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Horse-drawn funerals astatine Arlington Cemetery
Arlington, Virginia — Soldiers of the U.S. Army's Old Guard are taking connected intensive drills arsenic they hole to resume adjacent period their ineffable and solemn work of using horse-drawn caissons, oregon carriages, for servicemembers being laid to remainder astatine Arlington National Cemetery.
These horse-drawn funerals were suspended by the Army successful May 2023 pursuing the deaths of 2 of the horses wrong a 96-hour play backmost successful February 2022, prompting an Army investigation.
As CBS News antecedently reported, different horses pulling the caissons were besides suffering achy musculus and tendon injuries. At the time, the Army said that 27 Arlington horses were sent to aggregate rehabilitation facilities, and the horses were replaced with hearses.
The horses were performing up to 8 funerals a day, successful each weather, and pulling wagons that weighed much than a ton.
Most of those horses are retired now, replaced by dozens of caller ones.
But Army commanders knew they needed nonrecreational assistance to bring the caissons back. So, they called successful equestrian David O'Connor, an Olympic golden medalist with the U.S. Equestrian Federation.
"The commanding wide gets up determination and helium goes, 'OK, I would similar for each of you guys to recognize that we bash not cognize what we're talking about,'" O'Connor recounted to CBS News. "I thought it was the top opening enactment I've ever heard. That humility was astonishing to me: 'We're successful superior trouble. We request to truly look astatine this full thing.'"
According to Lt. Col. Jason Crawford, a veterinarian and the caller commandant of the Caisson Detachment, overmuch of the contented centered astir education.
"Once we brought the close experts in, I deliberation everyone past starts having the aha moment," Crawford said. "Like, we didn't cognize the horses were benignant of moving excessively much."
Starting successful June, 2 squads of 11 horses volition execute 2 services a time for a full of astir 10 funerals per week. Before the pause, immoderate of the horses were moving 45 days consecutive erstwhile they were expected to get 2 weeks remainder aft 14 days of work.
And it isn't conscionable the payment of the animals that is simply a focus, but the equipment. The aged caisson weighed astir 2,600 pounds. The caller 1 is much than 1,000 pounds lighter.
There has besides been extended grooming for portion personnel. Staff Sgt. Isaac Melton, a squad leader, told CBS News helium didn't turn up riding horses, and says the archetypal clip helium adjacent came successful interaction with 1 was erstwhile helium began grooming 15 months ago. He says that grooming has averaged astir "eight to 10 hours a day."
Melton says "perfection" volition beryllium going done his caput connected time 1 of the program's return.
Sgt. Daimien Copeland was portion of the programme earlier it was suspended.
"Something wrong your chest, let's you conscionable consciousness — you're proud, you're nervous, you're excited," Copeland said of his feelings of resuming horse-drawn caissons. "You know, you're honored to beryllium capable to beryllium the 1 that's saying, 'I'm helping bring this backmost to the cemetery to those work members and their families.'"
Charlie D'Agata is CBS News' elder nationalist information correspondent. He was antecedently a elder overseas analogous and has spent much than 2 decades covering planetary quality for CBS.
Eleanor Watson contributed to this report.
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