During WWII, the US Coast Guard Beach Patrol covered more than 3,700 mile of coast and employed about 24,000 men. Patrols on horseback worked in pairs, riding about 100 feet apart, usually covering a 2-mile stretch. They were called “Sand Pounders” and were able to cover difficult terrain quickly and efficiently. c 1945.
The US Army was making the transition from horse cavalry to armored cavalry and had lots of horses and mules in their inventory. Shortly after the American entry into WWII, the question arose how do we defend the coastline. We knew German submarines were patrolling off the eastern seaboard, attacking maritime shipping from the US to Europe and Russia. Suppose the Germans were to land raiding parties, how would we cope with them? USCG came up with the idea of beach patrols. They would use the horses and mules being furloughed from military service. A lot of the vet techs and cavalrymen who worked with military horses transferred from the Army into the USCG. Those military horses who were released didn’t fare well with civilian owners; they were ill-equipped and ill-suited for horse ownership, which is eerily familiar with those wanting to adopt wild horses.
The horse stock was still relatively young, most were younger than 7 years old and hadn’t entered their prime years as working horses. Over more difficult terrain, mules were more suitable as they are more sure-footed than the ablest of pack horses. And, if the USCG needed to move equipment along the shore, and they did, mules were more able. After the war finished, many of the horses and mules were transferred back to the Army to live out their lives.
Mark, Trish’s husband, he knows a lot about the history of military horses. When he enlisted in the Army, they sent him to school on how be horse vet tech; he’d be working with horses used in military honor guards.
Thank you for this info I am going to put up another post about the sand pounders. Would it ok with you if i quoted what you have written here? I would add it to the info I have from Wikipedia that has lots of numbers of horses etc.
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