March 6, 2021

Songster and Bert Main, his rider throughout World War I

Songster, a small, aged, chestnut horse was called up for duty on the very day after England declared war on Germany—August 4, 1914. The fourteen-year-old gelding, standing just over fifteen hands high, was considered too old and too small for the demands of wartime service, but there he was on Wednesday, parading through Loughborough Market Square in Leicestershire, on his way to France.

Age and size notwithstanding, he brought to the service his character, intelligence, and bravery. Those attributes plus a measure of luck helped him and his Trooper, Bert Main, to survive the three frightful years of war.