#cavalry

And they'll never land at all!

About a year ago @elodieunderglass wrote a series of posts about an extinct type of horse, the Irish Hobelar. She ended it with art and a story, and beautiful words: he threw his heart over and she follows it still; and they’ll never land!

It made me think about the kinds of stories we tell, and why, and what the best, most heart-wrenching ones have in common. All of them mean something. The journeys those characters take, that we take with them, they all meant something — it’s why we tell these stories again and again, even if they’re sad. We’re all reaching out to tell each other that everything we do matters, even if the ending is sad or tragic or you never finished what you set out to do — it all matters. 

So I told this story again. And I linked it to stories I love, stories it reminded me of, quotes I’ve heard that have stuck with me and made me look at life differently. Because it’s not the ending. It’s how they got there. It’s what we’ll remember. And this story deserves remembering. Your stories deserve remembering. I hope we all keep writing them.

Credits, links, and the full image without text below.

Uniform of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry from the British Empire dated to 1909 on display at the National Army Museum in London, England

Established in 1907, the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry recovered casualties, drove ambulances and ran hospitals for the British army at the start of the 20th century. Nurses were trained in both medicine and cavalry movements to support injured soldiers and transport them off the battlefield. They would support both the British and allied armies in the First World War.

This uniform belonged to Lilian Franklin who campaigned for a more practical uniform in the organisation. It took until 1912 for them to have a khaki uniform that still had a skirt but was more practical to for more modern battlefields. Lilian is credited for reinventing and modernising the Nursing Yeomanry in the build up to the First World War.

John III Sobieski in the Royal Armoury in Dresden (top)

Armour of King Stephen Báthory in Vienna (left)