in Ft. Reno, Okla., and Ft. Keogh, Mont.
At that time, the U.S. Army felt that although thousands
of wild horses existed in western states, few were considered
to be of military quality.
By the early 1900s, as automobiles began to replace horses
as a primary form of transportation, breeding declined, and
it became increasingly difficult for the military to procure
substantial quantities of quality horses on the private market.
So, they decided to start breeding their own.
" The Army acquired 5,000 acres near the Blue Ridge
Mountains combining several farms and erecting a complex of
buildings, " says Remount Depot Historian and Rappahannock
Electric Cooperative member Phillip Gibbons. " The depot
was constructed about 2 miles southeast of Front Royal, in
Warren County. "
According to Gibbons, the Front Royal Remount Depot
received its first six breeding stallions in 1912. Five were
thoroughbreds donated by August Belmont of the New York
Jockey Club and included the Hall of Fame racehorse, Henry
of Navarre.
Horse owner Samuel D. Riddle donated the services of
8 ● Cooperative Living ●
May 2022
Triple Crown-winner Man O' War, still today considered one
of the greatest racehorses of all time, to the Front Royal Depot,
as did scores of other prominent breeders.
PRODUCTIVE OPERATION
In 1920, the Front Royal Quartermaster Remount Depot
A horse being weighed and
●xamined at the Front R †
●emount Depot, circa 1935.
added the U.S. Army Horse Breeding Plan to its mission.
Th breeding plan began with 159 stallions and, by 1928,
the depot was breeding 18,000 mares a year. By 1942, the
Remount Service had registered
more than 715 stallions and
produced more than 230,000
foals.
Some additional wellknown
horses associated
with the Front Royal Depot
include the mare Jenny Camp.
Ridden by Army Captain
Earl F Thomson in two
Olympics, she remains one
of only three horses to win
consecutive individual medals.
Gen. " Blackjack " Pershing's
world-famous warhorse, Kidron, was also retired to the depot
at the age of 36.
Th German Lipizzaner stallions that Patton rescued
at the end of World War II were also among 143 German
POW horses quarantined at Front Royal upon their arrival
in America.
" The use of horses by the U.S. military was being rapidly
phased out by the time we entered into World War II and
the emphasis shifted to mules, " says Gibbons.
Thousands of mules were sent to Front Royal to be
conditioned and trained, then shipped by train to Newport
News to be placed on transport ships bound for European
theaters of war.
With the decline of overall equine use in the military,
the Remount offices were closed in 1948, and the breeding
program transferred to the Department of Agriculture,
along with the depots, equipment and breeding stock.
Th Agriculture Department liquidated the program
the following year and all stocks were sold at public auction.
" Although no longer trained in Front Royal, mules are
still trained and used by the military today for mountain
warfare, " says Gibbons. 
co-opliving.com
PHOTO COURTESY U.S. ARMY SIGNAL CORPS
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living May 2022

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