The Old Guard Caisson Platoon

After learning about the horses and stables at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, I couldn't wait to take Zac back there to show him.  We went on Saturday afternoon and it was perfect, plenty of parking, no people and most of the horses were in the stables.  Zac had so much fun and you would never know it was his first trip there, as he ran around like he owned the place.  We didn't seek out the guy that runs the tours because I had already been thru the tour and I knew all Zac wanted to do was pet the horses!  So we were able to freely roam between the two buildings and take our time.  There was nothing too exciting to see; they try to do all the cleaning and feeding before they open the stables to the public, so there is  no chance at seeing a horse getting a bath in the wash room or getting brushed or fed.  Quite a few of the white horses were not in their stalls, in particular the horse that is said to be 21 Hands named "Sarge", was not there.  But Zac had fun anyway.

"Mickey" and "Minnie" were outside when we arrived, they are brother and sister and are said to make a great "swing" team, which is the middle set of horses when attached to the Caisson 

They walked right over to us and let Zac pet them 

Caisson horses were made up of all black teams.  But in the early 80s ten Lippizan horses were donated to the program, so from that point on they had both black and white teams.  They don't mix them.  In fact, inside the stables, they are "segregated" because it is just easier when prepping them for the Caissons

This is "Wyatt", one of two Mustangs, 

he was not interested in getting his photo taken 

The barn cat, of course Zac had to chase him around for awhile 

This horse didn't have a name plate, but he was feisty. 

Kicking his door and making all kinds of racket when Zac walked away from him, he clearly wanted all the attention 

Zac feeding his new friends 

Suddenly all the horses were interested once they saw Zac was giving free handouts

One of the tack rooms 

Caissons 

The little museum set up inside the stable.

Can't forget to mention "Black Jack", one of the oldest and most famous horses that was part of the Caisson Platoon.  He received full military honors at his burial on the base and his gravemarker is surrounded by a horse-shoe shaped hedge.