Boot and Saddle by JG GilberdFamous Horses - Bess and Finnigan
BessServed throughout the Great War and returned to New Zealand. General Russell's and Lt Colonel King's chargers also returned home but they were remounts. Bess was born in Martinborough in 1910 and was presented by her owner to the Wellington Mounted Rifles, subsequently being allotted to Captain C.G. Fowles of the Main Body and remained his mount throughout the war. She was a dark bay with black points with a 'star' on her face. On her return to New Zealand she led a parade at the Carterton A & P Show and received a thunderous ovation. Colonel Powles, when principal of Flock House Agricultural School at Marton, continued to ride his old 'steed' until one day in 1934 when she lay down and died. She was rising 25 years of age. FinniganA Great War veteran from the RNZA stables, Wellington. A historian of the time tells us the best gun teams came from the Regiment. Finnigan left with the Main Body in 1914 as a team horse in 2 Fd Artillery Bde. He saw service at Gallipoli, was twice wounded while at Anzac Cove. When the Brigade moved to France he was in action again with an 18-pr battery. Again he was wounded. Later at a place called Fieres he trod on an unexploded bomb. Although severely wounded for the fourth time, he gamely took his load of ammunition a distance of a mile to the guns where he dropped dead. Jim Gilberd, 1989 |
