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Horses played a significant role in times of war in the days before motorised vehicles were invented. The story of one horse who experienced the horrors of the Western Front during the Great War is the subject of War Horse, the famous novel by Michael Morpurgo. The story follows an ordinary farm horse through the war, focusing on the terrifying times he experiences on the battlefield. Although War Horse's equine hero is fictional, his story is based on the true horrors suffered by millions of horses during WW1. An estimated eight million horses died on all sides on the battlefield, before advances in machinery and weapons led to new tactics after the final cavalry charge on the Western Front in 1918. Morpurgo, an English author, was inspired to write War Horse in 1982, based on his conversations with veterans of the Great War. Many remembered with sadness how the horses had suffered, spurring him into writing a moving novel from one horse's point of view. Out of one million horses sent from Britain to the battlefields between 1914 and 1918, only 65,000 returned. The horses suffered the same horrific conditions as the humans, in a war that led to the death of ten million young men serving in the Armed Forces from all the nations. Morpurgo's best-selling novel depicts the war through the eyes of farm horse Joey, who is sent off to the Western Front with no idea of what is before him. The story describes the universal suffering of everyone involved in the war, from all sides of Europe.     War veterans War Horse was written in 1982, after Morpurgo and his wife Claire moved to the village of Iddesleigh in Devon. Wilfred Ellis, a Great War veteran, was a regular in their local pub and fascinated listeners with his tales of the horses and riders of the Devon Yeomanry. Another local veteran, Captain Budgett, had stories to tell of his time in the cavalry during WW1. Fellow villager Albert Weeks remembered Army officials coming to Iddesleigh at the outbreak of war to buy ordinary horses from the locals. The horses were sent to war after being trained. Morpurgo had many conversations with the three veterans and the idea of writing War Horse formed. He wanted to write it from the horse's point of view but was unsure how it would work out. However, events of the 1970s convinced him it was a good idea.   Charity farm project He and his wife launched Farms for City Children - a charity that enabled inner-city kids to work on rural farms to enjoy a different lifestyle. One young boy, Billy, from Birmingham, came to stay on the farm. A shy child, he rarely spoke because of a stammer. However, he formed an incredible bond with a mare called Hebe. Billy used to stand by the stable door, thinking nobody was listening as he chatted away to Hebe every day. The mare liked the youngster and would stand and listen, her ears twitching. Billy's teachers were thrilled at how he was speaking freely to the horse, when normally he struggled to get his words out. Morpurgo was so touched by the relationship between Billy and Hebe that he was finally convinced his book, War Horse, was a good idea.   Horses at war All kinds of horses were used during WW1, even those who were farm horses more used to pulling a plough or cart. The training was based on controlling them with only limited use of the reins. They were taught to respond to the rider's legs and weight, freeing up the soldier's arms to carry a weapon. Horses took part in the first military conflict of the Great War involving British troops in August 1914, a cavalry attack near Mons. They were also used to transport troops and equipment by both the Allied and Axis forces. Britain and Germany each had a cavalry force numbering around 100,000 troops when the war broke out in 1914. As the war continued, cavalry charges became almost impossible due to the trench warfare, and military leaders realised they belonged to bygone times. Trenches, barbed wire fences and machine guns made cavalry charges ineffective, killing millions of horses and riders. In spring 1918, the final cavalry charge by British troops took place on the Western Front. It was a disaster, with only four of the 150 horses surviving. The remainder were killed by German machine guns, finally bringing this style of warfare to an end. Mobile veterinary hospitals on the Western Front treated 2.5 million horses, of which two million recovered, but were sent back to active duty.   War Horse plot   War Horse tells the story of Joey, bought at an auction as a plough horse by heavy-drinking farmer Ted and his son, Albert. After Albert forms a strong bond with the horse, Ted sells him to the Army against his son's wishes. Powerless to stop him, Albert pledges to find and save Joey. After being trained as a cavalry horse, Joey is shipped to the Front, but during the battle, he and a fellow cavalry horse, Topthorn, are captured by the German forces and used to pull a military ambulance. Much-loved by their captors, they save many lives in the ambulance. They are released from military duty to work on a farm as plough horses. The farmer's daughter, Emilie, loves the horses and looks after them well, but sadly, the German Army commissions them again as part of a team of horses pulling heavy artillery vehicles. Tragically, Topthorn is killed in action and Joey is left alone and injured in no man's land. He is found by Allied troops and taken to a veterinary hospital, where Albert works. The young man recognises his former farm horse straight away and nurses him back to health. At the end of the war, Albert hopes to take Joey home, but the Army announces all the war horses are to be sold at auction to the highest bidder. Albert and his comrades don't have enough money to buy Joey, but Emilie's grandfather attends the auction and purchases him. On seeing the great bond that has formed between Albert and Joey, he lets the youth take his horse home to England, where they live for the rest of their life in peace.   Major hit War Horse was a massive hit when it was published in 1982. It was runner-up in the Whitbread Book Award. Morpurgo, now 78, later said he was "in the groove" of writing it through the eyes of a fellow-creature, seeing the world from the horse's point of view and in his words. Later, playwright Nick Stafford turned the book into a play, War Horse, which was staged at London's Olivier Theatre. Opening on 17th October 2007; it was a big hit, using life-size puppet horses from the Handspring Puppet Company. The play won the London Critics' Circle Theatre Award, an Olivier Award and the Evening Standard Theatre Award. In February 2010, the play transferred to Broadway in New York. It continues to tour all over the world today. War Horse was adapted into a movie by Steven Spielberg, released on 25th December 2011 and starring Jeremy Irvine in the lead role of Albert. The movie won the American Film Institute Awards' film of the year 2011 and also received six Academy Award nominations. It serves as a constant reminder of the horrors of war and reminds people that it wasn't just humans who lost their lives defending our nation.   Remembrance Sunday People all over the UK will be taking part in Remembrance Sunday services on 14th November, at 11 am, to remember those brave individuals who made the ultimate sacrifice during times of war. Griggs Equestrian will be remembering, with gratitude, the millions of people, horses, donkeys and mules who fought for the freedom of future generations. Lest we forget.