Reckless: An American War Horse

I know I usually blog on cats, but going on the assumption that cat lovers are also horse lovers, I'm going to post an email and vid forwarded to me that I fell in love with. I saw War Horse and honestly it depressed me. This didn't. I found it uplifting. Hope you do too. Enjoy.

A true "War Horse"


This is the story of "Reckless," the mare.

"This horse was a pack horse during the Korean war, and she
carried recoil-less rifles, ammunition and supplies to
Marines. Nothing too unusual about that, lots of animals
got pressed into doing pack chores in many wars.

But this horse did something more. During the battle for
a location called Outpost Vegas, this mare made 51 trips
up and down the hill. On the way up she carried
ammunition, and on the way down she carried wounded
soldiers.

What was so amazing? Well, she made every one of those
trips without anyone leading her.

One can imagine a horse carrying a wounded soldier, being
smacked on the rump at the top of the hill, and heading
back to the "safety" of the rear. But to imagine the same
horse, loaded with ammunition, and trudging back to the
battle where artillery is going off, without anyone
leading her is unbelievable. To know that she would make
50 of those trips is unheard of. How many horses would
even make it back to the barn once, let alone return to
the soldiers in the field even a single time?

Here is a clip of her story and photos to prove where she
was and what she did.

Reckless was retired at the Marine Corps Base in Camp
Pendleton where a General issued the following order:
"She was never to carry any more weight on her back except
her own blankets." She died in 1968 at the age of 20.

P.S. How bad was the battle for Outpost Vegas? Artillery
rounds fell at the rate of 500 per hour, and only two men
made it out alive without wounds. Just two. And also a
horse, and she was wounded twice."