History – Horses go to war

The New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade was one of the first units to sail for overseas service. Unlike the cavalry of former wars, a mounted rifle trooper was required to ride to the site of battle, dismount and then fight. When the British Empire declared war on Germany on 4 August, 1914, the New Zealand government offered to send an Expeditionary Force (NZEF). The British accepted the offer, and a mounted infantry brigade was included.

There has been interest in mounted soldiers since the Boer War. The value of using horses in that combat was recognised in connection with the speed and agility they provided in the open South African countryside. They were also used to transport equipment and provisions across rough and inhospitable terrain.

In Northland (known as North Auckland at the time), four voluntary service companies had already formed: The Marsden Mounted Rifles (Whangarei) under Cpt George Clark-Walker; Otamatea Mounted Rifles (Paparoa) Cpt Frank Colbeck; Mangonui Mounted Rifles (Mangonui) Cpt H.D. Eccles; and Northern Wairoa Mounted Rifles (Dargaville) Cpt N.A. McLeod.

These companies were combined under the leadership of Commander W.D. Holgate in 1901 by HRH the Duke of York when he visited Auckland. The Otamatea Mounted Rifles undertook an impressive journey from Paparoa to Auckland to provide mounted escorts to the Duke during this visit. This required horses to travel up to 60 miles, or 96km, a day.

Over the next few years, a number of other mounted rifle companies were formed in Northland. In 1905, a Bay of Islands regiment formed under Lieutenant J.A.M. Tabateau, and in April 1906, the Waipu squadron formed “The Scottish Horse”. In July 1908, the Northern Wairoa Mounted Rifles disbanded.

At the outbreak of World War I, these territorial groups were absorbed into the 11th (North Auckland) Mounted Rifles Brigade, which in turn made up the Auckland Mounted Rifles. Auckland, and the three other military districts that existed at the time – Wellington, Christchurch and Otago – supplied a mounted regiment for the NZEF. This brigade comprised 1940 men and 2032 horses, and its first commanding officer was Colonel Andrew Russell.

They underwent desert training in the Middle East and in May 1915, they were despatched to their first campaign at Gallipoli. Most of the brigade had to leave their horses behind to fight with the other soldiers of the NZEF.

Upon returning to Egypt, the brigade was deployed in the Sinai against the Ottoman Turkish Empire, then in Palestine and the Jordan Valley in 1917 and 1918. By the time the brigade disbanded in 1919, 17,700 men had served in the unit. In total, more than 10,000 horses left New Zealand’s shores to serve in World War 1. Only four returned. Those horses which survived the war were either sold to new British owners, or destroyed.

Carolyn Mincham includes a quote in her book The Horse in New Zealand: Attitude and Heart from Cpt Charles Guy Powles: “In addition to the Brotherhood of the Regiment he belongs to the Brotherhood of the horse, and from this twofold love springs a tribal feeling as strong as that which animated the Highland clans of old.

“With this in mind, it is of no wonder that one of the most enduring stories about the New Zealand military horse, concerns their disposal at the end of the war. Hardly an oral or written account fails to mention the grim task of the New Zealand troopers, who felt compelled to shoot their horses rather than let them be sold to locals.”